The Manchester Central girls and boys cross country teams entered this year’s Meet of Champions on Saturday, Nov. 4, with a ton of goals. It’s safe to they surpassed every single one of them.

Behind an all-around effort from both squads’ top seven runners, Central placed third among boys teams and fifth among the girls at Nashua High School South, joining Pinkerton Academy as the two schools to earn dual team invites to the New England Championships, set for Saturday, Nov. 11, in North Scituate, R.I.

Central was the only boys team to place three in the top 10, including Matt Paulson, who finished first overall on the 5K course with a time of 15-minutes, 25 seconds; Corey Sinotte, with a sixth-place time of 15:46; and Craig Brown, who earned 10th with a time of 15:52.

All seven of the Little Green’s runners finished under 17:45, with Dante Vitagliano taking 31st at 16:22, Candia’s Matt Reinhold clocking in at 17:36, James Lamontagne at 17:39 and Joe Kelly at 17:42.

The girls, meanwhile, accomplished their goal of putting five runners under 20:30, including freshman Arianna Vailas, who placed 20th overall with a time of 18:54. Sarah Brooks took 48th at 19:45, Meagan Montville placed 57th at 20:01, Maria Rocha finished in 64th at 20:09 and Lauren Ashby took 67th at 20:16.

Central’s sixth and seventh runners also beat or placed around 21 minutes – another team goal – with Hannah Dow running at 20:40 and Jill Garrity at 21:08.

At the water-logged class meet a week earlier, both teams failed to defend their Class L titles.

Yet, following the boys race – in which Paulson, the state’s defending 800-meter champion in outdoor track, edged Bishop Guertin’s Anthony Merra by .3 seconds with a strong kick – the excitement was evident around the Central camp.

Saturday’s performance went a long way in rectifying the Little Green’s place among New Hampshire’s elite.

“I like to think of it like Central will do well as a team. And running with Matt,” said Vitagliano, “it’s kind of like a bonus.

He’s guaranteed to do well.”

Vitagliano said his team ran into some bad luck at the Class L meet when some runners fell and others got caught up in slower packs. But running Saturday at what they call “the track” because of its fast pace, flat terrain and looping routes, he said the Little Green could focus more on passing people and improving their individual times.

At Derryfield Park, the site of the class meet, it’s more about battling Derryfield itself, he said.

“In the past three years that I’ve been in the program, we’ve raced well at Class L and then the Meet of Champions is kind of a lull week,” said Central girls coach Kelly Feibel, who attributed a stronger finish to a different approach to workouts.

This year, Feibel had the girls run more miles during the middle of the season, giving her more room to ease off come the final few weeks.

“So in my mind,” she continued.

“I still have room to taper these girls so they still have the chance to put in one more good performance.”

Manchester Memorial, despite not sending whole teams to the meet, also fared well. Junior Holly Banaian earned an individual invite to the New England Championships with her 15th-place time of 18:44, while Khrysta Brewster took 33rd at 19:21 and Jacquelyn Dussault took 46th at 19:44.

The boys’ lone runner, Jonathan Bouchard, placed 52nd at 16:38.