Nashua North's Mason Dandeneau pushes ahead in the 399 hurdles during Friday night's Division I championship meet in Portsmouth. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

PORTSMOUTH – The meet had just ended, and the Nashua High School North athletes were gathering. Titans girls coach Rene Archer spotted boys coach Shane Gagnon and gave him a huge hug.

For both, second place never felt so good.

The Titan boys were a distant second to Pinkerton 101-64 in the Divison I state championship meet, while the North girls , locked in a battle with Concord down the stretch, ended up second as well, 110-94 with the Tide winning out.

But in both cases, they finished where they may have hoped, but not completely expected.

“I think second was realistic for us today,” Gagnon said. “Scoring it, I knew Pinkerton was ahead by a little bit. But I told the kids you’ve still got to show up and be confident in your ability.”

As for the girls, Archer was thinking maybe third, but then realized during the latter stages if things fell right the Titans might even be a victor.

“My girls did a lot today,” Archer said. “They did the best they could. … We thought maybe third.”

The North girls were the best area team by far. Nashua South was next in ninth with 18 points; Merrimack (tied for 13th, six points), Alvirne and Bishop Guertin (tied for 16th with just three points) were non-factors.

Nashua South boys had a good meet, tied for third with Winnacunnet at 49; Bishop Guertin was tied with Exeter for fifth at 36. Alvirne took eighth (30) while Merrimack was 13th with 18.

Nashua North’s Jhanelle Thomas, center, pushes hard in the 4×400 relay during Fridahy night’s Division I championships in Portsmouth. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

GIRLS MEET

A couple of other events hadn’t been determined yet, but the drama for North came in the final event, the 4×400 relay, which the Titans had won the last two years. Concord had a four-point lead at that point and anything was possible.

But the Tide won the relay with a time of 3:59.52, ahead of Exeter’s 4:00.67 and North took third at 4:00.75 – a season best time. The problem was, Concord changed up their team in the last week by adding sprinter Grace Saysaw to their relay squad.

“They had changed it up at Londonderry (last week’s Lancer Invitational), so we were hoping we could come in here and steal that win back,” Archer said. “In the grand scheme of things we weren’t that far off. That’s the beauty of track and field.”

North’s foursome was Charlotte Wilson Allison Frye, Rosalie Neveu and anchor Jhanelle Thomas.

The Titans were second to the Tide in another relay they do well in the 4×100. Concord came in at 48.52 while North’s crew of Sarah Frye, Tiana Brown, Allison Frye and Thomas was at 49.50.

It was an otherwise great meet for Thomas, who captured the 300 and 100 hurdles in 44.50 and 15.21 seconds, respectively. And right behind her in second in both was fellow Titan Tiana Brown (46.05 and 15.46). North had three of the top four spots in the 300 hurdles as Allison Frye was fourth.

The other North win came in the 800 in which Neveu ran it in 2:16.67.

North’s Laura White was second in both the 1600 and 3200 (4:57.80 and 11:09.24). Brown finished third in the 200. Sarah Frye was second in the triple jump (34-2), but the jumps and field events were where the Tide was strong as Ella Goulas won three events (long, triple and high jumps)

Nashua South’s Natalie Thomas was sixth in the 100 dash and the 4×100 relay of Alejanda Chavarin, Camrin Ayi, Sarah Witta and Thomas was sixth. South’s Chloe Cruz was second in the discus at 109-6, and Nora Gautieri as fourth in the shot put and sixth in the javelin. South’s Emma Millette was sixth in the pole vault.

BG’s Shannon Forsyth was sixth in the 1600 while Anna Fondakowski took fifth in the 3200.

Alvirne’s Anna Simpson was sixth in the 1600. Merrimack’s Cassandra Jimeno took third in the high jump at 4-10.

Still, locally, it was the Titans day.

“Whenever it comes down to a dogfight like that, I’m always putting my money on my girls,” Archer said. “They competed out of their minds. It was incredible.”

BOYS MEET

The Titans were paced by Darius Smith, who won the shot put with a season best throw of 53-10, and all the competitors clapping as he stepped up to make his final toss. He was third in the javelin (167-9) and second in the discus (159-9) behind his rival this season, Alvirne’s Shawn Boudreau (173-11). Boudreau was fourth in the shot put.

“It feels amazing,” Smith said, who also had personal bests in the discus and javelin. “It’s been a pretty rough season so far. It feels good to come out of a slump and get a season best. Today I felt amazing.”

The other story of the day was the 3200 meter victory by Bishop Guertin’s Matt Giardina in a Division I record time of 9:05.50. There was literally no one near him for the entire race. No one.

“It feels good,” Giardina said. “I’m happy about it, it’s (the record) was what I was shooting for. I was just trying to push myself through it because I knew no one was with me. I was trying to stay focused and not let my mind wander or anything.”

North got points besides Smith in the throws as Zariel Cintron Arizmendi was fifth in the discus, and shot, and Noah Pasterczyak sixth in the shot. That was a key, Gagnon said.

“Just consistency in the field events,” he said. “Our throwers have been throwing super consistent all season. Luke Peters in long jump, Gavin Suchecki in high jump, Darius and Noah, and Z … It was a team effort.”

Titan Succheki captured the high jump at 6-2, edging out BG’s Sam Woodward in a tiebreaker,while fellow Titan Josh Sullivan took sixth, and he also was sixth in the triple jump. North’s Peters was second in the long jump at 20-7.5 and fifth in the 100 dash, where fellow Titan Kobe Perry took third (11.08). North’s Mason Dandeneau was fifth in the 300 hurdles.

North was fourth in the 4×800 relay and sixth in the 4×400.

It was a good meet for the Panthers. South’s Sawyer Penny was second in the javelin (173-6) while Liam Gallagher was sixth. Raymond Karuru was third in the shot put at 47-8 as five of the top six were locals in the event. Preston Bois took third in the pole vault at 13-0 and same in the triple jump at 42-11.

South’s foursome of Sergio Lopez, Leonel Lopez, Ryan Jansen and Revin Olsen were second in the 4×400 in 3:24.38. Matthew Motherway, Ryan DuVarney, Daniel Byrne and Camdon Brien were third in the 4×800 in 8:19.71. Panther Marcell Perry was sixth in the 100. The Panthers foursome of Leonel Lopez, Jansen Tim Staveley and Marcell Perry were third in the 4×100 relay (43.11). Jansen was sixth in the 200.

Guertin’s Carson Fischer was second in the 1600 in 4:23.43. He was sixth in the 3200, while brother Ethan Fischer was third in the same race in 9:30.85. BG’s Woodward was fifth in the javelin while the Cards took sixth in the 4×800 relay.

Merrimack’s Kaiden Okowuga was in a three-way tie for third in the high jump while Luca Kabel was second in the 200 dash (22.22) and fourth in the long jump. The Tomahawks took fifth in the 4×100 relay.

Alvirne’s Joey Marcotte was second in the 300 hurdles in 38.93. Shane Plumley was fourth in the 400. Musafa Salman was sixth in the long jump. The Broncos were fifth in the 4×400 relay and sixth in the 4×100 relay.

It was just an eventful night all the way around.

“This was one of the most fun Division I meets I’ve been at,” Archer said.

There was no one — and we mean no one— remotely close to Bishop Guertin’s Matt Giardina as he ran to the 3200 meter title in Divison I record time Friday night at Portsmouth. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)