Division Championships Meet Hub
Results Courtesy of Lancer Timing
By Patrick O’Brien
On Friday, we were treated to a beautiful afternoon at Oyster River for the Division 2 State Championships. It was also a great day of competition, in which we saw a few meet records go down. We saw new state champions get crowned, and defending state champions defend. We saw exciting events which came down to the wire, and impressive victories in dominant fashion. Every event at a championship track meet is interesting for different reasons, with many different factors and goals at play. Some are going for team titles, some are going for individual victories, some are going for PRs, and some are going for meet records. Maybe a few people are going for all 4 at once. It all adds to the intrigue of a Divisional Championship Meet.
Sprints
In both the boys and girls 100, we saw the Division 2 record broken in the prelim by the eventual winner. Kennett’s Aida Wheat ran 12.27 in the prelim, before pulling away from Milford’s Keely Giordano to take the girls title. Hollis Brookline’s Samuel Bruneau ran a 10.77 in the prelim, and then out-leaned Con-Val’s Kendrick Edwards to win the final by one hundredth of a second.
Wheat and Giordano went 1-2 again in the 200, while Bruneau ended up on the other side of his situation from the 100. Milford’s Avery Wilson scored the upset win in 22.39, again by just one hundredth of a second, over Bruneau. Oyster River’s Talon Oulette almost snagged this one out of the first heat, as he was a very close third in 22.41.
We saw some impressive running in the girls 400, as both Kylie Rapoza of Kingswood and Hannah Pawlowski of Bow went sub-60. Rapoza got the win, defending her title from last year in 59.05. John Stark’s Logan Montgomery got out hard in the boys 400 and never gave up the lead, running a state-leading time of 49.43.
Oyster River’s Erin Carty has made a habit of stepping up at the state meet, and this season was no different. She won both the 100h and 300h, cruising to a Division 2 record of 14.69 in the high hurdles. Hollis/Brookline’s Grace Dow proved to be a legit competitor, placing second in both. Only a sophomore, she may be the future of D2 hurdling.
Cole Henderson of Souhegan looked like a heavy favorite in the 110h coming into the meet, and he delivered. He won by a wide margin, in 15.71, over Micah Bessette of Oyster River. The 300h was a lot closer, as we saw Merrimack Valley’s Mychal Reynolds, Hanover’s Aidan Powell and Coe-Brown’s Cameron Lee battling it out late. All three guys got under 41.6 with Reynolds winning in 41.14.
Distance
On the girls side, Oyster River’s Distance squad was strong once again, as they pulled off wins in the 800, 1600 and 3200. Haley Kavanagh ran from the front in both the 1600 and 800, clocking very strong times of 4:58 and 2:15 in the process. Similarly, Mackenzie Cook won in solo fashion in the 3200, cruising to an 11:06.
Lea Perreard contributed to a good day for Hanover on the distance side, placing second in the 1600 and third in the 800, while her teammate Megan Faris snagged 2nd in the 3200. Souhegan Freshman Samantha Swanbon also had quite the day, placing 3rd in the 1600 and 2nd in the 800.
The boys distance races were all very interesting to watch, as there were lots of points up for grabs for some of the team favorites. We saw close battles, tactical racing, and heavy workloads for many of the top athletes. Hanover’s Lucian Gleiser positioned himself well in the 1600, taking the lead with 400 and holding off a hard-charging Jamie Lano to take the win in 4:21. Both guys were under 60 seconds for their final laps. That may have motivated Lano to charge a little bit harder in the 800, as he was able to outkick Gleiser in that one, winning by .12 seconds in 1:57.72. It was quite the unorthodox way to run a 1:57, going out in 63 and coming back in 54.
There was some carnage in the 3200, as many athletes were running on some tired legs, and the race strung out early with a small breakaway pack. Con-Val’s William Simard pulled away late to take the win in 9:42 over Oyster River freshman Oliver Lehman. Simard had himself a day, also placing 3rd in the 1600.
Jumps
We had some very close battles in the girls jumps, with all 4 of these events going down to the wire. Oyster River’s Avery Baumgardt had led going into the final long jump, but Manchester West’s Eshaya Lauder tied it up with her last of the day. That jump ended up winning it for Lauder, as her second best jump was a half inch farther than Baumgardt’s. However, Baumgardt would bounce back in a big way after this, coming back in the Triple Jump in 34’ 0.25”. Interestingly enough, this one also came down to her last jump, as she overcame a great challenge from Plymouth’s Sydney Valenti.
High Jump and Pole Vault both came down to misses. Goffstown’s Penelope Annis took the win in High Jump over Oyster River’s Amalie Trump, both at 5 feet. In Pole Vault, it was Hollis Brookline’s Addison Fyfe who came out on top over Bow’s Julia Hou. They both cleared 9 feet, and Fyfe had one fewer miss.
Oyster River’s Thomas Fogg scored the upset win in boys Long Jump at 20’ 9.75”. He was able to take down indoor champion Rio Calle of John Stark and top-seeded Nicolas Ogelsby of Merrimack Valley, who placed second and third respectively. Fogg was also one of three guys to clear 6’ 2” in High Jump, but he had to settle for second, as John Stark’s Sam Kinsey Turner took the win with one fewer miss. This was a very competitive event, as Kingswood’s Emerson DeNitto also cleared 6’ 2” to place 3rd, and 2 more guys were over 6 feet.
Kennett’s Nash Harrigan was one of those guys over 6 feet, and he needed every last jump to win the Triple Jump. He popped a 41’ 6.25” on his final jump to beat Merrimack Valley’s Aidan Paquette by just one inch. Boys Pole Vault was one of the clearest victories, as Bow’s Ben McDowell did not even enter the competition until 12’, the final height of second place finisher Owen Pisinski of Souhegan. In the end, McDowell would finish at 13’ 10” for the D2 title.
Throws
Coe-Brown girls were expected to dominate the throwing events, and they did just that, scoring victories in all 3. Top-seeded Isabelle Grenier took it home in the Shot Put and Discus. Her teammate Ainsley Kilbreth added another 8 points in Discus. It was Emma Zebilsky taking the win for the Black Bears in Javelin in 114’ 5”, four and a half feet farther than Con-Val’s Tasha MacNeil.
Just like he did during indoor, John Stark’s Joel Douzanis won the boys Shot Put despite coming in as the underdog. His throw of 48’ 5” was enough to beat out Coe-Brown’s Elias Warner. Warner was able to take the win in the Discus though, throwing 152’ 5”. Hanover’s James Chafouleas placed second in Discus, and took the win in Javelin, scoring big points for Hanover. His jav throw of 171’ 3” was enough to win by 30+ feet.
Relays
Oyster River girls were expected to field a pretty strong 4×800, and they ended up winning comfortably in 10:09 ahead of Plymouth and Goffstown. In the 4×100, a few teams entered the last leg just about even. Aida Wheat was able to pull away, allowing Kennett to take the win in 50.05 over Hollis Brookline and Oyster River. In the 4×400, Oyster River was challenged by Hollis-Brookline and Hanover, but they were able to control the race from the front and win in 4:11.
On the boys side, Milford won the 4×8, taking the lead after the first lap and never giving it back. They ran 8:13, to beat Goffstown and Hanover. The boys 4×100 may have been one of the races of the day, as Hanover held off Oyster River by .01 seconds, 43.54 to 43.54. Milford, Con-Val and Kennett were all very close behind and under 44 seconds. Despite missing a couple of their best legs, Hanover was still able to take the win in the 4×400 in 3:32. Milford and Oyster River finished 2nd and 3rd.
Teams
In the end, it was the Oyster River girls winning in a dominant performance with 137 points. This was a well-rounded team effort, scoring points in every single event but the 100 and 400. All of their top athletes showed up, getting big points from Haley Kavanagh, Mackenzie Cook, Erin Carty and Avery Baumgardt. Three time defending champ Coe-Brown finished in second, with their stellar throws group combining for 42 of their 61.5 points. Hollis-Brookline held off Hanover and Bow to place third with 53 points.
As expected, the boys race was a bit closer, but Hanover was able to pull away throughout the day to win with 93 points. They had points coming from a lot of places, particularly distance, throws and relays. Lucian Gleiser, James Chafouleas came up big for them, combining for 36 points over 4 events. The tight battle ended up being the one for second, as 4-time defending champ Coe-Brown scored 66 points to hold off Oyster River by 1. Coe-Brown was led by big days from seniors Elias Warner and Jamie Lano. Oyster River got 20 points out of Tommy Fogg, and had strong relays that helped them contend.
