Festival Results – Courtesy of Upstart Timing
BSR Elite Results – Courtesy of Upstart Timing
Under warming temperatures, athletes from multiple New England states took advantage of a great opportunity which was the NH Hampshire Distance Festival with the BSR Elite Mile and 800 offered by Souhegan High School, Marathon Sports and HOKA. And what an opportunity it was! The Festival offers the mile and the 5000 meters as the only two options but this allows for entire distance squads to take part as we had 4 heats of the girls mile and 7 heats of the boys mile progressively getting faster. So, as this was an inaugural event, each heat winner was a meet record holder…for a moment anyway!
An awesome addition was the ‘meet within the meet’. The USATF sanctioned BSR Elite Meet drew the best milers and boy half milers from all around New England competing unattached with the simple goals of determining who is the fastest on the day as well as the collective hopes of running incredibly fast! And this did not disappoint. Then the grand finale which was the girls and boys 5000 meter races demonstrating pure distance racing!
So, congrats to the NH Distance Festival winners of the miles. The girls mile was eventually won by Exeter’s Eli Cross who broke the proverbial tape in 5:18.36. She held strong her slim lead over her teammate Brianna Paterna who crossed in 5:18.59. Hopkinton’s Shaylee Murdough was a close 3rd in 5:19.76.
On the boys side, congrats to BG’s Carson Fischer who strided away from the field for the win in 4:26.67. Kearsarge’s Daniel Dalbec placed a strong 2nd in 4:27.76 with PEA’s Truman Yee taking 3rd in 4:28.72.
Then the Elite 800 was on the track and it certainly did not disappoint. Eventual winner Eamon O’Brien passed the pacer, who went out in 25 seconds for 200, and actually held on to win in 1:52.81. Often times, this kind of move would not end well, so hats off. Winnacunnet’s Ryan Zumbach raced strongly eventually placing 3rd in 1:54.10. Daniel Padley was 2nd in 1:53.98.
The girls Elite Mile may have been the fastest scholastic mile ever contested on NH soil as NB Indoor Champ Brooke Strauss of Glastonbury, CT dueled with Abby Hennessy of Westford, MA for the entire mile. Hennessy actually took the lead on Strauss in the final lap, only to have Strauss pass back on the inside over the home stretch to win in 4:39.88 to Hennessy’s 4:40.76. Strauss broke the existing CT State record and these times are currently the 2nd and 3rd fastest times in the nation! Ciara Evans was 3rd in 4:50.20. Oyster River’s Haley Kavanagh was the top NH finisher placing 5th in 4:54.68.
The boys side may not have been as fast by relative comparison but it was close and competitive throughout. In the end, no one could pass CT’s Soheib Dissa as he led most of the race after the pacers dropped and crossed in 4:10.43. Marshfield, MA’s Graham Heinrich pushed Dissa to the line as he clocked a 4:10.91. Xavier’s (CT) Jack Ouellette placed 3rd outleaning 4th place finisher John Bianchi 4:11.87 to 4:11.88. NH’s top finisher was Con-Val’s Will Simard who placed a strong 8th in a new personal record of 4:14.97.
Sticking with Festival races, the 5000s were great examples of distance racing! In the girls race, packs formed and races within the race took place. The front pack comprised of Concord’s Shelly Smith, PEA’s Ava Bullock, BG’s Anna Fondakowski, and Plymouth’s Elli Englund rolled almost the entire way. Bullock did the heavy lifting leading this pack until the last couple laps when Smith took over and strode home to a winning time of 18:16.38 to Bullock’s 18:20.58. Fondakowski was a strong 3rd in 18:35.09 with Englund 4th in 19:13.79. Closing fast was OR’s Madelyn Cook in 19:24.72.
The boys race saw several leaders thoughout with pace always hovering just under a 5 flat average. In the end it was PEA’s Bocelli Howland-Vlahakis dropping a serious kick to win in 15:28.76 over a gutsy never-say-die Gunner Currier of Mascoma Valley who crossed in 15:34.66. Benjamin Holoch was 3rd in 15:41 just ahead of Oyster River’s Oliver Lehman who raced to an impressive 15:41.74. Pinkerton’s Trainor Mailloux was 5th in 15:45, PEA’s Pearce Covert 6th in 15:53.65 while PCA’s Christian Barnes was the last to break 16 minutes clocking 15:58.97.
A tip of the cap has to go to Jeff Wilson and the Souhegan Athletic Department and running community. Their vision of bringing this type of event to NH came to fruition with the hopes of many years to come! Thanks for providing another unique opportunity to the kids of NH!
