To echo the D1 preview intro, this season has certainly been one of the more challenging ones with weather as well as limitations with facility availability. A hearty thank you to everyone involved with organizing and holding yet another incredible season. Kudos to the facilities opening their doors to the NHITL – – UNH, PEA, Plymouth, USM. Ultra kudos obviously to Amy Sanborn, Mike Lyford and everyone else and their creative thinking to make indoor track happen in New Hampshire.
One of those innovative solutions to time constraints was holding 2 events on a separate day with the High Jump and 4×800 relays kicking things off this weekend at UNH. We of course will be there to live stream both events as the High Jump gets an hour head start prior to the 4x800s lighting up Paul sweet Oval!
HIGH JUMP
The high jump leads things off beginning at 10am Sunday morning. A resulting positive of the schedule change has to be the fact the meet now accepts 12 athletes including ties. So if the entries remain the same, we will have a baker’s dozen 13 in the high on Sunday. Last year Bow’s Camden Wilson placed 3rd as a sophomore clearing 4’10”. This year’s top returner, Wilson soared over 5’3″ this past weekend at PEA. She should be considered the favorite, but this is the high jump and when we have 5 who have cleared 5′, it bodes well for a fierce competition. Look for Somersworth’s Savanna Comeau, Bow’s Madison Pfister, PCA’s Ruthie Sherrill and Plymouth’s Sophia Daigneault to all be contenders. Don’t sleep on Souhegan’s Hannah Stone or Bow’s Keegan O’Meara who have both cleared 4’11”.
On the boys’ side of things, look for MV’s Owen Turner to be dialed. He was runner-up last year in one of the more exciting competitions with state champ Rio Calle. Turner is the top seed clearing 6’4″ this season. Two other contenders who can also lay claim to a potential title will be Con-Val’s Griffin Schultz and Souhegan’s Brody Smith. They both enter as the only other jumpers clearing 6’2″. The champ will come from one of these 3. Interesting note with this schedule, Smith will certainly be busy with multiple events for the 2 day meet, but will be able to focus on just the High Jump here.
4X800S!
Couple things to consider when thinking about this new model of the state meet with the 4x800s held on a completely separate day/weekend. Obviously mostly every team can load up with their studs. Even though this is held on a short 160m track , expect some pretty fast performances and we can guarantee some fierce competition. Also, the 12 teams accepted (another bonus of this), will be split into 3 heats of 4 with the fastest seeds racing in the 3rd heat. So, the top 4 seeds can see exactly what they have to run to score at least 4 points. This can be advantageous, BUT there is potential a top 3 performance can come from the penultimate heat. All this coupled with great kids are reasons enough to make it to UNH Sunday to check it out!
As with every year, a little mystery is involved with who actually competes in the event, so we will prognosticate a bit here. What we are sure of is the favorite on the girls side. Specifically speaking, Oyster River girls is the top seed coming into Sunday by virtue of their 10:23 posted from the Wildcat Relays on that very same short track. They have to be considered the heavy favorite as they have the deepest distance squad in D2. Especially since all their top kids can race as hard as they want, they should win. Expect to see those same names who led them in XC, Maddy Cook, Olivia Kavanagh, Neely Roy and Haley Bezanson.
Then we have a couple surprises as the next 2 seeds. Coe-Brown dropped a strong time at PEA last weekend posting a 10:28. They ran Lily Travis, Eloise Hill, Riley Trested and Annabelle Lovett last weekend. Perhaps the larger surprise is St. Thomas who ran a 10:37 at Wildcat Relays with OR. Looking at the 600 meter Battlenotes one could expect to see Victoria Quintanilla, Maia Scanolon, Leah Ryan, and Claire Harris. These two will be part of a group vying for the runner up. Hollis/Brookline is seeded 4th and they have had a super strong indoor campaign and will assuredly be in the mix. Look for them to be led by Molly Reardon and Hannah LaPointe.
Watch out here though as the 2nd heat has a dangerous Hanover seeded 5th and they arguably has the next best distance squad this indoor season. With names like Aria Deeb, Alice Bell and Grace Stewart, don’t be surprised to see Hanover high on the podium. They will put pressure fast heat, especially if Bow led by Keegan O’Meara and Julia Hou or Souhegan led by Samantha Swanbon can push them!
The boys could see a war between the Route 4 Rivals Coe-Brown and Oyster River as they are the top 2 seeds each posting an 8:39 time. This could come down to choice in order and positioning! Both teams are deep so it takes a little bit of guesswork to figure who will actually be racing. Last weekend, the Black Bears went with Blake Spina, Anthony Szatko, Sammy and Patrick Youngs. When thinking of the Bobcats, one would assume Oliver Lehman, Siddharth Sanjay, and Brendan Banafato will certainly be in the line-up and then they have a few choices for their 4th. Led by Oliver Schartner and Dominic LaRose, St. Thomas once again surprises slightly as the 3rd seed, but they certainly have had a great season. Pembroke enters as the 4th seed and should be led by William LeCain and Hayden Petersons.
Regardless, this event will be quite unique in many awesome ways! Get there! It is free of charge this weekend!
