NH Indoor Divisional State Championship Meet Hub
By Nate Leveille
Girls Results (Courtesy of Lancer Timing): The first day of the state championship meet took place at UNH on Sunday. While only two events were contested, they didn’t disappoint. The meet began with the girls’ high jump. As expected, returning All-American Danielle Bates of Timberlane got the win, clearing 5’6”. She raised the bar to a state record height of 5’10” and made good attempts at it, but the record stands for at least a few more weeks. Behind her in the scoring were Eres Delorey of Londonderry with a season-best 5’4”, Abigail Azevedo of Nashua North in 3rd clearing 5’2”, Kendal Tibbs of Bedford in 4th clearing 5’2”, and Isabelle Schreiner of Windham in 5th, also clearing 5’2”. Coming out on top of the 4’10” group and securing the last scoring spot was Emma Lander of Portsmouth.
Next on the track was the much-anticipated 4x800m relay. The returning All-Americans from Exeter went right to the front and never looked back. Logging fast splits and led by anchor Alexis Paterna’s 2:11 leg, they established a new state record time of 9:15.37 (Current US #3), breaking the previous mark of 9:28 set by Pinkerton Academy just two years ago. Following Exeter in second place was the team from Pinkerton Academy, running a very fast 9:44.44. Bedford picked off Bishop Guertin (BG) for third place in 9:48.32 to BG’s 9:51.74. All four teams in the fast heat went sub-10 minutes. Rounding out the scoring were Winnacunnet in 10:16.64 and Portsmouth in 10:23.19.
After Day 1, Bedford, Exeter, and Timberlane are tied for the lead with 10 points each. Pinkerton and Londonderry are tied for 4th with 8 points.
Boys Results (Courtesy of Lancer Timing): The boys’ high jump seemed to be up for grabs with only a few inches separating the top six seeds. Kaiden Okowuga of Merrimack picked a great day for a season best and walked away with the crown, clearing 6’4”. Finishing second was Gabe Texeira of Bedford, clearing 6’2”. In third with a season-best 6’2” was Wayne Crowell of Keene. Gavin Suchecki of Nashua North finished 4th, securing some important points for the Titans. Rounding out the scoring in 5th and 6th were Ben Bloom of Portsmouth and Michael Georges of Manchester Memorial, both clearing 5’10”.
In the 4x800m, we anticipated a battle up front, but Pinkerton quickly dismissed that notion. They got out to the lead and handed off to their 3rd and 4th legs, who dropped fast 2-flat 800s, leading Pinkerton to a decisive victory in 8:10.88. Look for this team to make a run at the boys’ state record at New Englands on a bigger, faster track—most likely in the fast heat. Following Pinkerton was Bishop Guertin, running a very respectable 8:20.97 and securing 8 important points as they look for a podium finish as a team. In third was Nashua North, running 8:24.94. In 4th was Portsmouth in 8:28.63. 5th was Londonderry in 8:28.80, and the 6th and final scoring position was Nashua South in 8:33.08. The fastest split of the day came from Melo Berdecia of Dover, dropping a 1:57. That is very fast on a 160m track. All six New England qualifiers in this event will come from Division 1.
Team scores after Day 1 show Pinkerton, Nashua North, and Merrimack all tied for 1st with 10 points. BG and Bedford round out the top 5 with 8 points.
