In what was scheduled to be a regular season meet at Dartmouth developed into a 20+ team invitational of sorts due to rescheduling. Kudos to LancerTiming and the meet hosts Lebanon for accommodating all to facilitate a great opportunity for all to escape the subzero temps!
The day started with 4x800s as both Coe-Brown girls and Keene boys ran for the wins in 10:14 and 8:38 respectively. Both strong early season times. Progressing to the hurdles, St. Johnsbury’s Catherine Cowan led a Vermont dominance on the girls’ side as our western neighbors took the top five slots. Cowan would sweep the short stuff by winning the 55 Dash as well. On the boys’ side, Coe-Brown’s Orion Clachar ran to the win in 7.89 edging Pinkerton’s Adam Spencer’s 7.98. The heavily populated 55 meter dash yielded some great times as Concord’s Dalton Mutz took the win over Pinkerton’s Jadyn Ruimwijk 6.69 to 6.82. Ruimwijk would come back later to crush the 300 for the win in 36.94. Vermont would continue its win streak in the sprints on the girls side as Mt. Anthony’s Rebecca Crosier edged Pinkerton’s Amelia Graves 44.32 to 44.42.
In the middle distances, 1k specialist, Raymond’s Anna Harmon dropped down in distance to the 600 and dropped a 1:36.83 in everyone’s lap while Keene’s Aidan Kindopp doubled off the 4×8 to win in 1:30.50. Oxbow, Vt’s Izzy Giesing held off BG’s Caroline Fischer by posting a 3:04 in the 1k, while Pinkerton’s Ethan Desmaris, Zach Plaza and Merrimack’s Andrew Peyton all finished within the same second in 2:47.34, 2:47.68 and 2:47.94 respectively.
The 1500 was one of the more anticipated events of the day. After having some freshmen company compliments of South’s Cali Coffin and Coe-Brown’s Addison Cox, Pinkerton’s Britney Johnson strided to the win in 4:53. The boys race was a bit more exciting after the field crept through a slow first 400. It was Concord’s Forest MacKenzie literally diving (he’s got the track rash to prove it) for the win over Pinkerton’s Joe Gagnon 4:19.32 to 4:19.34.
In the field events, Leb’s Marcus Roper won the shot with CBNA’s Kathleen Collins taking the girls side. In the long jump, Merrimack’s Brian Genet won with a hop of 19’4.5″ edging South’s Tyler Mondi by half an inch, while in the high jump, Kearsarge’s Ben Corbyn won clearing 6’0″. On the girls side, St. Johnsbury’s Lia Rotti won with a jump of 16’5″ while Cowan made it a hat trick by sharing the win in the High Jump with South’s Sydney Lewis. Both cleared 5’2″.
In the girls version of relay city at the end of the meet, St. Johnsbury put an exclamation point on their overall team win by winning the 4×200. While Bishop Guertin won the 4×400. On the boys side D1 kings Pinkerton swept the final 2 relays for the double exclamation on their team win.