NHIAA State Division Championship Meet Hub
Results Courtesy of Lancer Timing
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Friday Night Lights were in full effect as the best of Division 2 competed for state championships on a near perfect weather day at Oyster River High School in Durham. Hosting their first state championship at their state of the art track and field facility, the Oyster River community certainly were gracious hosts who pulled off a first class event. As always, the hosts could only be upstaged by the great student-athletes of NH, and what a show they put on!
Girls
Entering the meet, it seemed to be a 2-team battle between Rt 4 Rivals Oyster River and Coe-Brown with the Bobcats having the slight edge on paper on the 2-time defending champ Black Bears. We were treated to a great track and field meet, so through the recap we will sprinkle in how CBNA pulled off their 3rd consecutive outdoor state title.
In the Field
The Field events got an hour head start on the track events, so that is where we will begin the recap! Pre-meet favorite, Goffstown’s Penelope Annis cleared 5’0″ to win the D2 title. Lebanon’s Isabella Hastings placed 2nd on misses clearing 4’10” with Souhegan’s Ashereka Primmer placing third. Con-Val junior Elise Robbins won the pole vault clearing 8’6″ to Oyster River’s Sophie Durant’s and Hanover’s Mia Bagnato’s 8’0″ clearances.
The Long Jump saw West’s Eshaya Lauder hold her top seed winning with a jump 
of 17’1.25″. Placing second was Oyster River freshman Avery Baumgardt. Goffstown Maya Thomas was 3rd jumping 16’00. Important to note for the team title competition, Coe-Brown’s Natalie Sicard, Alexis Cowan and Josephine Malloy placing 4th-6th respectively. Those 3 also placed in order but slightly better garnering points for 3rd through 6th in the Triple Jump. This event was won by Milford’s Annalise Nassy who hopped skipped and jumped to a mark of 35′ even. Pembroke’s Ty Valley was second with a mark of 32’4.5″.
The Shot Put saw Milford’s Kylie Allen perform to her seed winning by almost 4 feet with a toss of 35’7″. West’s Helena Jackson was second and MV’s Victoria Leak was third. Similar to the jumps, Coe-Brown packed 3 scorers in this event also as Sadie Scruton, Madeleine Grenier, and Isabelle Grenier placed 4th-6th respectively.
Madeleine Grenier was certainly throwing the shot with great confidence and adrenaline coming off a surprise D2 title in the discus with a mark of 108’6″. MV’s Leak was 2nd and Milford’s Allen was 3rd. The javelin saw Pembroke’s Natalie Longacre become the champ with a throw of 115’7″. Coe-Brown’s Emma Zeblisky was 2nd, and Annika Gunderson was 3rd. The Black Bears scored 16 total points here, as their teammate Jacqueline Heilshorn placed a valuable 5th.
In the end CBNA scored 53 of their 108 points in the field.
On the Track
While Coe-Brown was rolling in the field events, they kicked things off in winning style by winning the 4×800 on the track in 10:16.33. Plymouth battling the entire way in a gutsy race placed 2nd in 10:31.21 with Merrimack Valley 3rd.
The hurdles came down to a lean with Hollis/Brookline freshman Grace Dow edging CBNA senior Natalie Sicard 16.55 to 16.60. Pembroke’s Zoie Wall was third in 17.06. In always a great competition, Kennett’s queen of sprinting Aida Wheat defended her title in the 100 winning in 12.44 over Coe-Brown’s Anushka Chavda (12.56) and Oyster River’s Erin Carty (12.70).
The 1600 held true to Oyster River’s team plan as Haley Kavanagh and Mackenzie Cook took the top 2 places in 5:09.32 and 5:10.47. Cook outleaned Hanover freshman Lea Perreard by only .01 in an extremely exciting finish.
The 4x100s then took to the track and in somewhat of a surprise but significantly contributing to their team title chances, Coe-Brown defended their D2 title winning off a blazing anchor by Chavda in 51.03. Kennett was second in 51.81 
with Milford 3rd in 51.86.
Kingswood’s Kylie Rapoza won a highly competitive 400 in 60.17, with Hollis/Brookline’s Lilly Bouchard 2nd and Kennett’s Piper Lopashanski 3rd. All three are sophomores, so we have another 2 years to watch some great 1 lap races.
Erin Carty continued a busy day returning to her specialty, the 300 hurdles winning easily with a 44.84. Looking forward to seeing this race at MOCs! Pembroke’s Zoie Wall was second in 48.40 with freshman Dow of HB third in 48.92.
Kavanagh became a double D2 State champ winning the 800 in 2:17.49. Goffstown soph Kara Tschida was 2nd with Kennett senior Shannon Abrams third.
Repeating their order from the 100, Wheat, Chavda and Carty placed 1st-3rd respectively. Wheat became a double D2 State Champion for the second consecutive year. Wow!
The 3200 saw OR’s Cook complete the Bobcat sweep of the distance events winning in a
rather comfortable 11:20.34. Behind her, Perreard and Coe-Brown senior Sheldyn Fisher were battling the entire way culminating with Perreard placing 2nd and Fisher placing a gutsy third.
In the 4×400, Oyster River showed its championship level heart by outleaning Kingswood by .02 to win 4:11.25 to 4:11.27! Hollis/Brookline was also in this mix finishing third in 4:12.77.
Teamwise the Rt 4 Rivals did make it a 2 team race with CBNA totaling 108.33 points to Oyster River’s 91. For Coe-Brown, they scored slightly more than half their points on the track. This has been the hallmark of this streak; a balanced complete team.
Boys
On paper, team-wise, this Coe-Brown was a strong favorite to win their 4th consecutive team title, with Oyster River keeping them honest. Unfortunately for the Bobcats, and all track fans really, Ty Dorow had to pull up in his prelim 100 and would not be able to compete. That was potentially 30 individual points taken off the board for the Bobcats. So, this truly became a demonstration of Coe-Brown’s total team, which is comprised of relative senior superstars combined with incredible depth and the ability to score almost everywhere.
In the Field
Oyster River scored an expected bunch of points in the High Jump as Daniel Doherty IV, Thomas Fogg and Cameron Faulkner placed 2nd-4th to accumulate 18 points. The disputed king of the High Jump this year, Hanover’s Ian Solberg added another crown clearing 6’4″.
In one of the first surprises of the day, CBNA senior Zachary Blades won the pole vault clearing 12’0″ in the process. Con-Val’s Jack Harris was 2nd clearing 11’6″. Plymouth’s Cole Ahern placed 3rd on misses clearing 11’0″ as did Lebanon’s Noah Lamontagne. Of important note teamwise, CBNA’s Finn Hill cleared 11’0″ to place 5th here giving CBNA 12 points.
The horizontals saw a sophomore win the Long Jump as John Stark’s Rio Calle soared 21’3″. CBNA senior Matthew Corriveau, seeded out of the scoring on paper, placed 2nd (20’9.25″) to earn a valuable 8 points . Hanover’s Solberg brothers, Nathanial and Ian placed 3rd and 4th. Pembroke’s Gavin Currier won the Triple by 3.5″ with a mark of 40’9.5″ to Hollis/Brookline’s Marcus McCammack’s 40’6″. Souhegan’s Jackson Steckbeck was 3rd also over 40′.
Lebanon’s Tanner Ames saved the best for last as he won the shot on his final bomb of 49’3.5″. Milford’s Keagan Hatch placed second with a 47’6.75″ also
off his final throw (what a competition). CBNA’s Zachary Bistany placed 3rd off his first throw of 45’2.75″. Pembroke’ss Jimmy Valotto was 3rd, St. Thomas’s Calvin Sununu 5th and CBNA’s Elias Warner was 6th.
CBNA’s Bistany took that momentum to the Discus where he was favored for the win and delivered with a bomb of his own, 157’10”. Ames was 2nd with 147’2″. Hanover’s James Chafouleas placed 3rd with a 145’10”. Coe-Brown had 2 more scorers here as Warner placed 4th and teammate Liam Wheeler placed 5th. That was 16 valuable points for the Black Bears.
Chafouleas won the Javelin with an absolute bomb of 172’2″! Kingswood’s Caleb Russo was second with a 155′ throw while Ames placed in his 3rd event with a throw of 141’3″. CBNA’s Warner and Wyatt Olofson picked up another 3 points placing 5th and 6th respectively.
Collectively, Coe-Brown scored 46 points in the field.
On the Track
The 4×800 kicked things off on the track with Lebanon and Coe-Brown battled the entire way. In the end Lebanon pulled away for the win in 8:10.80 to CBNA’s 8:12.95. Important to note here, CBNA did not use their core 4 here, so they could be fresh for individual events.
The High Hurdles saw Plymouth’s Cole Ahern win the division title in a 15.28. Souhegan’s Cole Henderson was 2nd in 15.76 a half a step ahead of 3rd place Hanover’s Aiden Powell’s 15.89.
Dorow’s teammate sophomore Talon Ouellette stepped up big in the 100 winning on an absolute lean 11.36 to Con-Val’s Kendrick Edwards’s 11.37! Both are just sophomores by the way. West’s Edwen Rodriguez was third in 11.48.
While Coe-Brown was accumulating points across the field events, they really scored a ton in the 1600. While Aidan Cox did his thing running solo the entire way setting a new Divisional record of 4:12.22, his teammates were charged with taking the next few places and that they did. Tyler Tkaczyk made a strong move on the back stretch to place 2nd in 4:23.24. 800 meter entrants Jamie Lano and Gavin Demas ran a controlled last hundred to place 3rd and 4th respectively both in 4:25 completing the top 4 sweep to score a whopping 28 points.
Hanover won the 4×100 in 44.11 to West’s 44.46 and it was becoming apparent the Bears of Hanover were scoring points across a number of events as well to become contenders for the runner-up plaque.
This point was hammered home in the 400 and 300 meter Hurdles as Hanover’s Lucien Gleiser timed his final push perfectly to unexpectedly win the 400 in 51.22 to Hollis/Brookline’s Matthew McLaughlin’s 51.26. MV’s Bishow Thapa was 3rd in 51.51. Gleiser’s teammate, Aiden Powell then won the 300m Hurdles with a 41.05. Milford’s Adam Holodowski was 2nd in 41.81 and Tyler Wallace was 3rd crossing the line in 42.12. The Hanover Bears were making
a move for the runner-up plaque.
The 800 had the makings of a showdown; a great race. Smartly Oyster River’s Chris Jernigan took the lead to push the pace on Demas and Lano who were doubling back from the 1600 an hour earlier. Jernigan kept the pressure up the entire way, but Demas would take the lead with 250m or so to go to win in a Division record of 1:54.37 to Jernigan’s 1:55.98 and Lano’s 1:57.67. CBNA picked up another 16 points here.
OR’s Ouellette was back at it in the 200 winning in 22.83. CBNA’s Corriveau placed a surprising second here continuing a great day for him in 23.16. John Stark’s Logan Montgomery placed 3rd in 23.30.
In the 3200, Cox once again went to the front but this time with Lebanon’s Birhanu Harriman in tow for the first 3 laps. Both broke away from the pack and by the mile, which he went through in 4:30, Cox had cleared from Harriman with a 66 second lap. Cox would drop a 61.24 final lap to break the proverbial tape in 8:57.63, another Division 2 record. Harriman’s early race strategy paid off as he would fly to second place in 9:20.01. Behind them, Tkaczyk made a big move on the 6th lap to separate from the pack eventually placing 3rd in 9:45.36. Souhegan’s Owen Stine continued his breakout season taking 4th in 9:46 while CBNA’s Nikhil Chavda was 5th in 9:47. CBNA scored another 18 points here.
With the meet won, Coe-Brown still placed an exclamation point on their 4th consecutive title winning the 4×400 in 3:27.89 anchored by Demas’s 49.90 anchor leg. MV was a strong second with a 3:30.07, with Hanover 3rd in 3:30.33 outleaning Hollis/Brookline’s 3:30.37.
In total CBNA totaled 135 points, the most in their string of 4 titles, perhaps the most ever on the D2 level? Hanover would take the opportunity and accumulate an impressive 88 points for second. Congrats to all!!! Onto the MOCs!
