By Ryan Moyer
The countdown to the much-anticipated DI and DII State Championships has clocked down to just three weeks! And with that said, it’s time to recap and highlight some performances from the first week of qualifiers and some exciting relay action.
Wildcat Relays
The Exeter Girls’ 4×800-meter relay of Brianna Paterna, Eli Cross, Danica Caron, and Alexis Paterna torched the field by almost ten seconds and breaking the 10-minute barrier on the 160-meter oval in a time of 9:52.79. That is a 2:28.19 average. Exeter battled it out with Bedford in the 4×400-meter relay, but Bedford’s Lydia Denon, Anna Roy, Joy Bekkering, and Mikita Barry came out on top in a new top state time in 4:14.18.
In the boys’ 4×400-meters Winnacunnet and Portsmouth teams stood out with sub-3:40 times to take the top two spots in Division I. Ryan Zumbach, Ryan Jamison, Nathan Dillon, and Owen Janetos of Winnacunnet won the event in 3:32.91 while Will Hart, Josh Kelly, Briggs Catino, and Theo Beattie ran 3:36.17.
Looking into the field side of the relays, we saw standout performances in the long jump and shot put. Merrimack Valley’s Nicholas Ogelsby improved his mark in the long jump to 20’ 5” to stay competitive in a loaded jumps field. Nashua North teammates Darius Smith and Noah Pasterczyk threw monstrous distances of over 50 feet. Smith was already beyond that mark and threw 54’ 6” to win at the relays, but Pasterczyk broke that barrier for the first time. His previous best was 48” 6.5’. He threw 52’ 3” to be the fourth man over 50 feet in the state.
Philips Exeter
PEA tends to bring out competitiveness as we see so many best times run here. For the girls, it was mainly a Bedford and Oyster River show apart from a blazing 55-meter dash time from Leanny Ortiz-Blanco of Salem who cruised to first in a new state leading time of 7.38 seconds. Her time is on top by seven tenths of a second. With Bedford, Anika Scott triple crowned once again in the 55-meter hurdles with the first sub-8 second time of 7.88 seconds, the 300-meters in 42.40 seconds (new state leading time), and the long jump with a leap of 19’ 4”. What is worth mentioning is that only two boys in the state have broken 8 seconds in the hurdles. Middle distance star Mikita Barry smashed the best 600-meter time in DI with a 1:35.79 and is the top seed by 7 seconds in DI. Both Scott and Barry returned in the 4×200 alongside Anna Ray and Ella O’Keefe for the new no. 1 time in the state going under 1:50 in 1:49.21.
The Oyster River girls set many new top times. Mackenzie Cook ran the second time under 3 minutes in the 1000-meters (2:57.08), Haley Kavanaugh set a new DII top time in her first 1500-meters (4:36.53) and Madelyn Cook ran the fifth sub-11-minute time in the 3K (10:50.78). Mackenzie and Haley joined up with Aoife Sullivan and Nora Rogers for the new DII top time in the 4×400-meters in 4:20.82. On the boys’ side Nick Daigle of Salem ran the second time in under 8 seconds in the hurdles in 7.91 seconds and the Nashua South 4×200-meter team of Leonel Lopez, Ryan Jensen, Tim Staveley, and Marcell Perry ran the best time in DI (1:33.88).
UNH
The boys shined within both sessions in a variety of events. Starting in the sprints, Cesar Flahn from Manchester Central reset the top DI time in the 55-meters in the prelim in 6.53 seconds and won with a 6.54. Pinkerton’s Matthew Morrison nabbed the fastest time in DI in 7.79 seconds in the 55-meter hurdles. Winnacunnet’s Owen Janetos sprinted to a new DI top time in the 300-meters of 36.41 seconds. Hopping to field events, Gavin Suchecki from Nashua North jumped to the top seed of DI in the high jump after he cleared 6’ 3” and Luca Kabel of Merrimack became the sixth man in DI over 20 feet in the long jump with a jump of 20’ 1”. In distance, Hanover’s Andrew Valentino and Con-Val’s Will Simard paced their respective sessions and lapped the whole field in the 1500-meters with times of 4:15.85 and 4:10.85 (the new no. 1 DII time for Simard). Ryan Zumbach from Winnacunnet paced himself to a new DI leading time of 2:35.23. Girls’ field events had to bright spots with Danielle Bates of Timerlane clearing 5’4” in the high jump to tie her with the top mark in DI and Lucille Beem in the shot put, becoming the new DI leader with a toss of 35’ 2.5”
Two more qualifying weeks remain with this weekend featuring meets at PEA and UNH, with the offering of the 4×800-meter relay to jumpstart each meet.
