Third-place finisher Lauren Robinson of Nashua, a seventh grader at Fairgrounds Middle School, led 62 Nashua PAL Gate City Striders recently at the USA Track and Field Junior Olympic Cross Country National Championships in San Antonio, Texas.

Robinson, competing in the 11-12-year-old division, turned in an All-American performance, finishing third out of 405. Two teams placed in the top seven nationally.

Here are the highlights by age group:

Age 8 and under: The girls were led by Ella Benzekri and Izabella Haytayan.They were supported by strong runs from Arianna Kouchalakos, Zelena Long, and Audrey Mullaney. The boys were led by Kieran Hummer and Grevaan Singh, who were followed closely by Derek Griebel, Joona Hantula, Nicholas Hawkins, Quinlan Duprey, and Christopher Valade.

Ages 9-10: The girls squad was led by 95th (of 308) place runner Grace Jones. Also scoring for the PAL Strider team were Kathryn Loranger, Meredith McDermott,Amelia Piercy, and Abigail North. Also running well were Delaney Nelson, Nadine Benamara, and Olivia Johnson.

The boys team had a strong day, finishing seventh in the country, led byJared Long, who finished 68th out of 329. Other boys scoring included Christopher Keefe, Keegan Murphy, Matthew Spaulding, and Nicholas Dahl. Also running strong were Griffin Johnson, Jesse Hantula, and Christopher Prangley.

Ages 11-12: Other scorers besides Robinson Tylee Thurber (49th), Isabella Bruno, Jessica Fontaine, and Haley Schmitt. Hannah Swain, Elizabeth Knapp, and Madeleine Keefe also ran well. The boys team was led by 56th (of 391) place runner Noah Strout and Forest MacKenzie. Also running strong wereDavid Cook, Ryan Devine, Connor Dube, Landon Johnson, Zackary Berthiaume, and Owen Long.

Ages 13-14: The PAL boys finished sixth out of 39 teams, led byGarrett Earley, who was 39th out of 444. Also finishing in the top 100 were Evan Tanguay, Aidan van Batenburg, and Jack Spaulding. Also runnings trong were Justin Carbonneau, Curtis Comrie,Simon Morrier, andMatthew O’Brien.

Ages 15-16: The PAL Striders girls’ were represented by 37th place runner Melissa Hiatt, Lauren Cole, and Grace Vogel. The boys’ were led by 68th place Chris Fischer, who was followed byTom Lessard, and Allan Vallante.

Ages 17-18: The PAL Striders girls were led by 26th place runner Marie Morrier, Brianna Lippitt, and Brittany Gentilhomme. Jacob Drescher finished 38thin the boys race.

Hockey

Nashua Panthers

It is only fitting Nashua Panthers goalie Cameron Reinbold wears No. 57 as recently he made 57 total saves between two games. Last Sunday, Reinbold made 27 saves, including 13 in the second period, and Christopher Gillis scored with just over a minute remaining in the game as the Panthers rallied to a 3-3 tie against Agawam in Valley League hockey action at Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass.

Gillis sent a vicious wrist shot from 15-feet in front of the net that was deflected to the left corner for the game-tying goal. The goal was a result of strong team zone pressure up front with Dylan Carr, Ryan Catalano and Brayden Goode leading the way with Catalano and Goode eventually assisting on the goal.

The line of Julie McLaughlin, Isaac Winsor and Anne McIntosh were tremendous right from the start with McLaughlin scoring two first period goals and nearly had a natural hat trick to give Nashua the early 1-0 lead and then again a 2-1 lead. Winsor assisted on both goals and Joey Turner assisted on the first goal.

In an earlier game, Reinbold was outstanding between the pipes making 30 saves, including 13 saves in the second period once again, but it was not enough as Nashua narrowly fell.

In the second period it was Carr putting the Panthers on the scoreboard with an impressive goal lifting the puck past the goalie. Tyler Martin and Plaehn assisted on the goal.

The defensive foursome of Gillis, Plaehn, Turner and Mathew Tourangeau were immense killing off penalties. In the second period the penalty kill unit of Goode, McIntosh, Plaehn and Turner did a great job and later on the unit of Catalano, McIntosh, Plaehn and Turner were equally up to the task.

Trailing 3-1 heading into the third period Winsor closed the gap to 3-2 with a goal for Nashua assisted by McLaughlin and Plaehn with just over six minutes to play

Southern NH Cavs Squirt Blue

Southern NH Cavaliers Squirt Blue post two come from behind victories over Valley Hockey League Opponents.

The Cavaliers topped the New Hampshire Saints, 6-4. The Saints led 2-0 early in the second period, but the Cavaliers jumped right back in it with a quick goal from Ethan Gaffney assisted by Matthew D’Ortona.

The Saints quickly regained the lead 3-1, but with just under four minutes remaining in the period the Cavs scored four goals to take the lead. Nate Bizier scored twice with assists going to Ben Foley and Gaffney, and Gaffney put up two more for a hat trick and the game winner.

Up 5-3, the Cavaliers got a third-period goal by Ryan Bizier assisted by Aidan Rowe to seal the win.

Next, the Cavaliers rallied from three goals down to beat the Chelmsford Squirts 7-5, thanks to five goals by center Andre Ducharme.

His first came with just under two minutes played in the first. Chelmsford got the equalizer and added a power play goal to lead 2-1 after one.

Chelmsford’s offense continued to pressure the Cavaliers in their own end and it took a commanding 4-1 lead late in the second period.

However, Cavaliers defensemen Nate Bizier and Thomas Cahill’s tight forechecking in the neutral zone broke up an offensive rush and sent Ducharme in for the goal to cut the lead 4-2.

Down by two goals in the third, the forward line of Will Dodge, Ryan Kelley and Ryan Bizier began the comeback. Ryan Bizier played the puck out from behind Chelmsford net into a flurry of players and Dodge’s shot on the goalie was kicked out. But, Kelley was in position to bury it home, cutting the deficit to one.

Chelmsford extended the lead back to two on a breakaway goal, but with under six minutes left in the game, down 5-3, the Cavaliers found an offensive surge. Defensemen Matthew MacBean and Gaffney maneuvered the puck through the neutral zone; Gaffney set Ducharme thru the slot for a quick wrist shot for the hat trick. Ducharme scored again tying the game at 5 with an assist going to MacBean.

The Cavs continued the flurry with Dodge sending Aidan Rowe in for the game winning goal, 6-5. Ducharme finished the scoring for the Cavaliers with an empty netter assisted by Dodge.

Basketball

Nighthawks 5th Grade Boys White

The Nighthawks fell to the Wakefield Warriors 27-20 after leading at half time.

However, their second game against Pelham ended with a win, 55-41 with all 10 players contributing to the offensive and defensive effort. Scoring for the Nighthawks over the weekend came from Sam McElliott, Stephen Norris, Sid Dutta, Daniel Dockrill, Connor Dunning, Sebastian Coelho, Landon Moore, Nick Drew, and Isaac Acorn.

Nighthawks 5th Grade Boys Green

The Nighthawks 5th grade Green remained undefeated after defeating the Tewksbury Red.

The locals played well defensively, controlling the boards with 27 rebounds, 5 blocks, and 28 steals, with Cody Rocheleau having eight rebounds, Mikey Robbins with six, and John Sullivan with four.

Offensively, strong performances came from Nathan Kane (11 points), Jalen Gilmore (nine), Curtis Harris (eight), and Sullivan, Rocheleau, and Jaden Murphy each with six. Others contributing were Robbins, Matt Keisling, Joshua Taylor, and Liam Novak.

Nighthawks 7th Grade Boys

The Nighthawks got back into the win column by defeating Methuen 48-44. Nashua was led offensively by Casey McNally, Matt Wall and Chase Hart (nine each). Also contributing to the offense were Stephen Mclendon (eight), Nevan Roy (six), Jeff Reza (three), Gabe Perrault, and Tyler Downing. The Nighthawks also received good defensive performances from Spencer Desroisers and Andrew Penkala.

CYO Boys Jr. Mites

St. Christopher – Green 15, Infant Jesus 8

The St. Chris Green Jr. Mites improved to 2-0 . Trailing 8-5 with a little more than two minutes left,, St. Chris turned up the defense and scored 10 unanswered points to secure the win. Trevor Lebreque (six points), Bobby Canaway (four) and Sam Dufoe (three) led the way.

Boys Mites

Infant Jesus 20, St. Christopher White 2

The St. Chris boys fought hard despite having only six players on the court at game time. Keegan Murphy contributed with a solid effort on the defensive side of the ball for St. Chris, and Trevor Labrecque put the team’s only points on the board.

Elks Hoop Shoot States

The six 2013 Greater Nashua Elks area Hoop Shoot champions will compete in the State Elks South District “Hoop Shoot” Free Throw competition, Saturday, Jan. 4 at 9 a.m. at the Elm St. Middle School Gym in Nashua. An awards luncheon will take place following the contest at the Nashua Lodge of Elks which is hosting the South District Hoop Shoot Contest.

The six Greater Nashua Champions, 13-year old Tilak Patel, 10-year old Sebastion Coelho, 8-year old Trevor Labrecque, 12-year old Samantha D’Amico, 11-year old Erin Bourgeois and 9-year old Grace Cardin will compete against the champions from Manchester, Concord, Keene, Rochester, Dover, Portsmouth & Derry/Salem areas.

Registration and the drawing of shooting positions will take place at the Elm Street Middle School Gym between 8 and 8:45 a.m.

Each player will shoot 25 free throws for score and the winners of the six age divisions will advance to the state championships in Plymouth on Feb. 2, where they will compete against the North District Champions.

State winners will advance to the New England Regional, which will be held in Portland, Maine, in March with the winners going on to the Elks National Finals in Springfield, Mass. in April. National winners will have their names inscribed in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield.

In the past 41 years, the Nashua Elks have sent 10 Regional Champions to the National Finals, including Nashuans Steve Piwowarski, Melissa “Missy” Ayotte, Debra Killmon, Ellen Tipping, Ryan Robinson, Ryan Sullivan, Michael Panagoulias, Max Coleman of Londonderry and Hudson’s Caleb Donnelly and Tom O”Hearn. Donnelly won the national title in 2006.

Nashua PAL

The Nashua Police Athletic League (PAL) fourth, sixth and eighth grade football teams finished the season in second place at the state level. Meanwhile, the Division 12 Cheer Team placed fifth in the nation, while Division 13 placed sixth nationally and Division 10 placed fourth.

Nashua Pal Force is accepting applications for coaches and board members for 2014. For more information, go to www.nashuapalforce.com.

This holiday season the Nashua PAL collected more than 50 canned goods and 30 coats for families in need in their first annual Food Drive and Coats For Kids Drive.