NHIAA Division State Championships Meet Hub
By Mike Smith 
Saturday evening’s weather set up for a fantastic night of competition at the Division 3 State Championships, this year held at UNH. With the jumbotron lit up, the performances were as big and bright as it was. The word of the day was “sweep” as Kearsarge won both the boys and girls titles. The girls did it on the back of Mya Dube, who herself scoring 30 points individually while quadrupling back to anchor their winning 4×400 meter team. (That’s 40 of their 80 points!)
Other sweepers were Campbell’s Jeffrey Allen in the 1600, 800 and 3200, Janiah Young of Stevens in the 100 and 200, Taima Ronish of White Mountains in the 100HH and 300IH, InterLakes Emma Wheeler in the pole vault and Triple jump, Newfound girls in the shot put (1-2-3), Mason Martell of Newport in the 110HH and 300IH. Wilton’s Sam Bailey in shot and disc, and Hillsborough Deering’s Ben Ketterer in the long jump and 100.
Girls
Throws
In the shot put, the Newfound trio of Ashlee Dukette, Paulina Huckins and Ocean Skoog destroyed the field, out throwing fourth place by more than a foot (34-10.5, 33-7.25, 31-4). Skoog was back in the discus, finishing second behind Winnisquam’s Shannon Goodwin who threw 90-5. InterLakes Mollie Durand out threw Dukette by three feet in the javelin, 108-11 to 105-9.
Jumps
Emma Wheeler of InterLakes bested the field and teammate Greta Achenbach in the pole vault with a jump of 8 feet. The Drew sisters of Conant were able to dislodge Wheeler in the long jump with first (Abby) and second (Haylie) But Wheeler was able to turn the tables on Haylie in the triple jump (34-00.25.) Campbell’s Tori Allen won the high jump, repeating as champ and jumping 5-2 in the process.
Sprints/Hurdles
Steven’s Janiah Young commanded the short sprints, winning both the 100 and 200 over Laconia’s Skyler Tautkus (13.21 and 27.25). Tautkus was able to take the 400 over Gilford’s Natalie Fraser (60.72.) Taima Ronish of White Mountains ruled the roost so to speak, winning both hurdle events. Kearsarge’s Kate Cochran and Campbell’s Tori Allen flip flopped in the #2 and #3 spots in those events.
Mid Distance/Distance
This was the Mya Dube show. On top and rolling, Dube’s in a class by herself. While the races look a lot closer on paper and the times nothing to brag about, Dube set about winning the 800, 1600 and 3200 as easy as possible, getting ready for next week’s showdown with the top of D2 and D1 schools. Portsmouth Christian’s Liza Corso wasn’t interested in giving Dube anything and pressed her in the 800 and 1600 until Dube cranked up a gear change or two and shot forward for the win. Dube’s teammates Jenna Bears and Lilly Baer joined her in the point scoring onslaught in the distance events.
Relays
Stevens with Young at the anchor won the 4×100 relay over Belmont in 51.78. The Dube-anchored Kearsarge team won the 4×400 over Gilford in 4:12.99. The Portsmouth Christian 4×800 team won handily over Hopkinton with Corso leading them to 10:10.82
Team
Kearsarge won their first girls track title in school history amassing 80 points to InterLakes 49 points. Conant with some big points from the Drew sisters finish third with 45 points, tied with Young’s Stevens team. Fifth place would go to Newfound, with more than half their 40 points coming from the shot put.
Boys
Throws
Wilton’s Sam Bailey would win both the shot put and discus, breaking 50 in the shot and 150 in the discus. Bailey beat NH leader, Campbell’s Joshua Hoffman in the disc and Newfound’s Mason Dalphonse in the shot. Gilford’s Korey Weston beat Somersworth’s Brogan Bonsaint by just under seven feet with a throw of 154-9.
Jumps
White Mountain’s Jack Parker won the high jump on countbacks over Newfound’s Reid Wilkins, both clearing 6-2. Parker got one upped by Fall Mountains Wyatt Lord who had a fantastic day defeating the returning champ by 9 inches clearing 12-3. Inter-Lakes Owen Billin got pressed by Hillsborough Deerings Ben Ketterer in the triple jump, both clearing 41+ feet. Ketterer would get the win in the long jump with 20-7.25, with InterLakes Eli Dupigny and White Mountains Kevin Schanlaber out over 20 feet.
Sprints/Hurdles
Ketterer would also best the field in the 100, running 12.01 to Kearsarge’s JJ Davis in 21.03. Hunter Hixman of Winnisquam would win the 200 in 24.17 over Inter-Lakes Dupigny. Monadnock’s Harry Ryan would sneak a win in over Davis in the 400, winning 51.96 to 52.10. Newport’s Mason Martell would command the hurdles, winning the 110HH over Kearsarge’s Ben Corbyn in 15.30, and the 300IH over Newfound’s Matt Libby in 41.51
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Mid Distance/Distance
This would be the Jeffrey Allen show, much the same way it was the Mya Dube show on the girls side. Allen would be pushed by Belmont’s Zach Ennis in the 1600 and 800. Both athletes were willing to let Kearsarge’s Ben Boulton to lead the 1600 at 4:45 pace before things started to heat up after the 900 meter mark. Allen controlled the race to a 4:37.36 over Ennis’s 4:37.48. Allen powered home over Ennis in the 800 meters as well in 2:01.84. Allen was content to let Mascenic’s Landen Vaillancourt lead most of the 3200 before taking control and rolling to a ten second win over Fall Mountains George Gowdy.
Relays
Trinity would win both the 4×100 and 4×400, beating Kearsarge in 45.32 and Belmont in 3:34.71. Winnisquam would earn a nice victory over top seed Mascenic, running 8:22.30 to win.
Team
Kearsarge would win this one by 11 points over the Jeffrey Allen led Campbell, 68 to 57. Trinity would end up third with 48 points, with White Mountains (43) and Hillsborough Deering (38) rounding out the top five.
