On a day that looked like it could be influenced by some pretty wet and miserable conditions, the weather in Bristol for the Wilderness Championships held out to be pretty solid, with just a few bouts of heavy misting that really didn’t do much to put a damper on the competition or the performances. There were three meet records that were broken, needing for updates in the Wilderness record books, two in field events and one on the track. Not to mention some outstanding battles in races both long and short. I got a front row seat as the announcer for the day, situated right at the finish line, able to be in the moment so to speak. But rather than simply recap the results, which you can find HERE.
I’m going to give you the highlights and insights to what I saw and read.
Let me highlight the field events first, as I didn’t actually have the opportunity to watch them with my duties, but I got Do follow along via the results I read off. In the throws, Mascoma’s Georgia Kondi and Barnaby Diehn ruled the roost in shot put and discus. Kondi won her events, throwing 116-9″ in disc to win by almost 30 feet, and 37 even in shot to win by over 6 feet. Great to see her back and throwing well. For Diehn, he threw 53-1.5 in shot to win, and with a State record watch on in disc, he broke the Wilderness record by throwing 173-11 to win by over 25 feet over teammate Colin Myers. In javelin, Laconia’s Morgan Trefrey won with 98-1 for the girls, with Lukas Diaz winning the boys with 142-9.
In jumps, the highlight of the day would be I-L’s David Walker sneaking by the Wilderness record with a jump of 21-10.25. What a banner year for boys LJ, with battlenotes reflecting 8 boys beyond the elusive 20 foot mark. For the ladies, Gilford’s Pearl Marvel beat the field with a jump of 16-7. In TJ, Belmont’s Ado Takantjas won one of her three individual events of the day, with Laconia’s Holden Mousseau winning for the boys. In the HJ, Plymouth’s Sophia Daigneault outlasted the field with Franklin’s Nathan Holmes doing so for the boys. In PV, Newfound’s own Kathleen Egan hit the high mark with Winnisquam’s Dayton Brigante bringing home the hardware as well.
So what I witnessed with my own eyes was on the track, going in order, were great battles from the very first race in the 4 x 800’s. First up were the girls, in a race with three lead changes, Gilford coming from behind again to win two years in a row on the heroic final leg from Georgia Eckhardt. With the boys, Mascoma led for most of the 8 laps only to be tracked by Profile with Wyatt Lawton on anchor. Mascoma’s two mile marathoner Gunner Currier pacing Lawton through the first lap, NH’s fastest 400 meter runner turned on the jets to finish 4 seconds up on Mascoma.
In both the short hurdles and long hurdles, Belmont’s Takantjas and Bishop Brady’s Ryan Casey were the class of the field, dominating the long hurdles while being pushed in the shorter ones.
In the short sprints, the girls races were stacked, with Ava Lacasse of Belmont, Elle MacDonald of Newfound, Kylie Rapoza of Kingswood, Juliet Faria of Kearsarge were all in the 100, with Macy Sawyer of Gilford also entered in 200 with the crew. Lacasse would prevail in both, being pushed all the way by MacDonald, both going under 13 in the 100, and 27 in the 200. For the boys, Kennett’s Quintin Plourde would capitalize on great starts to win the 100 over Gilford’s Ashton Taylor and the 200 over Profile’s Lawton.
In the girls 1600, eventual winner Erin O’Shea of Mascenic almost missed the start but put up a powerful performance, running 5:27 gun to tape, winning by 2 seconds over Gilford’s Maria Tilley. Tilley would turn the tables in the 3200, coming on strong over the second half to win by more than 10 seconds, running 11:46. In the boys 1600, there was a four way battle between Tate Hayman of Plymouth, Simon Butka of Kingswood, Isaac Reeder of Profile and Currier. Currier would fade over the last lap, with Hayman pulling away late to win by half a second in 4:35.34.
In our second relay of the Belmont would do what it does best, winning by two and a half seconds in 51.51 over Bishop Brady. For the boys, Kingswood go up by half a second over Winnisquam.
Girls 400 looked to be a battle and was between this year D3 sensation in Gilford’s Sawyer, last year’s D3 champion in Olivia Lorenz of White Mountains, and D2 stalwarts, Rapoza of Kingswood and Piper Lopashanski of Kennett. At the halfway it was anyone’s race, with Sawyer having the legs over the last 100 to win over Lorenz, running sub 60, in 59.38. This was not the same for the boys, though the race was tight in the first half as well. But Profile’s Lawton would walk away from the field, finishing under 50 again, 49.38, winning by over a second over I-L’s Landon Richards.
In the girls 800, Moultonborough’s Hailey Watts would steal it late in 2:37, over Kennett’s Anna Silliman and Campbell’s Rylie Lemire, both running 2:38. For the boys, Winnisquam’s Brendan Goodwin would overcome being in fourth and 7 meters down at the bell to slip by at the very end, running 2:00.82 over Isaac Nudd-Homeyer’s 2:01.13.
In the boys 3200, Newfound’s Colin Foster used his lower seeding to his advantage, allowing Profile’s Reeder and Mascoma’s Currier to do the early leading before stepping around just after the halfway mark and grabbing the race by the throat. After slipping away with two laps to go, he put down the hammer, winning in 9:41 over Currier’s 9:47.
Which brings us to the 4 x 400 relays, which would serve to provide an emphasis on the girls race, and the potential for redemption in the boys race. For the girls, unbeaten Lacasse and Takantjas would team up with Jaelyn Nialetz and Mia Ellis to win over Sawyer’s Gilford squad, 4:15 to 4:25. For the boys, I-L’s Nudd-Homeyer would work hard to get up to Winnisquam’s Goodwin but just couldn’t make the pass, for Winnisquam to take it 3:34.11 to 3:34.69 to wrap up the day’s racing.
The Belmont girls would ride that championship wave, winning handily with 88 points. Also making the podium would be last year’s champions Gilford with 75 points, and Kingswood with 45, just edging out host school Newfound with 44. For the boys, scoring most of their points in the distance races and throws, Mascoma Valley would take this one with 69 points. InterLakes would be second with 56 points, and Profile and Plymouth would tie for third with 45 points.
Now on to the divisional championships!
