Girls Results Courtesy of LancerTiming
Pics!!! – Courtesy of Julie O’Brien
By Nate Leveille
It was a sunny and windy day at the 13th annual Nashua North Invitational. There were outstanding performances by some of New Hampshire’s elite athletes despite the vacation week. Throwing implements were weighed and measured for the first time, pits were verified, and Lancer Timing Services took care of the track, meaning all the performances at the meet are eligible for the Meet of Champions in June. A steady tailwind made the distance races challenging, put provided a little boost to the sprinters down the homestretch.
Girls
Andover, Massachusetts dominated many of the races and field events on the girls side, but I decided to focus on the Granite State athletes. It’s still early in the season, but many girls dipped under 28 seconds in the 200m and 14 seconds in the 100 meters, even though absent were some of the favorites in Division One. Speaking of favorites in Division One, Amelia Graves of Pinkerton and Grace Devanny of Concord had yet another battle in the 400 meters. Devanny got the best with a time of 58.02. Emily Sweet of Nashua North took down the 800 meter title on her home track outdistancing 1000m indoor champ Katelyn Pepin of Manchester Central. Freshman sensation Cali Coffin cruised to an easy win in the girls mile with a time of 5:20.28. Caroline Fischer of BG jumped out to a big lead early and narrowly held off a late charge from Arielle Zlotnick of Souhegan to claim the two mile run with a time of 11:31.70. Exeter’s Ellie Johnston finished second in the 100 Hurdles and Elise Lambert of Souhegan finished 2nd in the 300 Hurdles.
In the field, Sarah Williams of Dover outdistanced the competition in the shot put and discus with throws of 37’ 8” and 108’ 11”. Laurel Breen of Pinkerton and Graves of Pinkerton finished 1-2 in the Javelin, which could be impactful points at the Division One meet next month. Scarlett Souter of Windham and Sydney Ward of Exeter went 1-2 in the Long Jump with leaps of 16’ 2”, Souter won. The two finished 2-3 in the Triple Jump as well with Ward getting the better of Souter 34’3” to 34’1”. Madeline Croteau of Londonderry won the pole vault with a height of 9’0”.
Boys
The best sprinters the state has to offer were on display at Nashua North. Jadyn Ruimwijk of Pinkerton breezed to victory in the 100 meters with a time 11.26. Dalton Mutz of Concord was victorious in the 200 meters with a time of 22.76. In the race of the day Zach Verow of Bedford b
ested Dante Radagonda of Exeter in the 400 meters with a time of 51.12 to 51.20 (both are only sophomores). David Vorbach of Nashua North ran an impressive double, winning the Mile in 4:29.16 and coming back for 2nd in the Two Mile in 9:44.96. Billy Powers of Winnacunnet destroyed the field in the 110 Hurdles winning by a full second in 14.10. Billy also doubled back to win the 300 Hurdles in 40.14. Pinkerton Academy took down the fields in both the 4×100 and 4×400.
In the field events, Quinn Mantegari of Exeter won the high jump with a height of 5’ 10”. Nathan Miller of Pinkerton took the pole vault with a height of 11’0”. Josh Sibanda of Salem got the win in the Long Jump with a leap of 20’11” and Jaron Harrell of Pinkerton won the Triple Jump with a horizontal leap of 41’0”. Patrick Hagearty of Londonderry finished second in the Shot with a distance of 46’11.5”. Jeremiah Swett of Exeter was the top New Hampshire finisher in the Discus with a personal best throw of 137’8”. The performance of the day took place at the Javelin sector where John King of Pinkerton tossed the spear 185’3” into a cross wind!
It was an excellent early season invitational. Looks like the weather is going to warm up in the next couple of weeks which means we will really start seeing some performances! Good Luck.
