By Patrick O’Brien
Girls
Sprints and Hurdles
With a handful of the top sprinters from last year graduated, Kingswood’s Kylie Rapoza finds herself as a strong candidate to win whatever sprint races she runs. She is the top returner in both the 100 (12.79) and the 400 (59.05). In the 100 she has more of a cushion, as Margaret Noble is 3 tenths back as the 2nd returner. The 400 could be one of the best battles if it comes to fruition, as Bow’s Hannah Pawlowski also dipped under 60 last year, and is coming off a strong indoor campaign.
The 200 features Hanover’s Josie White as the top returner, having placed 3rd a year ago. Pawlowski is next behind her, followed by Avery Kelly of Pembroke. One other name to watch out for in the sprints is Elizabeth Carty of Oyster River, a scorer in multiple events indoors.
HB’s Grace Dow becomes the favorite in both hurdles races, having placed 2nd in both last year. Should could be challenged by Bristol Shirland of Coe-Brown in the 100h, and Lily Moser of Merrimack Valley in the 300h. Oyster River’s Avery Baumgardt could be a contender here as well.
Middle Distance/Distance
Oyster River has swept these events for the last 2 years, as Haley Kavanagh has won the 800 and 1600, and Mackenzie Cook has won the 3200. They will be back, looking to score big points once again for the Bobcats. Samantha Swanbon of Souhegan and Lea Perreard of Hanover are the 2nd and 3rd returners in the 800, and they flip-flop as the 2nd and 3rd for the 1600 as well. Hanover’s Megan Faris and Oyster River’s Madelyn Cook are the next best returners in the 3200, and all of these athletes can be a factor in any event they contest.
Other athletes that could be in the mix in these races include Timberlane’s Charlotte Beaudoin, Oyster River’s Neely Roy, Haley Bezanson, and Olivia Kavanagh, Plymouth’s Elli Englund, and Hanover’s Alice Bell and Millie Larrick.
Jumps
Oyster River’s Amalie Trump is the top returner in High Jump, but with Timberlane joining Division 2 this year, the favorite obviously is the state’s best in Danielle Bates who cleared an amazing 5’7″ this past indoors.
Last year’s Long Jump competition came down to the second furthest jump, as both Eshaya Lauder of Manchester West and Avery Baumgardt of Oyster River jumped 16’ 5.75. Both of these girls are back again this year. Lauder has to be considered the favorite, as she pulled out the win and is the 2 time defending champion, but last year showed just how close this can be.
Baumgardt is also a defending champion herself, as she won Triple Jump last year. She comes in as the favorite, with over a foot on Jenney Lutz of Lebanon as the closest returner.
The level of competition in Pole Vault should continue to increase this year, as none of the Top 9 finishers last year were seniors. Hollis/Brookline’s Addison Fyfe and Bow’s Julia Hou were only separated by a single miss.
Throws
Shot Put features one of the biggest favorites in the Division. Coe-Brown’s Isabelle Grenier has almost a 3.5 foot advantage on the rest of the field. Zoe Rick of Milford and Maddie Vidou of Hanover could be part of the battle for second.
The Discus features another one of the biggest favorites, and it is the same person. Grenier’s throw of 111’8 leaves her a comfortable 20+ feet ahead of the closest returners. Look for McKenna Whitter of John Stark to be the favorite for runner-up status. Top returners in the javelin include John Stark’s Jenna Sinclair and Oyster River’s Mollie Sexton.
Teams
Once again, it looks like Oyster River could be tough to beat. Kavanagh, Cook, and Baumgardt can score a lot of points, and they get a lot of support from a strong distance squad, great relays, and depth and scorers across many events. Looking to contend for high placement could also be Coe-Brown, Hollis-Brookline, and Hanover.
Boys
Sprints and Hurdles
NH Sprinting has been on the rise, and it should be in full display with the D2 Boys crop this year. This senior class is stacked, as they claimed the top 5 places in the 100 last year, and the top 6 in the 200. Better yet, both of these races were decided by a single hundredth of a second, so get ready for some good ones this May.
The 100 last year came down to Hollis Brookline’s Samuel Bruneau outleaning Con-Val’s Kendrick Edwards. These 2 will be back at it, but don’t be surprised to see Milford’s Avery Wilson (indoor 55m champ), Oyster River’s Talon Ouellette, or Kennett’s Quintin Plourde contending as well.
Wilson is the defending 200 champ, as he won by .01 over Bruneau, who was .01 ahead of Ouellette. Expect one of these three to likely take the win, but once again Edwards and Plourde could be back along with Bow’s Kody McCranie.
The 400 should introduce some different names as Brody Smith of Souhegan and Liam Kitchel of Hanover are the top returners at 50.x. They will both be contenders, but the favorite may actually be Ross Stephens of Con-Val, who was 7th a year ago for Kennett, but ran 48.9 indoors this year at BU. Talon Ouellette could also make some noise here should he choose to run it, as he also ran sub-50 at BU.
Mychal Reynolds of Merrimack Valley is the reigning champion in the 300h and the top returner in the 110h. The pressure will be on, as Coe-Brown’s Cameron Lee sits close behind in the 300h, and could possibly make a run at the 110h as well. Oscar Gulledge of Lebanon could be another name to watch in the 110h.
Mid-Distance/Distance
In the 800 we could see a good battle between the top 3 returners from last year, Luc Kerouac of Coe-Brown, Logan Korthals of Milford, and Mitchell Keesee of Oyster River. They are all battle-tested veterans, and it feels like anyone could take it, though Kerouac has a slight edge as the top returner with the fastest PR.
It seems that both the 1600 and 3200 could be battles between Will Simard of Con-Val and Andrew Valentino of Hanover. The 2 seniors have had very strong years, and seem to be the class of the field. Simard may have the edge, as the returning 3200 champion and top returner from the 1600, but Valentino is going to put the pressure on, per usual. Of course, this is the state meet and anything can happen, especially when multiple events are involved. Oliver Lehman of Oyster River was the 3200 runner-up as a freshman last year, so expect him to be a factor in the distance events, as well as Ryan Faris and Nandeesh Jain of Hanover. Levi Clapp of Oyster River and Patrick Youngs of Coe-Brown are also coming off strong indoor seasons and could absolutely be in the mix.
Jumps
Rio Calle of John Stark has been one of the top dogs in D2 Jumping, and is one of the favorites in both Long Jump and High Jump. He is the top returner in Long Jump and amongst the top returners in High Jump, also coming off an Indoor Championship at 6 ‘4. However, the returning champion in High Jump is actually his teammate, Sam Kinsey-Turner.
Merrimack Valley’s Nicolas Ogelsby will certainly be hungry for a title here as well, as he is the #2 returner in the High Jump, Long Jump and Triple Jump, demonstrating impressive range across the jumping events. Ogelsby’s teammate, Aidan Paquette is the top returner in the Triple, and those 2 may be looking to go 1-2 for MV as they have over a foot cushion on the field.
Pole Vault could be a good 3-way battle between Souhegan’s Owen Pisinski, Lebanon’s Nicholas Petrucci, and Coe-Brown’s Alex Conner. They placed 2nd, 3rd, and 4th respectively a year ago.
Throws
D2 graduated a lot of its top throwers, leaving a lot of opportunity for athletes to move up the ranks. Shot Put has a pretty clear favorite in Joel Douzanis of John Stark. He is the returning champion with 4+ feet on the rest of the field, the closest being Maxx Telofski of Con-Val.
The top 4 Discus throwers from a year ago all graduated, leaving the top returners as Zachery Heichlinger of Pembroke, Owen Arias of Kennett, and Max Scopel of Oyster River. Very similar story in Javelin as the Top 4 are gone, leaving Heichlinger again as the top returner. Watch out for Lebanon’s Marco Getchell and Goffstown’s Daniel Picone in this one.
Teams
The team battle is once again looking pretty wide-open, which is always fun heading into a season. Milford were the indoor champs and we could see that success carry over to this season with another strong showing. They will have challengers in Hanover (last years champs), Oyster River, and Coe-Brown. All of these teams have some big scorers, strong relays, and are pretty well-rounded across events. Other Dark Horse teams include Con-Val (2nd during indoor) and John Stark.
