Black Bear Meet Hub – Meet Broadcast, Complete Results + Interviews, Field Event Videos, Pics Coming Soon
By Nate Leveille
Mother nature continued to be uncooperative this spring for the 18th annual Black Bear Invitational. Cold and windy conditions coupled with some early morning showers made track life less than ideal. Despite these conditions, Speed Sport Timing did a great job running the meet and all the volunteers and grounds crew kept the meet moving along. Black Bear brings a unique mix of some of the top Division 1 and Division 2 teams in the state as well as out of state competition from both Vermont and Maine.
The girls team competition was won by Exeter High School scoring points across many events and having enough to outdistance Nashua South. Exeter was led behind the 26.5 point effort of Hurdler and Jumper Camille Sweet, who was voted Co-Most Outstanding Performer of the girls meet along with double event winner Grace Devanny of Concord. Devanny dominated both the 100 and 200 meter races while also running a leg on the runner-up Concord 4×100 meter team. Sweet was second in the 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles, long jump, and ran the anchor leg of Exeter’s winning 4×100 meter relay.
The meet got started with a loaded 3200 meter field. Caroline Fischer of Bishop Guertin looked to be back to her normal self putting in a big move at the mile mark and never looking back. She got the win in 10:59 holding off a charging Mya Dube of Kearsarge 11:00. The 100 meter Hurdles was won by Sydney Lewis of Nashua South with a respectable 16.48 into a bit of a head wind. Devanny of Concord won the 100 meter dash in 12.69. Sophia Reynolds of Merrimack Valley displayed her dominance in the 1600 meter run, heading to the front and leading all the way in 5:12.91. Devanny blew away the field in the 200 meter dash, winning by more than a full second. The 300 Hurdles was won by sophomore Kourtney Lopez of Nashua South in 49.18 while Samantha LiPetri of Winnacunnet got her first ever invitational win in the 400 meter run in 1:00.88. Exeter won the 4×100 in 52.98. Corinne Robitaille of Manchester West was able to pull away from Fischer of BG in the 800 to get the win in 2:16.68. Bonny Eagle of Maine went sub 10 and got the win in the 4×800 in 9:58.14. Winnacunnet continued its dominance in the 4×400 this spring winning in 4:15.01.
In the field events competitors had to deal with cold hands and slick surfaces, but turned in some pretty good performances. Hannah Ehlers of Sanborn got the win in the high jump clearing 5’0”. Suzie Moore of Londonderry took home the Pole Vault Title with a clearance of 9’0”. Kaylen LaChapelle of Sanborn was a double event winner taking the both the horizontal jumps with a long jump of 16’2” and a triple of 33’6”. Robyn Krafft of Milford won the discus with a bomb of 121’7”. Alana Mercado of Nashua North won the javelin with a throw of 98’3” while Mady Buchalski of St. Thomas won the shot put with a throw of 38’4.5”.
On the boys side Concord flexed their strength in the distance events pulling away from Exeter High School for the team title. The outstanding performer of the meet was Del Bonsu-Anane of Con Val. Del was a double winner beating out a loaded 400 meter field and equally respectable 200 meter field. He also ran a leg on his teams 4×800 meter relay team.
The meet started out with the 3200 meter run. It was a three man race going into the last 100 meters, but David Reynolds of Merrimack Valley
used a late kick to take the win in 9:35.63. John Elie of Pelham swept the hurdle events winning the 110 high hurdles in 15.32 and 300 hurdles in 40.17. Adam Thornton of Merrimack got the win in the 100 meters by 2 hundredths of a second in 11.89 to Jack Mcsweeney of Exeter’s 11.91. Concord went 1-2-3 in the boys 1600 led by Forest Mackenzie’s 4:27.76. As mentioned before Bonsu-Anane of ConVal won the 200m in 23.28 and 400 meters in 50.90. Concord won the 4×100 in 45.01. Jack Taylor of Winnacunnet took the 800 meter race out fast and never looked back getting the win in 1:57.56. Concord won the 4×800 in 8:32.47 while Exeter got the win in the 4×400 in 3:38.28.
In the field events, Ethan Holt of Bishop Guertin won the high jump with less misses and a clearance of 6’0”. Chris Mood of Portsmouth took the Pole Vault title with a leap of 12’0” while Chris Caputo of Kennett was the lone boy over 20 feet in the long jump winning with a jump of 20’1”.
Xavier Provost of Nashua North won the triple jump with a distance of 40’8”. In the circle, Patrick Hagearty of Londonderry and Jonathan Thorn of Coe Brown traded jabs. Hagearty of Londonderry took the discus with a throw of 142’8.5” to Thorn’s 135’4”. Thorn returned the favor in the shot put winning with a toss of 49’0”. Hagearty was runner-up with a toss of 47’6”. Jacob Pacheco of Bishop Guertin won the Javelin with a toss of 154’6”.
Thanks Coe-Brown for hosting another excellent invitational and lets hope for some good weather moving forward!
