MEET RECORDS, MEET RECORDS, MEET RECORDS! This was the mantra yesterday as Sanborn began a new NHTF tradition by hosting its first Sanborn Invitational. And with it being the original, every event winner, including relays, set meet records! Hence it was a record setting day on what turned out to be incredible weather. As mentioned in the preview, MV and its wonderful track and field community had been the home for this meet over the past 21 years. Graciously they offered the baton to Sanborn which hit the ground running, doing a tremendous job for a school’s first time! Congratulations on a great event to all!
The larger congrats goes to the athletes!!! Certain names were mentioned throughout the day as you will see in the recap below. Everything was captured via our livestream broadcast which is housed on our NHTF YouTube Channel as well as conveniently linked below.
Sprints & Hurdles
On the girls side the couple names in this category were Coe-Brown’s Anushka Chavda and Plymouth’s Katherine Luehrs. With both winning earlier events, Chavda the 100 (12.87) and Luehrs (the 100m High Hurdles), the 200 meters towards the end of the meet was, let’s say, a mini-showdown! And it did not disappoint as Chavda seemingly had the lead coming off the turn to have Luehrs come up even. In the last 10 meters, the senior Luehrs gained a half a step on Chavda to win 26.03 to 26.17. Luehrs made this a habit yesterday as she came from behind in the Highs to overtake Coe-Brown’s Natalie Sicard, who demonstrated a brilliant set of hurdling, to win 16.34 to 16.52. The 300 Hurdles saw Newfound’s Stacia Paul win a close one over Oyster River’s Erin Carty 50.72 to 51.39.
MV’s Seth Baylus continued to show why he is the big man on the NHTF campus winning the 100m Dash in 10.75. While this is
faster than his current state record and FAT, it will not be ratified as the new record since the wind was not measured (typical of a regular season invitational). Behind Baylus however is a rising star in Lebanon’s Nyeoti Punni, who crossed the line in 11.10. Punni came back to win the 200 in an impressive 22.48. He was followed by Conant’s Ethan Vitello, who had himself a day (more on him later). In the High Hurdles, Cole Ahern made it a Plymouth sweep taking that one in 16.59 while Windham’s Henry Ntoro rolled to the win in the 300 Hurdles in 43.30.
Middle Distance
Monadnock’s Liliana Chirichella took the 400 easily in 60.99 as opposed to the fantastic finish we saw in the 800 between a freshman and a senior! Kennett freshman Piper Lopashanski won by a hair over Hopkinton senior Cailey Stockwell 2:28.81 to 2:28.82. Keep an eye on Lopashanzki as Stockwell is a highly decorated season veteran who one has to earn wins against.
On the boys side, Sanborn junior Brady Ash powered away from the field to win the 400 in 50.81. Oyster River’s Ty Dorrow was 2nd in 51.45 edging Kearsarge’s JJ Davis. Monadnock senior Mitchell Hill took the win in the 800 at 2:00.90 with Windham’s Michael Killian placing second in 2:02.09.
Distance
One change Sanborn did make was to place the 3200 meters as the first event of the day. So, by virtue of her win in the 3200 meters, Hopkinton’s Hannah Bennett set the first meet record at the Sanborn Invitational. Part of a pack of 3, Bennett pulled away over the final few laps to win in 12:21.26 to Hanover’s Sarah Glueck’s 12:25.19 and Leb’s Isabella Hasting’s 12:29.80. True to her seed, Oyster River freshman Haley Kavanaugh won the 1600 in 5:25.85. She had company though as MV’s Sophia Reynolds kept her honest to finish in 5:28.70.
On the boys side, Leb’s Birhanu Harriman continued to rise among the ranks of distance runners in NH as he battled with Sanborn’s
Jared Khalil and Oyster River’s Dillon Labonte. Employing a strong final lap of 66, Harriman pulled away from a never-say-die effort of Khalil to win in 9:32.28 to 9:37.36. Labonte crossed in 3rd in 9:43.92. Another name to watch has to be Pierce Seigne of Hanover. After battling with Gilford’s Patrick Gandini through 3 laps, the senior dropped a 57 second final lap to win in 4:24 to Gandini’s 4:29.
Jumps
Hanover has seemed to corner the market in the High Jump as Emma Kleber took the win by clearing 5’0″. Coe-Brown’s Makena Lee won the pole vault by 2 feet clearing 9’6″. Her teammate Josephine Malloy was 2nd in 7’6″. Malloy had a nice day as she came back later to win the Long Jump with a leap of 16’5″, two inches better than 2nd place Malina Bohlmann of Newfound. Hopkinton’s Grace Hall who placed 4th in long jump won the Triple soaring 35’1″. Coe-Brown’s Olivia Buzzell was second with a mark of 32’00”.
Hanover junior Ian Solberg continues to be atop the High Jump scene winning by clearing 6’2″ to Conant freshman Ben Sawyer who cleared 6′. Watch Sawyer this season as he quietly had a strong invitational debut. He came back to win the Long Jump with a leap of 20’6″ over Conant’s Vitello who also jumped over 20′. Don’t feel bad for Vitello though as he won the Triple with a hop, skip and jump of 41’10”! Second was Gilford’s Anthony Haddocks who also broke 40′. Oyster River’s Ethan Bessette was the pole vault winnah clearing 11’3″. There was a 2nd place tie with a pair of Coe-Brown athletes who cleared 10’0″ with Finn Hill and Zach Blades.
Throws
Aptly named Paulina Huckins (Newfound) won the Shot in a great competition with Natalie Riley (CBNA). Huckins tossed a 36’3″ to Riley’s 35’6.25″. Again, don’t feel bad for the runner up as Riley came back to win the discus by over 17′ with a spin of 111’3″. The javelin saw Tasha MacNeil (Con-Val) edge Hopkinton’s Elise Miner by 2 inches winning with a mark of 102’11”. Coe-Brown newcomer
Annika Gunderson threw an impressive 101’1″ in her invitational debut.
On the boys side, Goffstown’s Antonio Kapos won with a toss of 46’9.5″ to Conant’s Garett Somero’s 43’2″ toss. Leb’s Tanner Ames won the Discus by 11′ with a mark of 126’2″ on his final throw. Not to be outdone, Oyster River’s Jayson Blaisdell won the javelin by 21′ with a monster mark of 171’0″.
Congrats to all athletes, coaches and especially the host Sanborn! Great Invitational!!!
-NHTF
