The 2026 Girls D2 Indoor Track and Field Championships resume Sunday morning at Plymouth State University. The remaining field events, Long Jump and Shot Put, will kick things off at 9:00am while the 3000 meters will begin the track events at 9:30am. Obviously, we cannot thank enough the leadership of the NHITL, NHIAA, NH Officials, Plymouth State and Lancer Timing for making this not only possible, but an example of how state meets should be held.
As always NHTF will be there to livestream track and field events, snap pics, and provide social media coverage for the day.
Expect this to be an exciting 3 hours filled with incredible competition, awesome celebrations, records potentially broken and champs being crowned. The final seeds have been out since Wednesday, so let’s take a deeper look at both the team and individual competition.
Team Championship
Oyster River once again enters as the clear favorite thanks to overwhelming distance depth and strong representation in hurdles, relays, and the long jump. Expect to see names like Olivia Kavanagh, Madelyn Cook, Neely Roy, Avery Baumgardt and Elizabeth Carty leading the charge as they are all ranked quite high. They will gobble up the points in chunks and are forecasted to score twice as many points as the potential runner-up.
While the favorite looks to be dominate, that usually equates to a mad scramble for the remaining points and a heated competition for the runner-up plaque. On paper it does look like we are in for a treat as Gilford, Coe-Brown, Hollis/Brookline and Souhegan look to be the leading contenders for the remaining place on the podium.
Gilford is a prime example of quality over quantity. Led by Macy Sawyer ranked 2nd in the Dash and top seed in the 300, Gilford will depend on a few in attempt to score in the mid to upper 40 point range. Tag teaming with Sawyer will be sophomore Pearl Marvel who is the top seed in the Long Jump. These 2 will be involved heavily on their 4×400 and 4×200 teams which are ranked 1st and 2nd respectively. Gilford will max out their scoring at 50 points if they simply win everything they are involved in. This would likely be insurmountable for any other team (besides Oyster River). So who could approach a point total in the 40s?
Coe-Brown looks like the biggest threat to Gilford and could be considered a bit of an opposite. Sure they have names towards the top of seeds in events, but they are scattered across sprints, hurdles, mid distance and relays. Expect to see names like Bristol Shirland, Lilah Fitzpatrick, Isabel Grenier towards the top of their events, but also expect them to field strong relays headlined by their top ranked 4×200. They do have potential to score more than reflected on paper with more involved across events.
Souhegan and Hollis/Brookline may be the wildcards. Both have enough to truly influence the team race, as well as crash the podium party if they begin to outperform their seeds. But championship meets reward bold performances — and one relay upset could rewrite the standings.
Sprints & Hurdles
Belmont senior Ava Lacasse leads the field at 7.38 and has been dominant this season in the Dash. She has a nice cushion but we have 3 girls with seeds of 7.52-7.53 as the aforementioned Sawyer, HB’s Grace Dow and Kearsarge’s Juliet Faria will be attempting to out-lean one another. And then you have CBNA’s Fitzpatrick who has been coming on as of late suggesting a razor-close final.
The 300 sees Gilford’s Sawyer entering as the strong favorite at 40.86, but she will have to be firing on all cylinders as Lacasse is seeded at less than a half second behind her at 41.17. Expect another close battle between Fitzpatrick and Souhegan’s Oriannah Dart as they have both posted times in the 43s just .05 apart.
The High Hurdles has been one of the more hotly contested events in recent years, and expect no different Sunday. OR’s Baumgardt leads the field at 8.60 with Hollis-Brookline’s Dow (8.64) and Coe-Brown’s Shirland (8.69) close behind. This may quietly be one of the highest-impact events for team scoring.
Middle Distance
In the 600 Souhegan’s Samantha Swanbon is the overwhelming favorite as her top seed at 1:38.04 is over six seconds faster than the next athlete. Expect Milford’s Rylee Coates, Mascenic’s Kaitlin O’Shea and St. Thomas’s Victoria Quintanilla to contend for next best. Also, more times than not, a surprise from the first heat will crack the scoring top 6. Watch out for this in the 600 this weekend.
Watch for tactics in the 1k. OR’s Madelyn Cook leads the seeds at 3:07.43, followed closely by HB’s Molly Reardon (3:09.63). Expect them to be battling out front, while we have several athletes clustered between 3:14–3:18. With names like Hanover’s Alice Bell and CBNA’s Annabelle Lovett expect positioning to matter more than raw time.
Distance
Oyster River dominance is on full display here, holding four of the top five seeds, including Kavanagh (10:35.20) and Neely Roy (10:48.49). Hanover’s Grace Stewart splits the “two pair” of Bobcats as Jahrie Houle and Haley Bezanson are ranked 4th and 5th respectively. Since OR won the 4×800, the Bobcats could already be in the 30s for their point total after only 3 events scored by 9:45am.
For good measure Kavanagh and Cook return as the top 2 seeds in the 1500 as well. Hanover’s Aria Deeb will be considered dangerous here as she is the 3rd seed but will be fresh and with a 4:59 seed time, could threaten the top 2. A dark horse could be Sanborn’s Sophie Thurlow as the 4th seed.
Relays
The 4×200 sees Coe-Brown’s 1:28.75 seed at the top of the entries, but this is usually the more competitive of the 3 relays so expect Oyster River and Gilford to both make them work for it! Don’t blink during this one.
The final event could decide the runner up race. Gilford leads at 4:25.62, with Souhegan (4:26.51) and Oyster River (4:30.19) close enough to capitalize on any misstep.
Long Jump & Shot Put
In the long jump, Gilford’s Marvel is the athlete to beat at 17-06.25, almost a foot clear of most competitors — a significant gap. Still, OR’s Baumgardt (16-06.50) and CBNA’s Jazzlyn Curry (16-02) will keep Marvel honest for sure.
The Shot Put sees an overwhelming favorite with Mascoma Valley’s Georgia Kondi standing alone atop the field at 39-02.50, over 2 feet ahead of the next seed — one of the biggest margins in the meet. Raymond’s Madelyn Donohue and Newport’s Callie Dixon are the 2nd and 3rd seeds both with tosses over 36′.
Good luck to all!
