Festival Results – Courtesy of Upstart Timing
OFFICIAL Mile to 1600m Conversions – Courtesy of Upstart Timing
PICS!!! Soon!
Under near perfect conditions, Granite State athletes took advantage of a great opportunity which was the NH Hampshire Distance Festival offered by Souhegan High School, Marathon Sports and New Balance. And what an opportunity it was! The Festival offers the mile and the 5000 meters as the only two options but this allows for entire distance squads to take part as we had 6 fully loaded heats of the girls mile and 9 heats of the boys mile progressively getting faster. Robust registration for the 5000s necessitated 2 heats in boys 5000 meters in addition to the very competitive girls 5000 meters.
The ‘carrot’ of a tee shirt to every heat winner helped fuel intense, healthy competition making for an exciting night from start to finish! Hats off to all those involved with organizing and more importantly to the athletes who competed! Below is the recap.
The Miles!
As mentioned above, the racing was great from the first heat! Please check out live results as well as the meet replay below to catch all the action! For purposes of this recap, we will be focusing on the fastest heats. The girls race was dubbed as a middle v. long distance duel courtesy of Bedford’s Mikita Barry v. Hopkinton’s Maddy Lane – and they did not disappoint. Both took to the front right away, with Barry assuming the lead, and honestly this is how it stayed. Barry ran super intelligently employing a nice long drive from about 500 meters out to pull away to win in 4:51.72 to Lane’s 4:55.89. Both are personal bests at the mile distance.
While they were battling Hanover’s Aria Deeb may have had the fastest close of the night as she rolled 70.5 seconds over the final circuit to cross in a big personal best of 5:06.97 passing OR’s Olivia Kavanagh and PEA’s Ava Bullock in the process who placed 5th and 6the respectively 5:10.93 and 5:14.08. Moultonborough’s Hailey Watts was right behind them in 6th in 5:15.32. OR’s Maddy Cook won the next pack battle crossing in 5:19.95 for 7th. She edged Plymouth’s Elli Englund (8th-5:20.08), PEA’s Norah Pratt (9th-5:20.12) and Hanover’s Millie Larrick (10th-5:21.62).
The boys’ side had a similar build up regarding middle v long distance runners. Yes, Pinkerton’s Jason Robie and Joseph Gustavson got right out, but they were quickly joined by PEA’s Marcus Kiehl and Truman Yee. Kiehl and Yee led basically the first half. By halfway, Salem’s Lucas Gomez joined the party, but it was Robie who began the long march to victory pulling away from the field in the final 600 meters or so. Robie gradually built the lead to win in 4:21.63, while Gustavson strode to 2nd in 4:24.62. Kiehl was 3rd in 4:25.72, but the ever improving Grant Skorupan (Milford) over took Yee for 4th crossing in 4:26.50 to Yee’s 4:27.69. Gomez rolled 6th in 4:28.29
5000s!
The boys unseeded section kicked things off for the 5ks and it was Mascoma Valley’s Carl Russell striding to build quite the lead in the early stages. Overcoming an early tumble, CBNA’s Gus Glaser, ever-so-gradually caught him. Russell and Glaser battled for a couple laps until Glaser pulled away to win in 16:23.55 to Russell’s 16:35.81.
Then the girls took to the track and were greeted with a pacer courtesy of Hopkinton’s Maddy Lane for 3000 of the 5000 meters. Pre-race favs Hanover’s Megan Faris and PEA’s Ava Bullock simply latched on taking advantage of Lane’s metronome-like pacing. Bullock would pull away from Faris over the last couple laps but both benefitted greatly from the 3k of pacing as Bullock crossed in 17:48.92 (yes she ran the mile prior!) while Faris also dipped under 18 with a 17:55.55 time.
Continuing her rise, Hopkinton’s Maisie Emerson posted 18:22.51 after battling with Pinkerton’s Kalisan Marzolf, who crossed in 18:26.72. With a huge breakthrough, Alvirne’s Olivia Cartegena placed 5th in 18:31.77 while PEA’s Alice Rourke placed 6th in 18:42.52.
The boys race was as exciting as predicted as for much of the race, PEA’s Bocelli Howland-Vlahakis and Monadnock’s Peyton Joslyn battled. The first couple laps felt like it was early in a boxing match with the two opponents feeling each other out, Bocelli injected some pace and Joslyn was the only one to take him up on the offer. Then Joslyn took his turn at the front until Bocelli decided to really drop the hammer over the final 5 laps. He crossed for the win in 14:45.79! To his credit, Joslyn went for it and still placed 2nd in 15:16.30. Employing a blistering finish final lap, OR’s Oliver Lehman was closing and crossed in 15:20.83 after being challenged by CBNA’s Youngs brothers. This was yet another breakthrough for Lehman this year. Patrick and Sam Youngs had employed a steady even pace eventually catching Lehman. They ended up with breakthroughs of their own, as the sophomore and freshman crossed in 15:27.74 and 15:31.37 respectively.
Hanover’s Ben Groves ran a strong and even 15:48.75 for 6th with OR’s Levi Clapp also breaking through for a 15:52.62. Hopkinton’s Max Goupil, employing a blistering kick of his own, was the 8th athlete under 16 minutes crossing in 15:59.29
Congrats to all!
