By Nate Leveille – Exeter High Coach
The cold weather didn’t stop some of New Hampshire’s best track and field athletes from having outstanding early season performances. The meet was well officiated and as always Lancertiming Services did an excellent job having results posted live over the Internet and at the meet over a large video board. It was obvious that many schools that attended were missing student-athletes due to it being New Hampshire school vacation week. As a coach, I didn’t think twice about the opportunity of bringing my athletes to a big, well-run invitational that would allow them to face better competition than they would traditionally face in a dual meet. It was good to see a number of coaches and teams felt the same way, even if they were a little shorthanded.
The boy’s competition featured two of the early season favorites to take home the boys Division One team title. Host school Nashua North and Pinkerton Academy of Derry proved to be well-rounded and deep teams. Pinkerton had a number of event winners, but Nashua North can score their points in bunches. Although the meet is not team scored, it was easy to see the dominance of these two well-coached programs.
Highlights on the Boy’s side: 
- The triple jump is a very deep event in Division 1 this year. Nashua North was led by the 1-2 punch of Jordan Buckmire (45-3) and Triston Delicema (44-8). Buckmire also won the long jump with a leap of 21-0.
- Colin Bigelow dominated the Javelin, in less than ideal conditions, winning by 10 feet with a throw of 150-08.
- Terrell Lewis of Nashua South was a double winner on the day, taking the 110 hurdles and the high jump.
- Distance star Noah Bellomo of Alvirne moved up in distance cruising to an easy victory in the two mile with a respectable time of 9:41.
- On a day that was tough on the sprinters, the Pinkerton duo of Jadyn Ruimwijk (22.53)and Nico Buccieri (11.29) didn’t disappoint winning the 200 and 100 meter runs respectively.
- West Point-bound Jacob Swanney took an early lead in the 400 and held off a charging Pat Hanlon of Pinkerton in one of the more exciting finishes of the day. Swanney won in a time of 53.00 to Hanlon’s 53.04.
The girl’s meet was more about individual battles that took place in certain events rather than specific team performances. Many of the head-to-head competitions that happened today are sure to be a repeat at the State Championships a month from now.
Highlights on the Girl’s side:
- It’s only fitting that the highlights should start with the most dominant performance of the meet which belonged to Caroline Fischer of BG. She won the 800m in a very fast early season time of 2:16.46.
- Katya Levesseur of Manchester Central finished as the runner-up in the 400 meters in 60.37, but then cruised to wins in the 200 meter (25.99) and Long Jump (16-7).
- Milford freshman Robyn Krafft launched a throw of 114-9 in the discus to win the event by 24 feet.
- Pinkerton’s Amelia Graves completed an unconventional double win, taking the 400 meter run in 58.59 and the Javelin with a toss of 105-7.
- Pinkerton’s Maria Virga was the dominant hurdler on the day winning the Highs in 15.70 and placing second in the 300 hurdles with a 47.08.
BTW! If anyone took photos of today’s action in Nashua, please send in to NHTF via our Community Uploads page!
