After what was a mostly dismal day for everything track and field weather-wise (but not performance-wise despite Mother Nature!) the D3 championship Sunday was great weather with modest temperatures and almost no wind at all. This not only led to some great performances across the day, it made for some great spectating as well. Field events got going at 10am, with the running events beginning at 11am, with the 4x800s and the hurdle and 100 trials. And boy did they get off with a bang for Portsmouth Christian, as the girls pressed Hopkinton finishing second to the Hawks, 10:03.55 to 10:09.70. The boys did one better, running 8:36.12 to beat out Newport, 8:47.39.
The trials were relatively uneventful with the exception of the boys 110 hurdles, where Kearsarge’s Jacob Dunn was leading the second heat, was feeling pressure from behind, caught the last hurdle and hit the deck, returning to his feet but ending up the first man out of the finals.
And in the finals, Ava Milley of Pelham was the top qualifier and showed everyone why by running to the win with 15.97, to finish almost a second in front of Profile’s Isabel Lawton. In the aforementioned 110 hurdles, Pehlam’s Brady O’Connor beat out Sanborn’s Jacob Gonzalez running 15.94. In the 100, the giants of D3 sprinting, Belmont’s Ava Lacasse and Gilford’s Macy Sawyer went head to head, with Lacasse getting a great start and was able to keep Sawyer in her back pocket, winning 12.56 to 12.63. In the boys, Pelham’s Osinache Nwabueze was able to get his winning ways started, running 11.10 to Sam Joyce’s 11.15.
Up next was the 1600 and the beginning of Hopkinton’s Maddy Lane’s big day. After a call back due to teammate Maisie Emerson going down, Lane wasted no time to go after the division record of 4:57, and destroying it by running 4:54 flat. Moutlonborough’s Hailey Watts would finish better than Emerson to go 2-3. In the boy’s race, Hopkinton’s Peyton Joslyn got out quick with Fall Mountain’s Elijah Bodanza in tow, heading out at sub 4:20 pace. With Elijah sticking hard, Josyln would finally find a bit of daylight during lap 3. Bodanza made a late charge, forcing Joslyn and helping him to a new division record as well, 4:16.95 and 4:21.55.
In the 4×100, Gilford would anchor with Sawyer and they’d need it as PCA was right there pushing them to another divisional record, running 51.34 and 51.58, both under the old record. For the guys, Pelham would run away with this, winning in 44.49 over Sanborn and Mascoma.
In the 400, Lacasse was back and the strong favorite with Sawyer opting for the two relays and the 100 and 200. However Lacasse was pressed the whole way by White Mountain’s Olivia Lorenz, both going under 59, running 58.42 and 58.99. In the boys, PCA’s Israel Stanley was able to hold off STAs Aaron Hughes, 50.84 to 51.12. The big surprise was Hinsdale’s Brody Rabideu finishing third in 51.59 coming from the slow heat. Goes to show the only thing that matters come championship day is belief.
In the 300 hurdles, without top seed Sawyer contending, Monadnock’s Victoria Rivera-Taylor had her way with the field, winning in 46.52 by more than a second and a half over Gilford’s Emily Aguiar. The boys race was closer, with Winnisquam’s Nolan Abbott surviving over Sanborn’s Gabriel Loring, 42.53 to 45.75.
Lane was back for the 800, easily her weakest event of the three she was looking to contest, but that didn’t stop her from going straight to the front, leading by the 150 meter mark and taunting the field to chase her. Mascenic’s Kaitlin O’Shea, who briefly had the early lead, tried to catch the passing meteor and ended up in a bit of no man’s land, however it also helped her gap the field. She would follow Lane in, 2:18.89 to 2:23.47. For the boy’s, with Bodanza either missing the start of electing to be done after his battle in the 1600, the top remaining seed Conant’s Aaron Graham attached himself to the fast starting Brady Harker of Newfound. Unfortunately for Graham, Harker was also reasonably a fast closing Harker, and the two battled the entire second lap with Harker prevailing 1:58.15 to 2:00.03.
While I was awaiting the 200 meter matchup between Lacasse and Sawyer it was not to be, with Lacasse choosing to play things safe and not chance injury in the 200. This left the door wide open for Sawyer, running away from Hopkinton’s Ailsing Madden, 25.86 to 26.95. Sawyer’s teammate Pearl Marvel closed well, almost catching Madden for third in 27.20. In the boy’s race, Joyce ran a very even 22.52 to outdistance Winnisquam’s Kyle Douglas in 22.91.
And finally the event I am always waiting for, the 3200. Maddy Lane was back and with more than a minute seeding over the rest of the field (and more specifically teammate Emerson) she easily could have simply tempoed her last event and walked away with victory. Of course Lane isn’t built that way and instead headed out right at the division record pace. She lapped most of the field and crushed her last lap, breaking the record by 5 second, running 10:39.40. Emerson was able to stay within a minute of that, barely, running 11:34.33. The real battle in the race was for third, with Gilford’s Maria Tilley outlasting Moultonborough’s Hailey Watts, Monadnock’s Emma Short and Conant’s Amelia Hill.
In the boys race, Joslyn was back and the heavy favorite. Behind his time was Hopkinton’s Max Goupil, who once he realized Joslyn had no interest in setting the pace, went to the front and ripped off 5 minute pace through the 2000 meters. At that point Newfound’s Colin Foster assumed the front, and he and Joslyn pulled away from Goupil, Mascoma’s Carl Russell, PA’s Christian Barnes and Monadnock’s Chase Ruffo. With 600 meters to go, Joslyn would kick by, running a controlled 9:56, with Foster just missing sub 10 with a 10:00.72.
In the last event of the day, Gilford, with Sawyer on anchor, would show their 4×400 meter prowess by powering away, running 4:09.90, winning by more than 5 seconds over Pelham. In the boys race, with a bit more on the line team-wise, Pelham would come home in first, running 3:36.69, beating Winnisquam. Probably unnoticed by some would be Monadnock’s anchor leg, none other than Monadnock’s Joslyn, who took the baton way down due to the third leg sustaining a hamstring issue and splitting 50.19, after breaking the 1600 meter division record and running the 3200 less than 20 minutes before. That time would have won the 400 event outright. Think about that one.
On the field side of things, there would be many divisional records set as well. In the shot put Mascoma’s Georgia Kondi would easily prevail with a giant 40-7 to break the D3 record. Teammate Barnaby Diehn would prevail as well, winning with a throw of 51-0.5 over teammate Colin Myers who threw 48-10.
In discus, Kondi would throw 122 even, more than 14 feet over Hopkinton’s Zoe Bishop. Diehn would win this as well, breaking his own divisional record, throwing 171-7, with Belmont’s Brady Filteau splitting Deihn and Myers here.
In javelin, Laconia’s Morgan Teyfrey would go exactly 18 feet up on Steven’s Maddy Chambers, tossing the spear 118 feet even. Aiden Hodge of Newport would out throw the field and Hopkinton’s Hunter Eckner-Naylor by just over 3 feet, throwing 163-7.
In HJ, Somersworth’s Skyla Hall won on less misses than teammate Savanna Comeau, both clearing 5-0. Similarly in the boys HJ Kristoff Cauley (Hopkinton) won on misses over Trinity’s Alex Garand, both clearing 6-0.
In pole vault, Mascoma’s Sophia Smith cleared 9-6 to beat out Kearsarge’s Ainsley Frenkiewich and Conant’s Sophie Battisti at 9-0. Winnisquam’s Abbott would prevail in PV as well, clearing 11-0 with less misses than teammate Dayton Brigante.
Pelham’s Nwabueze might be really good at the 100, but he is lights out in the horizontal jumps, winning both the long jump and triple jump. In the long jump, he eclipsed the 23 foot mark, jumping 23-2.25, with InterLake’s David Walker close behind with 22-4.25. In the triple jump, he went 47-9.25, a three foot advantage over Canaan’s (VT) George Butler’s 44-8.5. This guy is king of the sand box for sure. For the girls long jump Gilford’s Marvel redeemed herself after a rough Wilderness meet, the only jumper over 17 feet with 17-4.5. Kearsarge’s everything girl Frenkeiwich was second in 16-10.75. In the triple jump, Mascoma’s Montana Ballard would outjump Frenkeiwich 33-2.5 to 32-8.75.
And that would do it for the individual battles. Much like I wrote in the preview, Hopkinton would need to outlast Gilford on the girls side, and they did, 86 to 70, with 30 of those points by Laddy Lane. On the boys side, I had mentioned a bit of parity, and if a team got hot, that might tip the balance. In the end it came down to the 4×400, and with Pelham claiming the race victory, they also claimed the team title over Mascoma. And I got to walk away from the meet, with the sun high on the horizon, no raindrops in the air, and with the D1/D2 girls pole vault continuing from the night before. A pretty good day.
