What a day! New England Championships NEVER disappoint and neither did the NH contingent competing at the 38th New England Indoor Track and Field Championships held at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston yesterday. The Granite State had a great day making podiums across most events from the field to the infield to the oval. Hats off to the New England Council for once again pulling off this unique regional championship!
New England Crowns!
Living up to their #1 seed and being heavy favorites, the Exeter girls 4×800 Relay team exceeded expectations. The Blue Hawks checked off all the boxes – New England Title, new school record, new state record. Brianna Paterna (2:15), Izzy Bremer (2:17), Eli Cross (2:22) and Lexi Paterna (2:10) crossed in 9:06.83, lowering the state record by almost another 9 seconds. Remember they ran 9:15 and change at Division 1s. This time now ranks them #4 in the NATION heading into NB Nationals in a couple weeks. Fun fact, this group is only getting faster as their outdoor state record set at MOCs last spring is 9:08. Wow!
Bedford’s Mikita Barry joined the view from the top of the podium with a New England title of her own winning the 1000 meters in 2:50.56. True to her style of racing, Barry took the race out hard and dared anyone to race with her. Fair to say she was basically solo winning by more than 5 seconds – an eternity in the middle distance event.
In the field, Timberlane’s Danielle Bates claimed the New England title in the High Jump clearing 5’9″ on her 2nd attempt! This proved to be the difference as Ella Palisano of Mt Anthony Union VT was the only other athlete in New England to match Bates; however, she did so on her 3rd attempt. As both could not clear 5’11”, Bates became New England Champ on misses. Congrats!
Lexi Paterna returned later in the meet to take her shot at another New England title in the 2 mile. True to her form, she set a torrid pace and also dared anyone to go with her. Glastonbury, CT’s Lauren Parrett answered said challenge essentially becoming Paterna’s shadow for most the race. Paterna masterfully grinded the pace lap after lap eventually opening up a modest gap to cross as the New England Champ in 10:33.38. Credit to Parrett as she never really went away crossing in 10:36.83.
Podiums!
When you place in the top 6 at New Englands, you make the podium and are considered All New England. Well, you may have noticed, all the New England crowns went to the ladies from NH as detailed above. Don’t think the NH boys didn’t represent though! Fun fact, in the 600 meters on up (1000 meters, Mile and 2 mile), NH saw 2 boys podium in each! In the order of the meet, and perhaps slightly surprising, were the results of the boys mile. NH’s top 2 seeds, Londonderry’s Carson Fitzgerald and Concord’s Josiah Conley were both in the first heat, which was the slower heat. To their credit, both did not wait and ran hard. Conley was certainly the head of the spear as he pushed from the middle and Fitzgerald tried to close on him by the end. Conley held him at bay to cross in 4:22.93 to 4:24.59. Now with the top seeds in the fast heat at 4:19 or so, these times would certainly keep them honest, right? Great job by Conley and Fitzgerald, but the “fast” heat did not race hard enough as only Marshwood ME’s Henri Rivard was able to gain separation and cross 4:22.39 to claim the title by a scant .54. Efforts rewarded as Conley and Fitzgerald took 2nd and 3rd respectively!
Dover’s Melo Berdicia must have been watching the mile, because he employed the same tactics in the boys 1k. Landing in the 2nd heat, he knew he had to win, but also drop a time which could podium and that he did. He claimed the 2nd heat by almost 1 second, winning in 2:33.47, a dangerous time for the fastest heat #3. That heat saw Hamden CT’s Alexander Medina drop the hammer to win in 2:30.94. The field attempted to respond including Monadnock’s Peyton Joslyn, who battled with a couple others from the Nutmeg State in Ryan Monohan and Emmett Kristoff as well as Bay Stater Nicolas Lisle. In the end the battle proved fruitful as Joslyn placed 4th overall in 2:33.41. Berdecia’s time, just .06 behind Joslyn’s, held up for 5th and the 2 state champs from NH shared the podium.
Always solid, Portsmouth’s Will Hart also found himself in the penultimate heat in the 600, and while he did not win the heat, he certainly made it a race taking the lead only to be passed in the final moments. He crossed in a very fast 1:22.62, but now to make the podium, his time would have to be good enough for 5th in the fastest heat and that heat was full of studs! One of those studs was D1 state champ Pinkerton’s Joseph Gustavson. Gustavson fell in the slipstream of CT’s Charles Dalles (1:20.51) and Yendri Ruiz (1:20.65) as they battled for the title and he finished 3rd in an incredibly fast 1:21.44. Hart’s time held up for 6th overall!
The 2 mile promised to be an incredible battle as once again, on paper, there was no one who was considered a heavy favorite. It delivered with numerous lead changes several individuals including BG’s Ethan Fischer and Pinkerton’s Jason Robie. In the end, Griswold CT’s Tycen LaBelle dropped the hammer with 400 meters out to claim the win in 9:17.11 with Oxford CT’s Joseph DeLuise’s 9:23.30. Fischer, only a sophomore, did more of his share of the leading, crossed right behind in 9:23.57 while Robie gutted out the final All New England spot crossing in 9:25.26.
It should be noted, both Gustavson and Robie as well as teammates Trainor Mailloux (9th in the 3k) were doubling back from Pinkerton’s 4×800 earlier in the meet. They along with Austin Cipriano placed an incredible 4th in an eye popping 7:56.83. Yep they actually did this out of the penultimate heat as well! Gustavson had quite the day as he also ended up on the podium as part of Pinkerton’s 6th place 4×400 relay team along with Winston George, Caleb Arroyo, and Michael Duarte.
NH’s field event athletes also joined the podium parade beginning with boys Long Jump which saw D1 State Champ Central’s Ceasar Flahn place 3rd with a 22-08.75″ mark. D2 State Champ Pelham’s Osinachi Nwadueze had a leap of 22-03.75″ to claim 4th. D2 Girls High Jump champ Bow’s Camden Wilson joined New England Champ Bates on the podium with a personal record of 5-05″ good enough for 5th! Finally, Mascoma Valley’s Georgia Kondi placed an amazing 3rd as she eclipsed 40′ with a 40-05.5″ toss!
Kudos to those near misses; those who barely missed the podium deserve some recognition as well. Finishing in 7th in the boys shot with his best toss of the season was Mascoma Valley’s Barnaby Diehn with a toss over 53’11.75″. Gilford’s Macy Sawyer just missed in the 300 posting another race in the 40.77. Her D3 counterpart, Belmont’s Ava Lacasse was 8th in 40.79. Of note, 2nd place was 40.05!
And finally, recognition for Exeter once again as they ran 4:03.60 in the 4×400 to place 7th. This is a school record and the team is comprised of Martelle McBride, Emma Roeder, Madeline Poteet, and Bremer (again!). Fun fact for that program, they also broke the school record in the 4×200 as well. Pretty rare – 3 relays and 3 school records on the same day…at New Englands!
Congrats to all!
