What to Watch For: 2019 Merrimack Valley Invitational

The 2019 Merrimack Valley Invitational is slated to begin at 10:00 am this Saturday, April 20th in Penacook, NH.  As with the previous 19 years, it promises to be an incredible day of track and field with 30+ teams and well over 1000 athletes competing!  New this year is the addition of the 2000m Steeplechase as an exhibition event!

NHTF will be there in force, conducting interviews, livestreaming, taking photos, etc. All will be posted on our 2019 MV Invite Meet Hub.  Can’t wait until Saturday? Click on the link to the Meet Hub to relive all of last year’s action through 2018’s Race Videos, Interviews, & Photos.  You will also find links to general information including 2019’s Order of Events, Performance Lists and Meet Records courtesy of MV’s Track and Field Website.

Can’t make it to Penacook on Saturday?  The Meet Hub will be on our homepage where you will access our first outdoor livestream of the year. The video of this livestream will also be available soon after the conclusion of the meet.

Live Results/Performance Lists

Girls

One aspect of the start of every new season is the prospect of new faces competing for podium spots in every event.  Due to matriculation, gone are names like Kath Merchant, Kathleen Collins, and Kaitlyn Covell, leaving the fields in several events wide open. As always, we look to the previous indoor season to predict who will be the cream which rises to the top? Oyster River’s Devan McClain and Hanover’s Ella Maclean will continue their rivalry in both the 100 and 200.  Also look for Pelham’s Gwenyth Dahlinger and St. Thomas’s Adrienne Bevins among others to compete for the top spots in both the 100 and 200.

Looks like the 400 will be a D3 showdown between Kearsarge’s Avril Prak and Conant’s Haylie Drew as both are seeded in the 61s.  Prak’s teammate, Mya Dube is the top seed in the 800 and is one of the top seeds in the 1600.  St. Thomas’s Maggie Marsh, Coe-Brown’s Sophie Laird, and Hanover’s Christine Aman should make their presence known in the 2 lapper as well.

Dube will start her day with the 1600 as she is the third seed with a 5:11.  Con-Val’s Clare Veverka and Hanover’s Leila Trummel are seeded above her at 5:08 and 5:11.  Veverka’s teammate Rachel Hurley is the top seed in the 3200 which sees Trummel as the second seed and Coe-Brown’s Addison Cox as the third seed.

In the hurdles St. Thomas’s Bevins and White Mountains Taima Ronish are the top 2 seeds in the 100m Hurdles.  Oyster River’s Evelyn Fischer is the #1 seed in the 300 Hurdles at 48.94.

In the field events, Sanborn boasts the top 2 seeds in Hannah Ehlers and Sophie Merry-Carreiro while Hanover’s Anna Stafford is the top seed in the Pole Vault by a foot.   Sanborn’s Kaylen LaChapelle is the top seed in both the Long Jump and Triple Jump, but should be challenged by Conant’s Abigail Drew in the long and Inter-Lakes Emma Wheeler in the Triple.

Sanborn’s Becca Olsen is the top seed in the Shot Put and second seed to Con-Val’s Savanna Hall in the Discus.  Oyster River’s Corinne Quaglieri looks to take home the Javelin win seeded at 113’8″.

Boys

As with the girls, there will be some new majordomos across events.  Right off the bat, West’s Ken Kabambi is the top seed in the 100 with Plymouth’s Remy Beaujouan is second seed.  The 200 does see a familiar face as its top seed in Hanover’s Kyle Doucette, who seems primed to take over D2 sprinting as he is also the 2 seed in the 400 behind Goffstown Sean Leahy.   Pelham’s John Elie is the top seed in both hurdle events.

The 800 sees a trio from Coe-Brown as the top seeds in Dawson Dubois, Porter Heigis, and Wyatt Mackey, while the 1600 top seed is the home track favorite MV’s David Reynolds.  Reynolds should be challenged by Belmont’s Zach Ennis, Coe-Brown’s Luke Tkaczyk (who actually beat Reynolds the first week of the season), Dubois, Mackey, and Oyster River’s Andy O’Brien.  Reynolds, O’Brien and Tkaczyk return in the 3200, but watch out for Leb’s Cody Davis, who will be fresh and seeded 4th.

In the field events, it looks like Jack Parker and Sidonio LaBelle-Brown will duke it out in the High Jump while Parker is also the top seed in the Pole Vault.

Inter-Lake teammates own the top seeds in the Long and Triple Jumps courtesy of Eli Dupigny and Owen Billin.  Watch for Leahy to contend in the Long Jump with LaBelle-Brown, Jaymeson Maheux (West), and Kennett’s Chris Caputo all over 40′ in the Triple.

The Shot Put circle is also the place to camp out as indoor champ Sanborn’s Owen Snively and Coe-Brown’s Jon Thorn have both chucked the shot over 47′ already this young season.  Campbell’s Joshua Hoffman is the top seed in the Discus and could be challenged by Thorn as well while Plymouth’s Cale Swanson is the top seed in the javelin with Con-Val’s Sean Boggis.

Good luck to all!!!