State Championship Division Meet Hub
Well there’s no doubt about it that this year’s Division 3 championships are going to be wild. Regardless of the players and team situations, the fact that the Division 3 meet will be running concurrently with the Division 2 meet, doubling the fans on site is going to make this a meet to remember. Not to mention the great racing and performances we will get to witness across both divisions. And with a bit more time between events due to the additional heats, it seems teams have loaded up their studs in an effort to make inroads towards the team titles. Wild it will be. Let’s take a look at the events.
Short Sprints
On the girls side, the 100 and 200 are crazy with sprint talent. Belmont’s Ava Lacasse had the upper hand this past weekend over Newfound’s Elle MacDonald but MacDonald knows a thing or two about rising to the occasion. Add in Claire Tuohy of Sunapee, Juliet Faria of Kearsarge and Aisling Madden of Hopkinton all at 13 seconds or faster, this is going to be a dog fight. You’re looking mostly at the same cast of characters plus Macy Sawyer of Gilford in the 200 running under the elusive 27 second mark.
For the boys things are interesting too, with the top seed in both races being converted hurdler Gavin Lombara of Monadnock. Looking to challenge him in the 100 will be Owen Chapman of Stevens, Dennis Glidden of Raymond and Breyden Sanchez of Sanborn. They’ll all be back for the 200 as well, with St. Thomas Aquinas’s Shane McKeen and Profile’s Wyatt Lawton joining the party as well.
Middle Distance
It’s not unusual for athletes to bail out of the 800 if they are not likely to score but this year we saw the same thing in the 400. With Profile’s Lawton, the state’s best quarter miler, there were a ton of athletes dropping the 400 in order to run relays for more points. Looking to challenge the only sub 50 D3 guy this season will be Trinity’s Ewa Edokpolo, Conant’s Ben Sawyer and InterLake’s Landon Richards. For the 800 we do not see anyone doubling from the 400, and one might think to bet on Monadnock’s Peyton Joslyn as he’s two seconds faster than anyone else on paper. But he and Kearsarge’s Dan Dalbec and Fall Mountain’s Elijah Bondanza will be coming back from the 1600. Toss in Winnisquam’s Brendan Goodwin, #2 seed and this should be a wild race.
On the girls side, Sawyer has the upper hand in the 400, especially due to Hopkinton going all in on the longer races as we’ll see momentarily. They will have sprinter Madden in this race, along with last year’s champion Olivia Lorenz of White Mountains, all under 62 seconds. In the 800, we have Shaylee Murdough and Reece Bove of Hopkinton headlining this race, and we’ll see them heavily invested in other races as well. Sanborn’s Kaitlin Stocker is the next one in and should be looking to break up the party.
Distance
Things will be a bit different in the distance races between the boys and the girls. While each race has what you would call a favorite, in the boys races the end result is a bit up for grabs. With teams seeking as many points as they can get, there will be lots of athletes doubling, tripling and even quadrupling in the distance events. And while that’s true for the girls as well, Hopkinton and Maddy Lane are the favorites in the 1600 and 3200. While Newmarket’s Eilis McKenna is the second seed in both, the difference to Lane in the 3200 is over a minute, putting her firmly in the driver’s seat. Add in Hopkinton teammates Murdough, Bove and Maisie Emerson, the Hawks will be looking to mop up points in this race. For the 3200 we see Gilford’s Maria Tilley and Mascenic’s Erin O’Shea joining the sub 12 club for this race.
For the guys, you might think Kearsarge’s Dalbec is the in the driver’s seat as well, having won the 1500 during indoor. However due to a variety of circumstances, he finds himself entangled with Monadnock’s Joslyn, Fall Mountain’s Bodanza, Profile’s Isaac Reeder and Mascoma’s Gunner Currier. All but Currier will contest the 1600, with Currier the top seed and likely the freshest for the 3200. Should be an interesting afternoon.
Hurdles
Newport’s Maddox Lovely is a past champion and the top seed in both the 100HH and 300IH races, with Pelham’s Ava Milley and Samantha Tetreault along with Belmont’s Adeline Takantjas all under 17 seconds in the 100, with Takantjas and Milley under 50 in the 300. Your winners should come from here.
I mentioned before that hurdler turned sprinter Lombara was the top seed in the 100 and 200. While he’s not the top seed in the 110HH and 300 IH, he does sit in the second spot in both events to Pelham’s Colby Crear. They are essentially a second ahead of the field in the 100 and two seconds ahead in the 200 so the champions should come from one of these two.
Jumps
In HJ, Somersworth looks to be in good shape with the only two jumpers over 8 feet being the top seed Sya McKay and Savanna Comeau. In PV, Ainsley Frenkiewich of Kearsage is a 5 inch beneficiary over Conant’s Sophia Battisti at 8-6 and 8-1. In LJ, Gilford’s Pearl Marvel is the top seed over Emily Mullen of Sunapee and Frenkiewich as the only jumpers over 16 feet. In TJ, Takantjas enjoys almost a one foot edge over McKay.
For boys, in HJ we have two athletes in Crear and Rere Edokpolo of Trinity at the 6-2 clearance height, with Newfound’s Tyrone Belyea at 6-1 and Glidden and Newport’s Aaron Fellow at 6-0. For PV we have Pelham’s Nathan Migliore having cleared 11-7 with Winnisquam’s Dylan Griffin at 11-0. For LJ we have two jumpers over 21 feet with InterLakes David Walker at 21-10.25 and Rere at 21-7.5, making them amongst the best in the state. In triple jump we have two over 43 feet, with Trinity’s Alex Garland a one inch seed over Pelham’s Osinachi Nwabueze, 43-9 to 43-8.
Throws
(Shot)Putting two names out there when it comes down to the throws, Mascoma’s Georgia Kondi and Barnaby Diehn, leaders in both the shot put and discus. Kondi has a commanding lead in both, 3 and a half feet in shot, and 12 feet in disc. Diehn is also the beneficiary of some solid distance, 4+ feet in shot and 11 feet in disc. But the thing about SCs is you need to do it on the day. I think they will but we will see. In javelin, Conant’s Sawyer enjoys 11 feet over Trinity’s Connor Bishop, while in girls McKay enjoys 5 feet over Raymond’s Madelyn Donohue.
Relays
Predicting relays is suspect at best, as many substitutions are made based on what the athletes are running individually. With that said I’ll give out the top seeds and mention what kind of advantage they have on paper.
In the 4x800s, Hopkinton girls enjoy a 50+ second advantage over Sanborn. For the boys, a Bryce Palmer fronted Newport team enjoys a 15 second advantage over Hopkinton.
In the 4×100’s , Belmont is the front runner by a whopping 1.5 seconds over Stevvens. In the boys race, Trinity enjoys a 3/10ths of a second advantage over Pelham.
In the 4×400, the final race of the day, where no one will be fresh, on paper the Belmont girls enjoy a 2 second advantage over Hopkinton. For the boys, Pelham also enjoys a 2 second advantage over St. Thomas Aquinas. We’ll see what happens when the race is no longer on paper and everyone is running on tired legs and gas fumes. Regardless of all the out comes, it will be the best day of the spring for track and field fans.
