Twenty-four years ago, Conval won its first-ever boys’ cross-country championship, defeating Hanover by 15 points. It was also the first title for late coach Jack Murphy in 20 years at the helm. (Jack passed away in 2015 at the age of 84.)
“We had to win it for Jack,” said Jeff Rushalko. All season long, the Cougars were led by Rushalko and four teammates—James Welden, John Nieskens, Nick Jenkins and Ben Martens—in dominating regular season meets. While Martens led the Cougars with a sixth place finish at the Class I (D2) state meet, and the other four battled their Hanover opponents step for step, it was Welden’s 22nd place finish that secured Conval’s championship, outdistancing the next Hanover runner who finished in 38th.
Although the team had been running together since summer, late season injuries and cold, windy conditions on race day were not in the Cougars’ favor. But as Nieskens said, “I put everything I had into this race, and so did my teammates.”
Conval went on to finish ninth among all New Hampshire high schools in the 2000 Meet of Champions, and began a string of titles that no other Conval team has matched. The girls took the baton and won the state title in 2001, and the boys were kings of the hill again in 2002, 2006 and 2007.
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