New Hampshire Winter Track League Hub
Welcome to our first season preview of the 2025 season! NH Indoor Track and Field started this past week and teams are already preparing for the first week of the NH Winter Track League Meets this coming weekend. Reminder to all, WTL Hub contains schedules, rules, notes to coaches, qualifying standards, facility maps and more! Kudos to Mike Lyford, Amy Sanborn and crew for all the preseason work to continue the most user friendly season on the calendar! Seriously, yes they take care of the traditional league meets, but lets not overlook the JV meets as well on the schedule. These meets are overlooked regarding their importance to kids.
Girls
Last year we asked the question, can anyone compete with Oyster River?? And the answer was a definitive, “NO!” as they won the team title by 64 points…totaling 100 points. This places the OR girls in rarified air among only a handful of squads who have ever broken a 100 points as a team at any indoor state championship. Although they lose superstar point monopolizer Erin Carty to matriculation, they still are undoubtedly the favorites with names like Haley Kavanagh and Mackenzie Cook along with a host of younger talented athletes. There is no other way to look at it. Of the 10 individual events, they have returners in 8 of them. Throw in relays, for which they will have the depth for, and the grand total could be in the 70s or more once again. The real team competition will be for the runner-up plaque. Teams with seemingly the most returning points include Coe-Brown, Kingswood, Belmont, Gilford and Sanborn.
Sprints & Hurdles
For the past couple years there has been one name as the queen of NH sprinting, so with Kennett’s Aida Wheat graduating, the big question is who will take over on the sprinting front??? Will it be Kingswood’s Kylie Rapoza? Gilford’s Macy Sawyer or Belmont’s Ava Lacasse? Don’t overlook Newport’s superstar, do everything, Maddox Lovely as she is the top returner in the High Hurdles but should also factor into the 300 and Long Jump! And certainly look for Pelham’s senior Samantha Tetreault to be a contender in the dash as well as hurdles.
Middle Distance & Distance
The 600 and 1000 meters are the events where we will certainly enjoy parity as several names return in these events. Bow’s Hannah Pawlowski will certainly aim to admirably defend her 600 meter state title from 2024, but look for Kennett’s Piper Lopashanski to challenge. Goffstown’s Kara Tschida is the top returner in the 1000 meters, but Sanborn’s Kaitlyn Stocker is coming off a strong cross country season. Of course anyone with Oyster River attached to their name competes, they will factor in as well.
Which brings us to Oyster River and how they will win the 2025 D2 Title once again. On paper, with their juggernaut depth of a distance team, the Bobcats could score upward to 50 points in just 2 events, the 3000 and 1500. I mean, they could outscore all other D2 teams by dominating the 2 true distance events. We have never seen this before. And it should be the usual suspects as Haley Kavanagh and Mackenzie Cook will once again lead the crew which will also include Maddy Cook, Haley Bezanson, and Neely Roy. Look for names like Eilis McKenna, Erin and Kaitlyn O’Shea to try to score as well.
Field Events
In the jumps look for West’s Eshaya Lauder, defending champ in the Long Jump to also challenge in the High Jump. Lauder will certainly feel the heat as Newport’s Lovely was only a few inches shy of her in the Long Jump last year. Lauder will be going for the triple crown as she won this title the last 2 years. Also factoring into the Long Jump will be OR’s Avery Baumgardt and Bow’s Charlotte Larochelle. Kearsarge’s Maelle Jacques is the defending champ in the High Jump as she won on misses over Somersworth’s Savanna Comeau who will also be returning. Mascoma Valley’s Georgia Kondi is the overwhelming favorite in the shot put as she looks to defend her title. Challenging her should be Raymond’s Madelyn Donohue and CBNA’s Isabelle Grenier.
Boys
Last year, our preview called for 2 teams, Hanover and Souhegan to duke it out for D2 boys supremacy. Well, multi-year defending champ Coe-Brown and upstart John Stark had something to say about that as the team title came down to the very last event with defending champs CBNA winning my only 2 points over John Stark. This year, based on returners, it seems as if Hollis/Brookline, led by Samuel Bruneau has the upper hand. On the strength of just field events and a couple superstar athletes in Rio Calle and Joel Douzanis, John Stark looks to be a contender again. Don’t be surprised if Monadnock led by Peyton Joslyn and Gavin Lombara pushes into the mix as well as Coe-Brown, Pelham, Milford and Trinity.
Sprints & Hurdles
After a couple of years of absolutely being spoiled with incredible depth of quality in the sprint events, with the matriculation of names like Gentchos, Kelm, and Oyaronbi, comes a new era in D2 sprinting. Look for names like HB’s Bruneau, OR’s Talon Ouellette and Belmont’s Damien Sanborn, don’t expect too much of drop off. Especially considering the top of the hurdle events as High Hurdle champ Monadnock’s Gavin Lombara returns to renew his rivalry with Pelham’s Colby Crear.
Middle Distance & Distance
Middle Distance and Distance events could also be considered entering a new era as names like Gleiser, Lano and Teeter have all graduated. With that, MV’s Mychal Reynolds is the lone defending champion as he returns in the 600 meters. Expect St Thomas’s Mason Ruger and Monadnock’s Peyton Joslyn to press him. The 1k sees CBNA’s Luc Kerouac as the top returner with Milford’s Logan Korthals as the 2nd best coming back. Top 2 returners in the 1500 are Kearsarge’s Daniel Dalbec and Plymouth’s Tate Hayman, while the 3k sees Hanover’s Andrew Valentino, Con-Val’s William Simard and Mascoma Valley’s Gunner Currier as the top returners. I would expect these three to factor in multiple events come state championship time.
Field Events
Last year John Stark scored the bulk of their points in the field events and they return their studs! Matter of fact they return the top 2 in the High Jump with Calle and Sam Kinsey-Turner. The High Jump Champ Calle is also the 2nd top returner in the Long Jump where we see Trinity’s Rere Edokpolo return as the defending champ. Don’t count out Souhegan’s John Katsel as well. Finally John Stark also returns the defending Shot Put champ in Joel Douzanis. Kennett’s Owen Arias is the 2nd best returner.
As the schedule indicates, meets begin in 2 weeks! Good luck to all!
