In case you haven’t heard, Exeter High School’s Girls 4×800 Relay team are the 2026 New Balance National Champions! Yep, Maddie Poteet, Izzie Bremer, Brianna and Alexis Paterna kept collecting titles this past weekend. The NH State and New England Champs joined the short list of National Champions from NH as they added the coveted national title to their trophy case posting their fastest time to date of 8:49.48 Talk about an entire relay team locked in on the purpose. Poteet led off racing with the grit necessary to start a national championship caliber competition and handed off right near the lead splitting 2:14.92. Bri Paterna then latched herself to the leader (Legacy – Shenandoah, NY) and would battle to hand off right with Legacy posting a personal record of 2:11.44. Blue Hawk third leg Bremer, who ran a patient first lap only to open up the lead when ripping the final 200 to open up a 2-3 second gap splitting 2:14.20. Lexi Paterna then did what the situation called for, crushing the first lap to make the 2nd place team really think twice about truly pursuing her. What a leg! She kept the pressure up the entire 2 laps crossing in a personal record of 2:08.93 with a “I can’t believe it” expression! Earlier this season, they were the first NH team to break 9:00 and now they are already the first to break 8:50! Congratulations Exeter! Simply historical! And this was only the start of a magical weekend for them.
Joining Exeter as a national champion was FRESHMAN Joel Elliott of Manchester Memorial. He won the Freshman Long Jump soaring 23’11.75″ on his 2nd jump of the competition. Not only this but fellow FRESHMAN Caleb Plante of Spaulding nabbed 3rd place to become an All American in the same event! Plante also soared beyond 23′ on his second jump – 23’6.25″. That’s right, NH went 1st and 3rd! Future is certainly bright.
Prior to this day, NH had already sported a couple All Americans in the 5000 meters. BG’s super soph Ethan Fischer raced with a ton of courage hanging in 6th or 7th place battling for the final All-American slot (top 6). Eventually he would unleash a 62 second final lap to edge Luke Bradbury of PA crossing in 6th in 14:40.15.
In the very next event, Hopkinton junior Maddy Lane would also battle in a pack of 5 almost the entire race. The pack was simply clicking off 80-83 second laps until the final circuit when Lane and 2 others broke away. Employing a 72 second long kick, Lane placed and incredible 3rd in 16:37.29!!! Wow! Since this was the opening day of Nationals, Lane and Fischer certainly set the tone for NH.
Prior to Exeter’s historical 4×800 win, Londonderry boys 4×800 squad made a little history of their own. Running as Lancer TF, Finn McDonald, Jack DiBuono, Joshua Twomey, and Carson Fitzgerald combined to drop their personal record nearly 4 seconds to blazing 7:46.78 to place 11th in the nation! Running in heat #5 of 7 (7th is the fastest), McDonald split 1:59.45 and handed off in 7th to DiBuono who moved the Lancers up to 4th courtesy of his 1:56.71 split. Then it was their muscle as Twomey rolled to hand off in 1st with a 1:55.60. Fitzgerald would battle also splitting 1:55 and change, crossing in 2nd in their heat. This time is faster than the state record; however, as Nationals is not sanctioned by any state association, performances do not count for state record purposes. Regardless, historical!!! Congrats!
Exeter girls returned the final day, Sunday to battle in the Distance Medley Relay. The objective in this prestigious relay was All American. The Paterna sisters, Bremer and Martelle McBride would face familiar foes in Legacy and Westford MA. Brianna Paterna led off the 1200 meter leg (3 laps) once again racing with grit and toughness to hand off in 3rd splitting 3:35.03. McBride then rolled to a 58 split in the 400 to hand off in a close 4th place. By this time Legacy had opened up a comfortable lead on their way to a national title of their own. Racing patiently again, Bremer was part of a 3 team pack battling for 2nd – 4th. Bremer would end up winning that battle to hand off in 2nd splitting 2:16 to Lexi Paterna. Racing her 3rd race of the weekend, Lexi Paterna ran patient as well for the first lap of the 1600. In the process, another team joined their pack to make it a battle of 4-5 teams for the podium. In the end Paterna ran a masterful 4:49 split to dramatically place 4th in 11:39.31! Objective achieved and is a incredibly fast time. Unofficial state record, and one of the top times ever by a New England team. Westford, MA placed 2nd in 11:36.71, so we may have seen the top 2 times every from New England in the DMR. Historical! WOW! Congrats to all!
Looking at field events, placing in the top 15 is pretty remarkable and noteworthy! Mascoma Valley’s Georgia Kondi made the trek to Philly to place 14th in the nation with a toss of 41’3.25″! Concord’s super super soph Thomas Saysaw placed 15th soaring 47’6.5″ in the Triple Jump!
Congrats to all; especially since even qualifying for NB Nationals is getting more and more difficult every year. Simply qualifying for this 4 day extravaganza of elite high school competition is an achievement. Kudos to meet organizers and officials for pulling this off with efficiency and professionalism.
