Girls Results
Boys Results
Pics
Interviews
By Nate Leveille
The 2019 version of the Merrimack Invitational didn’t disappoint. It was filled with many impressive individual and team performances. Merrimack High School has hosted many big meets over
the years and as always ran a very efficient invitational last night. Lancer Timing had the results posted live throughout the meet enhancing the experience for the spectators. while NewHampshireTrackandField.com was out there in full effect with interviews, pictures, and livestream.
On the boys side Pinkerton flexed its strength as a team amassing 107 points far ahead of runner up Merrimack High School with 63. Concord 56 points, Nashua North 52 points and Exeter 52 points rounded out the top 5.
Fair conditions with little to no wind allowed for good performances on the straight away. Jack McSweeney of Exeter used a late surge to take a closely contested 100 meter dash in 11.32 over Conor Seleny of Pinkerton 11.35, and Adam Thornton of Merrimack 11.41. The 110 high hurdles was never in doubt as Adam Spencer of Pinkerton continued his amazing spring season by breaking the 17 year old meet record with a blazing time of 14.44 seconds.
The 1600 meter was run like a championship race with many of the favorites sitting back through a slower first half of the race. Jeffrey Allen of Campbell used a late kick to overtake Joseph Curran of Nashua North for the win in a time of 4:26.01. Merrimack High School took the 4×100 in a season best time of 44.18. Vadimor Jungkman of Nashua North pulled off an upset of sorts in the 400, winning the event with a time of 51.25 edging Davante Mckoy-Sophes of Alvirne (52.43). Spencer of Pinkerton was back at it in the 300 hurdles battling teammate Seleny to the line and narrowly missing another meet record with a winning time of 39.56 to Seleny’s 39.71.
In the 800 Allen of Campbell proved to be strong enough to pull off the double win on the day, clocking a 1:59.65 outdistancing Porter Heigis of Coe-Brown (1:59.98). In the 200 Seleny got revenge on McSweeney winning the 200 in a sub 23 second time of 22.79. In the 3200 a pack of three including Eli Boesch-Dining of Concord, Joe Gagnon of Pinkerton, and Luke Tkaczyk of Coe-Brown, pulled away at the 1600 meter mark. Boesch-Dining got the win and the meet record with a time of 9:31.25. In the 4×400 Pinkerton went to the front and never looked back holding of Nashua North for the win in a time of 3:31.21.
In the field events Spencer of Pinkerton made it 3 for 3, winning the high jump with a clearance of 5’ 10”. It was Chris Mood of Portsmouth winning the pole vault with a vault of 12’ 6”. Andrew Kelly of Portsmouth took the long jump with a leap of 20’ 8”. Jaron Harrell of Pinkerton won the triple jump by almost 3 feet with a distance of 43’ 3”. Ryan Whitney of Exeter won the shot with a season best performance of 48’ 0.5”. Ryan Hagearty of Londonderry continued his dominance in the discus with a 146’ 2” bomb. Kevin Bartose of Timberlane launched a career best and first ever invitational win in the javelin with a throw of 152’1”.
On the girls side, Pinkerton Academy mixed in points all over putting the rest of D1 on notice heading into the final couple weeks of the season. They won the meet with 76 points followed by Exeter with 67, Salem with 62, North with 58, and Portsmouth with 54.
The girls meet started off with an exciting battle in the hurdles as Katya Rojco of Salem was able to hold off a charging Sydney Lewis of South and Camilla McAleer of Exeter to get the win in 15.70. Grace Devanny of Concord had a little tune-up race in the 100 meter before heading down to the Loucks Games. She cruised to victory in 12.53 ahead of freshman star Autumn Aronofsky of Salem.
In the 1600 meter run Adele Alexander of Merrimack was able to get the best of the rest of the field winning in a time of 5:21.26. In the 4×100, Portsmouth was able to fend off the D1 competition to get the win in 50.61. In the 400, Sarah Padellaro used a late charge to get the win in 59.27. In the 300 hurdles, Amelia Graves of Pinkerton was able to hold off Sydney Lavelle of Exeter to get the win in a very fast time of 46.13. The 800 meters came down to the last 50 meters as Silvia Caddell of Salem outkicked Macy Graves of Pinkerton with a winning time of 2:20.36. In the 200 meter run, Graves was able to double back and get the win with a time of 26.48 while her teammate Meghan Cross was able to claim victory in the 3200 with a time of 11:13.30. The Salem 4×400 meter relay team set the lone meet record of the girls meet holding off Exeter to get the win in 4:05.66.
In the field events, freshmen sensation Olivia Mazerolle of Nashua North got the win in the high jump with a height of 5’ 2”. Suzie Moore of Londonderry tied the meet record in the pole vault with a clearance of 10’6”. Rojco of Salem became a double event winner with a leap of 17’ 1” in the long jump. Julia Zhang of Nashua South continued her dominant season in the triple with a winning leap of 36’ 0.5”. Victoria Conrad of North won the shot put by more than 5 feet with a toss of 38’ 9.5”. Jordan Heiser of Exeter got the win in the discus with a launch of 111’ 10”. Aliana Mercado of Nashua North remained undefeated in the javelin with a throw of 114’ 3”.
Great job by all the teams, coaches, spectators, workers, and competitors and good luck on the rest of your season. D1 preview will be out in another 10-12 days!
