By Nate Leveille
Results Courtesy of Speed Sport Timing
The 2026 version of the Clipper Relays was one for the record books, with 6 meet records falling. It also provided some variety as relays such as the 2800-meter hurdle relay (As a former steeplechaser, I refuse to call it that), distance medley relay, and 4×200 don’t appear at a typical outdoor meet. You can be the best jumper or thrower in the state, but you’re not winning one of the iconic First Place T-shirts unless you have a couple of teammates, as it is a team total that matters at this meet. Big shout-out to Speed Sport Timing, the Lyfords, Portsmouth Track & Field as well as all the officials for putting on a well-run meet.
Highlights:
4×800
Exeter and Oyster River girls were 1-2 going into the last leg of the 4×800, but Bedford has track machine Mikita Barry on the anchor and pulled away for the win behind her 2:13 anchor leg, finishing with a respectable time of 9:44.84.
How about a sub 8 this early in the season on the boys side! That’s what Londonderry did behind the dynamic 1-2 punch of Josh Twomey and Carson Fitzgerald finishing in 7:59.48 to outdistance host Portsmouth and third place Pinkerton.
DMR
Pinkerton loaded up the DMR’s, looking for a national qualifier on the boys’ side. They just missed their goal time but ran a blistering 10:30.72 solo effort, winning by nearly a minute over runner-up Londonderry and third-place Coe-Brown. They also established a new meet record in the process.
It was a similar result on the girls’ side as Pinkerton ran away with the win in a time of 12:24.75, ahead of Souhegan and Plymouth Regional.
Hurdle Relay
Avery Baumgardt of Oyster River dropped the fastest time of the day with a 15.15, leading her team to the victory in the 4x Hurdles. The next fastest times were Grace Dow (15.36) of Hollis Brookline and Bristol Shirland (15.47) of Coe Brown.
In the boys’ hurdles, Joey Marcotte of Alvirne had the blazing top time of 14.64, but it was John Child (14.96) and the Pinkerton Boys winning the relay on total time.
4×100
The Pinkerton girls (49.55) executed near-perfect handoffs and held off charging Portsmouth (49.96) and Bedford (49.9) to take all three teams under 50 seconds for the win. On the boys’ side the Pinkerton team followed the girls’ lead, winning in a new Meet record time of 42.03 seconds ahead of Alvirne (43.14) and Milford (43.86).
2800 DMR with Hurdles
It was the Exeter girls that took control on the second leg and held on for the win in the steeple with a time of 9:40.12 ahead of Hollis Brookline and Bedford. In the Boys’ race, Bedford 8:23.95 got a narrow win over Hollis Brookline 8:25.14. Alvirne finished 3rd.
4×200 Relay
The Pinkerton girls continued their winning ways in the 4×200, dropping a 1:47.95 ahead of runner-up Nashua North 1:50.27 and Manchester Central. On the boys side, Pinkerton broke another meet record, going absolutely bananas running 1:28.27 (Are you kidding me?!). That’s also a national qualifying time in an event that New Hampshire doesn’t typically qualify teams in!
4×400 Relay
Holy cow maybe the race of the night was the girls 4×400 which came right down to the wire as Exeter (3:57.68) and Izzy Bremer were able to hold off a hard charging Mikita Barry and Bedford (3:57.82) for the win. Both teams broke the meet record by 4 seconds and Barry dropped a 56.34 anchor split! The boys were not to be outdone in this relay as once again Pinkerton erased another meet record running 3:22.17 to outdistance Winnacunnet 3:23.93. Those are very fast early season times and with a month to go before MOC’s, the state record should be on watch.
High Jump
Emma Lander of Portsmouth and Isabelle Schreiner of Windham cleared 5ft in the high jump but it was the depth of Bedford that propelled them to the high jump relay win. Ethan Morin of Milford was the top jumper clearing 6ft on the boys side, but it was Pinkerton that came away with the event win as a team.
Pole Vault
Delaney Paquin of Pinkerton cleared 10 feet as usual in the girls pole vault to secure the win for not only herself but her team. Coe-Brown was the runner-up. On the boys side Preston Bois of Nashua South got the individual win clearing 13’6” but it was the Exeter team getting the total team win.
Long Jump
Martelle Mcbride of Exeter bested the long jump field with a 16’8.5” but it was the Nashua South Purple Panthers getting the team win. On the boys side Osinachi Nwabueze of Pelham launched a 22’5.25” to claim the individual title, but it was the Pinkerton boys winning the total team title.
Triple Jump
Sarah Frye of Nashua North took home the triple jump with a 33’10.5”, but it was Nashua South Sweeping the horizontal jumps and taking the team victory. All three of their girls were over 32’! On the boys side Oliver Gould Of Pinkerton went 41’4” to lead his Pinkerton squad to another relay victory.
Shot Put
Brynn Johnston of Windham continued her consistent wining ways with a 35’7.25” win in the shot. It was the Exeter ladies that walked away with the team title by 7 feet! On the Boys side Thomas Blaszka of Pinkerton got the win with a 47’9.75” toss. He lead the Pinkerton boys to an 8 foot victory!
Discus
Avery Trask of Pinkerton launched a 113’7” personal best to win the disc, but it again was the Exeter girls securing the team win in the event with 295’3” worth of throws! On the boys side Charles Barrett of Alvirne went 151’6” for the win in discus and it was Nashua South getting the team win with a total distance of 358’6”.
Javelin
Elizabeth Joy of Coe-Brown got the win in the javelin with a toss of 106’9” but it was the Pinkerton girls getting the team win with a total distance of 255 feet. Sawyer Penny of Nashua South got the win with a toss of 158’5”. The team win went to the Dover Green Wave with a distance of 390’6”
Congrats to all the champs!
