Even though the Division 1 Championships were held on the Seacoast, it was certainly the Gate City ruled as Nashua North swept the
team titles at Winnacunnet during the 2-day Championships. They did it in typical Nashua North fashion – strength in the field events! Event replays at bottom of post!
The girls kicked it off on Thursday afternoon. Following their theme, the Titans scored 60 of their 83 points in the field! The High Jump queen, Olivia Mazerolle cleared 5’4″ to win as predicted with her teammate Kelechi Okorie placing 3rd when she cleared 5’0″ on less misses than 4th place Kailey Dillon of Merrimack. BG freshman Audrey Murrin had a great day clearing 5’2″.
The high jump was good, but the Shot Put and Javelin was where 
North amassed 42 points! Led by Victoria Conrad, North took the top 3 places! Conrad won with a chuck of 39’7.5″. Natalie Burgess and Madelyn Novak were 2nd and 3rd respectively both over 35′. Super-soph Novak won the Javelin with a toss of 123’4″ with teammate Aliana Mercado placing 2nd with a 114’2″ throw. Novak came in 4th in the Discus for another 4 points. Another sophomore, Pinkerton’s Briana Danis won the disc with a state leading toss of 127’5″!
In the other vertical jump, Londonderry senior Sophie Hagymas cleared 9’6″ to win on misses over Christine Ghirardi from Winnacunnet in the pole vault. Hagymas’s teammate, Ashley Griffin placed 3rd.
Long Jump saw Nashua South senior Natalie Boyle win with a jump of 16’4.25″. BG’s Grace Jones placed second as the only other jumper over 16′. Concord frosh Ayva Mullen placed 3rd in the Long Jump, but won the Triple Jump by the narrowest of margins
of 1/4″ over Exeter’s Autumn Agri.
The track saw Bedford’s Taryn Naftali outlean South’s Soraya Ross 12.43 to 12.44. Ross and teammate Madeline Stevens (3rd in the 100) went 1-2 in the 200 in another close one, 25.74 to 25.79.
Naftali’s teammate Sheridan McGadden literally ran away with the high hurdles posting an incredible time of 14.88! Portsmouth’s April Weeks was second in 15.61. Exeter’s Sydney Lavelle won the 300Hurdles over North’s Mazerolle. Weeks was third putting in a fine day.
The 400 saw Winnacunnet’s Kylee Quinlan won as expected posting a time of 58.78. Dover’s Ashlyn Smith was 2nd out-leaning Portsmouth freshman Lily Jenkins. In one of the closest races of the day, Bedford’s Carly Rinko edged BG’s Fiona Doherty 2:20.24 to 2:20.96.
Doherty was doubling back from a strong 4th place finish (5:17.44) in the 1600 which saw her teammate Mary-Kate Finn win in 5:11.07. Concord’s Molly Nyhan was 2nd in 5:14 and North’s Dantia Braccio was 3rd in 5:17.35. The 3200 saw a return to glory for South’s Cali Coffin as she made a strong move with a few laps to go to win in 11:21.73.
In the end North totaled 83 points to Nashua South’s 72 points with defending champs Exeter just a few points back with 67 points.
Boys
The boys team competition was not as close with Nashua North flexing their muscles winning by 35+ points over runner-up Concord. As per their tradition, fields events were their bread and butter. Jack Sullivan led things off winning a tight High Jump competition on less misses clearing 5’10”. Bedford’s William Pagliarulo and Adam Lacroix finished 2nd and 3rd. Sullivan had a great day finishing 2nd in the Triple and 5th in the Long. Pagliarulo also placed 2nd in the pole vault right behind Concord’s Nate Muller via misses as both cleared 12’6″.
Exeter’s Michael Dettore swept the horizontal jumps winning the Long Jump with a pop of 20’11” and 42’0.5″ in the Triple. Pinkerton’s Ryan Dane was 2nd in the Long also over 20′. North also snagged 3rd in the Triple with Xavier Provost.
In the throws, Nashua North’s Jack Washam and Lucas Cunningham made it a Titan sweep as both won the Discus and Javelin
respectively. Cunningham tossed the disc 164’9″ to win over Chandler Sutton (149’8″) of Spaulding. Washam won the Discus with a toss of 134’0″ to best Pinkerton’s Daniel Powers 126’6″. As expected South’s, Jason Compoh won the Shot Put with a mark of 49’7.75″.
On the track, Ben Fleming of Bedford got off to a great start winning the 100m in 11.34, but North countered by placing 2nd (Connor Dunning), 3rd (Isaac Smith), 5th (Arthur Santos) and 6th (Curtis Harris-Lopez). Dunning came back to take the 200 in 22.55 over Salem’s Aidan McDonald’s 23.26.
The 400 saw Winnacunnet’s Zachary Valhouli win with a time of 50.52. Kevin Casey (Spaulding) and Nate Fletcher (Portsmouth) had to be decided to the thousandth of a second with Casey earning the runner-up position.
The distance events featured 2 of the best in NH history. Concord’s Eben Bragg began things in the 1600 repelling a hard surge by Pinkerton’s Stephen Connelly to win 4:16.95 to 4:18.34. Londonderry’s Matthew Griffin powered to the 800 meter win with a 1:54.57. Dover’s Jeremiah Payeur placed second with a 1:56.58 with Connelly doubling back strong to place 3rd in 1:57.04.
In the 3200, BG’s Nathaneal Fondakowski courageously attacked the first mile and opened up a sizable lead over the rest of the field going through the 1600 on 9:17 pace. At this point he had a 9-second lead on Bragg. Over the second half, Bragg gradually cut into lead which was 8 seconds with 3 to go, and 5 seconds with 2 to go. On the penultimate lap, Bragg caught Fondakowski dropping a 61.96 last lap to win in 9:21.74 compared to Fondakowski’s 9:33.54.
Team champ Nashua North also made their presence felt in the relays as they won the 4×100 in 43.64 to Portsmouth’s 44.49. The
4×800 began the day on the track as Keene continues to win this event by posting a time of 8:19.79 over Bedford’s 8:22.54. Poetically, host school Winnacunnet concluded the meet by winning the 4×400 in 3:28.32.
Team-wise, Nashua North was simply the best track and field program in D1 this season. Congrats to their athletes and coaches. Concord won the race for second by less than 4 points over 3rd place Pinkerton. Congrats to all! See everyone this coming weekend at Sanborn for MOCs! And a special thanks to Winnacunnet for hosting! A special, special thanks to the officials and LancerTiming. This week was certainly a marathon of meets!
