After one of the more friendly winters to train in, the day is finally here. The D2 Indoor Championships will be held at Plymouth State University for the first time. It’s a beautiful track facility which has been accommodating the Indoor track league over the past few years and is very excited to host the state championship meets. Unique to this year will be field events competing in their entirety first. This will allow the spotlight to be squarely on the long jump, shot put and high jump. We will also have separate livestreams for each one for those who cannot make the trip to Plymouth! Lancer Timing will once again be the timing company for our state championships and as always NH Track and Field will be there providing the livestreams, instagram coverage with athlete interviews, and snapping pics! In the meantime enjoy the preview below and check out our meet hub for everything!
Boys
Teams
Last year the Coe-Brown boys team won by scoring over 100 points. They certainly graduated many of those points, but what has materialized over the course of this season has been another title contender. On paper they are at around 76 points with an 18-point cushion over 2nd ranked Souhegan. About half or so of those points are from the CBNA distance crew. Don’t count out Souhegan however. They are notorious for superseding their seeds scoring more than forecasted on paper. An 18 point cushion could swing fairly quickly. These 2 by far and away are on the podium, just which platform will be decided come Sunday.
Sprints/ Hurdles
With NH sprinting enjoying a slew of contenders, D2 has the same level of parity as Division 1 with 3-5 athletes considered serious contenders to win the Dash. PCA’s Tim Kelm comes in as the top seed with a 6.49, but he has been beaten this year. At the same time, his seed time matches the D2 record. H/B’s Samuel Bruneau took the Dartmouth Relays title earlier this season showing he can win on the big stage. Just as experienced, and also with the knowledge of how to win is Bishop Brady’s Joshua Gentchos. He is already a multiple state champ over his great career and loves the state championship meet stage. Potential to crash this party certainly has to be Trinity’s Nehemiah Oyaronbi and/or Belmont’s Damien Sanborn.
The 300 is a similar story but with 3 different names at the top as Bishop Brady’s Alan Yap is the top seed with a 36.62. Breathing down his neck is the 2 seed, Hanover’s Aidan Bradley as well as Oyster River’s Talon Ouellette. Kelm is the 4th seed. With names like Gentchos and Bruneau in the penultimate heat, it is quite possible the state champion can come out of that heat as well.
The Hurdles also sees 3 title contenders with Pelham’s Colby Crear, Monadnock’s Gavin Lombara, and Souhegan’s Cole Henderson all have the pedigree and legit shots to win. Don’t overlook Hanover’s Aiden Powell, or Sanborn’s Ben Cardoso either. If you love close battles which the outcome is certainly in question, the sprints and the hurdles will be your thing on Sunday!
Middle Distance/ Distance
Unlike the sprints and hurdles, this category of 4 events sees the same name at the top of 3 of them as Coe-Brown’s Jamie Lano is the top seed in the 3k, 1k and 1500. The 3k will be first for which he has a 21 second cushion. Seeded at 8:41 and change, look for him to spell himself in this one as the 1k will be a quick turn around. Second seed is Souhegan’s Owen Stine, who is leading a pack within 7 seconds of each other. Con-Val’s Will Simard, PSA’s Jonas Teeter, and Hanover’s Andrew Valentino should form a pack and contend for the next spots with Stine after Lano.
As the defending 1k champ, Lano certainly knows how to win this event on this stage and has an 8 second virtual cushion over his teammate Sanjith Nomula. Lano’s best time, 2:28.57, ranks him #3 in the nation. Matter of fact, he has been under 2:30 twice this season, which is faster than the current D2 record of 2:32. John Stark’s Eli Lemire and Hanover’s Lucian Gleiser are seeded 3rd and 4th. Gleiser pushed Lano last year, look for him to do so again on Sunday.
MV’s Mychal Reynolds has been looking for competition all season. Many of his 600 races have been won from the front. While he is still the top seed in the 600, he will have company as Milford’s Daniel Sixon, PCA’s Ivan Sturgis, and Souhegan’s Dallen Noorda are all within a second of Reynolds.
Finally the 1500 could possibly be last man standing as the entire top 6 will be doubling or tripling back. Behind Lano as the top seed is Stine, Nomula, Teeter, Lemire and Simard. We still like Lano in this situation as it is safe to say, he will not be shooting for fast times, just titles and the accompanying valuable points for his team.
Field Events
The High Jump sees 2 top seeds as Souhegan’s Brody Smith and Trinity’s Rere Edokpolo have both cleared 6’2″ this season. With 6 others seeded at 6’0″, this event will be one of the more hotly contested on the day. While Plymouth’s Gabriel Kean is the only long jumper with a seed over 21′, he has company a few inches behind him with Trinity’s Anthony DiGantommaso and John Stark’s Rio Calle are just a few inches behind. Top seed in the Shot is Coe-Brown’s Elias Warner with a season’s best 47’8″. He will bring his best as Newport veteran, Kyle Ashley is seeded 2nd.
Relays
The 4×800 will certainly set the tone for the team battle as Coe-Brown and Souhegan are the top 2 seeds separated by ~1 second. However, Milford has, in the past, loaded up this relay to take a shot at the win here. The 4×400 sees Coe-Brown as the top seed, with Milford seeded #2 in this one. Souhegan is in the fast heat with them so yes this team title may be decided by this relay. Coe-Brown will want to do well in the aforementioned relays as Souhegan has the top seed by over 1 second in the 4×200. So if CBNA has not wrapped up the team title by the final relay, watch out!
Girls
Teams
As described in the season preview, the Oyster River girls are the juggernaut of Division 2, and this has been confirmed. On paper they have over 100 points with a 70 point cushion. They have points coming from, well, everywhere. This type of metric is as close to a guarantee as one can get. The real battle will be for the runner-up plaque as Kearsarge, Kennett, Newmarket and Sanborn all are at between 30 and 32 points on paper. This will be fun to watch.
Sprints/Hurdles
As with last year, Kennett’s Aida Wheat is the overwhelming favorite to win yet another state title in the Dash. Seeded at 7.50, Milford’s Keely Giordano is the 2nd seed with Kingswood’s Kylie Rapoza 3rd seed at 7.65 and Gilford freshman Macy Sawyer 4th seed at 7.66. Interestingly enough, Sawyer is the top seed inn the 300 with a 42.77. The young upstart will be trying to fend off some incredible veterans in the likes of Rapoza, Oyster River’s Erin Carty and Newport’s Maddox Lovely. Carty and Lovely will have already duked it out in the High Hurdles once the 300 meters rolls around where Carty the top seed at 8.80 to Lovely’s 8.91. Don’t overlook Pelham’s Reese Nicolosi in this event either. After all it is the hurdles and anything can happen.
Middle Distance/ Distance
Want to get an idea regarding Oyster River’s dominance? Look no further than the 3000 meters as they have the top 3 seeds all under 11:00 and with a 25+ second cushion on 4th seed. Top seed Mackenzie Cook’s best time over the season has actually been 10:00, which is 13th in the nation. If she decided to, she could take a shot at the D2 record which is 9:58.10. Look for Haley Bezanson and Neely Roy to figure out 2nd and 3rd. Looks as if no one wanted to take on Newmarket’s Alanna Hagen in the 1k. We don’t blame them. She is tough in all caps, owning this event, seeded at 3:00.34. Look for Goffstown’s Kara Tschida to nab second here.
The 600 could be the closest race of the day as Bow’s Hannah Pawlowski is seeded first in 1:44.17 with Sanborn’s Lily Tedford and Kennett’s Piper Lopashanski hot on her heels both at 1:45 and change. The 1500 could see another possible assault on the Division 2 record. Both Mackenzie Cook and Haley Kavanagh are top seeds both at 4:43. Cook is doubling back off the 3k, but Kavanagh will be relatively fresh. It is conceivable she could take a realistic shot at the record held by one Rachel Schneider set back in 2009.
Field Events
The High Jump will be a close affair between Kearsarge teammates Amelia Lefebrvre and Maelle Jacques as well as Somersworth’s Savanna Comeau as they all have cleared 5′ this season. The Long Jump sees West’s Eshaya Lauder with a close to 10″ cushion over Newport’s Lovely. Look for Oyster River’s Avery Baumgardt and Bow’s Charlotte Larochelle, both sophomores, to factor in as well. Finally in the shot put, Mascoma Valley’s Georgia Kondi is the top seed by over 3 feet. Look for Coe-Brown’s Isabelle Grenier, Gilford’s Abby Kenyon and Sanborn’s Paige Chesbro to battle it out for 2nd.
Relays
Newmarket has the top seed in the 4×800 with a 10:13.99. Watch out for Oyster River here though. If they decide to, they have the depth to run this relay quite fast. The Bobcats are the top seed in the 4×400 with an insurmountable 15+ second cushion on 2nd seed Sanborn. Seeded at 1:27.90, Kennett, with Aida Wheat anchoring is the strong favorite to win the 4×200 as the next seed is 3+ seconds behind them as Oyster River is at 1:31.16.
Good luck everyone.
