By Ryan Moyer
To kick off the New Year, another impressive week goes in the books for the Winter Track League with copious opportunities to improve league standings. Many athletes did not hesitate to make their mark with sessions at Plymouth State, UNH and included USM’s New Year Invitational which was highlighted by multiple event winners representing the 603 and snagging some meet records in the process.
USM New Year Invite
Unique to this invitational is their pentathlon which entailed the 1000-meters (for boys), 800-meters (for girls), long jump, 55m hurdles, high jump, and shot put. We saw two reps win for both genders with Windham’s Tayla Pellitier and Pelham’s Colby Crear. Pellitier crushed the previous record of 2778 points with 2947 points while Crear won by over 300 points and also surpassed the previous meet record. In the sprints Gavin Lombara of Monadnock flashed his speed in the hurdles with another sub-8 second time of 7.67 seconds in the 55 meter hurdles to win the finals alongside Grace Dow of Hollis/Brookline getting 8.87 second in the hurdles to win her finals heat. In the 200-meters Bow’s Kody McCranie and Hollis/Brookline’s Samuel Bruneau were a one-two punch as both dipped under the meet record, but McCranie edged out Bruneau 22.74 to 22.79. Pacing over to distance was Bishop Guertin’s Matthew Giardina when he won the 2 Mile in 9:16.86 for another meet record for NH. He broke the record by an astounding 29 seconds roughly.
Jumping to field events, Eshaya Lauder from Manchester West exploded off the board in long jump to break yet another record, leaping 17’ 6.50” while Portsmouth’s Molly Flynn had a busy weekend when she nabbed second in high jump clearing 5’0” but competed the day after at UNH to win after clearing 5’0” once again. John Stark’s Rio Calle still dominates the boys’ high jump as he won after clearing a height of 6’2”. In the throwing circle Barnaby Diehn of Mascoma Valley threw a distance of 47’ 10” in the shot put to put himself atop DII in standings.
Plymouth State
Back in our home state, we were spoiled with some fantastic marks, times and tactical racing starting off up north in Plymouth. There was a showdown between Alvirne teammates in the 300-meters with Shane Plumley and Jayden Taylor when Plumley out leaned Taylor 38.81 to 38.82. That wasn’t the only impressive race in the 300-meters as Oyster River’s Talon Ouellette, just coming off a 35.00 time at New Balance, ran 36.50 to win in the afternoon while Winnacunnet’s Owen Janetos was hot on his tail in 36.57 seconds. MV’s Nicholas Oglesby swept the jumps in the AM session with a 20+ long jump and a 6’1” high jump. Winnacunnet’s Ryan Zumbach ran the first sub 2:40 1K time of the season after he paced himself to a 2:37.29.
Sanborn’s Sophie Thurlow 1:45.46 win in the 600-meters places her second on the D2 Battlenotes. Only OR superstar Haley Kavanagh has been faster as she posted a 1:41.95 in the PM session. Matter of fact Kavanagh had a day as she cruised the 3k in a D2 leading 10:15.21 earlier in the meet. Kavanagh’s teammate Madelyn Cook was 2nd in 11:04.98 which is also 2nd on the D2 Battlenotes. This meet truly is the first time we see the OR distance dominance in full display as OR’s other superstar, Mackenzie Cook battled Exeter’s Alexis Paterna in the 1k as well as Exeter’s Eli Cross in the 1500. Paterna took the 1k on a lean 3:05.33 to Cook’s 3:05.44, but in the 1500, Cook turned the tables out leaning Cross to win in 4:56.02 to Cross’s 4:56.18! CBNA freshman Patrick Youngs nabbed the victory in the 3k with an impressive 9:24 good for 3rd in D2. Timberlane’s Charlotte Beaudoin swept the sprints in the AM session winning the Dash and 300 with times of 7.80 and 44.99 seconds.
UNH
Heading down south to the Durham Campus of UNH for morning and afternoon sessions, Pinkerton’s Gabrielle Bedard and Kalisan Marzolf went 1-2 in the 3k with Bedard going 10:48.02 and Marzolf crossing in 11:07.15 in the AM meet. That gives Pinkerton 3 of the top 6 in the D1 Battlenotes. North superstar Jhanelle Thomas once again swept the Hurdles (8.69) and 300 meters (43.30). Pinkerton’s Matthew Morrison maintained his dominance in both the 55-meter hurdles and 55-meter dash winning both in 8.01 seconds and 6.67 seconds respectively. His teammate Susannah Folsom is now #6 on D1 Battlenotes with a 5:05.06 leading Pinkerton’s sweep of the top 3 places. Bedard doubled back to an impressive 2nd in 5:07.31 and Parker Knowlton was 3rd in 5:12.13. Gotta give a shout to North’s Darius Smith who launched a D1 leading 53’8.25” in the shot.
In the afternoon, Hanover’s Andrew Valentino continued to impress, going sub 9 for the 3k on UNH’s 160-meter short track in a time of 8:57.26. Also impressive on the 160-meter oval was Mikita Barry’s 2:55.71 1k victory. Along these same lines, Londonderry’s Josh Twomey dropped the leading D1 1500-meters on Battlenotes crossing in 4:13.78. Beyond impressive has to be Bedford’s Anika Scott who once again swept the High Hurdles in 8.08 and Long Jump leaping 18 ‘9.75″. Also on the runway, perhaps D1’s best long jumper, Londonderry’s Chase Burris soared to 21’10” for the win once again. On top of the D1 Battlenotes, Concord’s Grace Saysaw continues to win the 55-meter dash in 7.51 seconds.
With only one week left before Qualifying meets begin, we’ll wait in anticipation to see how the standings continue to shake up before the Division I and II State Championships in about a month.
