By Patrick O’Brien
This is the first installment of a Weekly Top 10 list, highlighting 10 of the best/most entertaining performances by New Hampshire athletes throughout the week. This is totally subjective, and I’m sure there are plenty of great performances that are not on the list. Please feel free to drop such performances into the comments section!
Bedford’s Chris Chong has a monster day at Bobcat, winning the 110 hurdles, 300 hurdles and 200.
Bedford’s Chong came to play on Saturday. He won and set a new state leading time in the 110h in 14.89, and then did the exact same thing in the 300h in 38.76. He is the first guy this season to break 15 and also the first to break 39. If that wasn’t enough, he came back to run the 200 shortly after and won that as well, taking down some of the best sprinters in the state in the process.
NH 3200 runners show out at Loucks Games with Oyster River’s Mackenzie Cook running 10:36.50 and Bishop Guertin’s Matt Giardina running 9:04.12.
Loucks Games is known around the region as one of the best places to run fast in the 3200. Every year we usually see a couple NH runners make the trip to White Plains, New York to mix it up with some of the best in the northeast. This year we saw Oyster River’s Mackenzie Cook place 5th in the girls race and Matt Giardina place 7th in the boys, both running by far the fastest time by a NH runner this season.
Bedford’s Anika Scott wins the 100h, 300h and Long Jump at Bobcat, PRing in both hurdles races.
Chong was not the only Bedford hurdler to take home some serious hardware at Bobcat, as Anika Scott set state leading times in the 100h at 14.45, and the 300h in 45.31. She also jumped 18’ 2” to win the long jump. Quite the day for one of New Hampshire’s very best.
Samuel Bruneau and Kevin Brooks become the 2nd and 3rd guys to break 11 in the 100m this year at separate meets, both running 10.99.
Hollis Brookline’s Bruneau and Windham’s Brooks join Bishop Brady’s Joshua Gentchos as the only guys to break that barrier this season. They both ran the exact same time, 10.99 with Bruneau’s victory coming at Milford’s Home Meet, and Brooks’ coming at Merrimack Invite. They both doubled back to win some pretty quick 200s as well, 22.33 for Brooks (a state lead) and 22.37 for Bruneau.
Fiona Lee runs 2:15.18 to win the girls 800 at Bobcat in a stacked field with 5 under 2:20.
We knew this race was going to be fast coming in, as many of the top Mid-D/Distance runners in the state were entered. Bedford’s Fiona Lee took the race out, and pulled away late to win in a state-leading 2:15.18. Newmarket’s Alanna Hagen was next in 2:16.19, then Oyster River duo of Mackenzie Cook and Haley Kavanagh in 2:17.89 and 2:18.94, followed by Winnacunnet’s Charlotte Koutalidis for 5th in 2:19.17. After this race, these are 5 of the 6 fastest 800 runners in the state.
Shoutout to Dover’s Anique Poulin for being the other one – she ran 2:15.89 at Louck’s Games this weekend.
Winnacunnet runs a 3:47.x in the mixed 4×4 at Bobcat – State Record??
One of the (many) fun things about Bobcat Invitational is the mixed 4×4 relay at the end of the meet. It is always interesting to see the different strategies that come into play. Winnacunnet blasted a 3:47, a very impressive time for a mixed 4×4 team. 3:47 feels like it could be a state record considering how infrequently the event is contested! Maybe Coach Nick Ricciardi can comment the official result if he is reading this.
Elias Warner throws 48’ 11.75” to take down Darius Smith by .25 inches at Merrimack.
Nashua North’s Darius Smith has probably been the best thrower in the state for the past couple of seasons, so it is always impressive to see anyone challenging him. Coe-Brown’s Elias Warner was up for the challenge this weekend, taking down Smith in a thriller, 48’ 11.75 to 48’ 11.5.
Neither of these guys actually had the farthest throw of the weekend though. That distinction goes to Bedford’s Eli Goumas, who won Bobcat in 50’ 2”. He joins Smith as the only guys over 50 feet this season.
Jacob Redman and Ryan Zumbach go 1-2 at Bobcat, running the 2 fastest 800 times in the state by far.
Coming off a 4:09 mile, Bedford’s Jacob Redman continued his hot streak, setting the state leading time in the 800 in 1:54.51. Winnacunnet’s Zumbach was not too far behind, finishing second in a very impressive 1:55.64. These two guys have a sizable lead on the rest of the state now, almost 3 full seconds.
Georgia Kondi wins Shot Put and Discus in dominant fashion at Belmont’s Home Meet.
Mascoma Valley’s Kondi was about as dominant as you can possibly be at Belmont’s meet on Friday. She won the Discus by over 46 feet, throwing 110’ 5” and moving up to #2 in the state. She won Shot Put by about 7.5 feet in 36’ 3”. This may not be her PR, but it is still a foot and a half farther than anyone else in the state this season.
Three girls jump 5’ 2” in High Jump at Merrimack Invitational, and Ella Goulas wins on misses.
It was shaping up to be a good High Jump competition at Merrimack, as Ellas Goulas of Concord, Petrina Ofori of Alvirne, and Danielle Bates of Timberlane were the three best in the state coming up. It was about as close as it can possibly get, as all three girls ended at 5’ 2”. Goulas ended up taking the win on misses.
