DIVISION I TRACK: Titan boys, girls heated up in the cold
Nashua North's Allie Frye, left, grimaces as she runs the third leg of the Titans' victorious 4x400 relay during Saturday's Division I Girls Track Championship at Londonderry. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)
LONDONDERRY – There were no local team titles Saturday in the Division I Boys and Girls Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
But individually? Oh, the locals had their day, especially those in Titan jerseys.
While Pinkerton dominated the boys meet and Exeter was leading the girls in an event held in icy rain the first half of the day and then chilly sunshine the second, the Nashua North boys were the best of the rest with a distant second. The Titan girls grabbed the top three spots in the 300 hurdles and, just as they did in the indoor season, captured the 4×400 relay for the second time in three seasons.
The North girls were fourth but the one event that wasn’t completely scored was the girls pole vault, thanks to the weather. As South boys coach Doug Booth said, “The weather of course didn’t help anybody, but as I told the boys all week long, everybody’s on the same playing field.”
The girls pole vault was not able to be completed due to the weather backing everything up, but it may be done today at the Divison III meet in Pelham or back here on Monday.
Here’s a look at how the locals did:
BOYS MEET
Pinkerton dominated with 156 points, while the Titans were second with 47.33 and Manchester Memorial third (36.38). Concord was fourth with 34, just two points ahead of the next local, Bishop Guertin (32) in fifth, and the Cards were just one point ahead of sixth place Nashua South (31).
Alvirne was eighth (27) and Merrimack 13th with 15 points.
“We did amazing,” North coach Shane Gagnon said. “We definitely did not expect to be in this position. Difficult conditions for our athletes to compete in.”
A key for the Titans was Gavin Suchecki’s victory in the high jump at 5-10 during incredibly hard, cold, damp conditions.
“Gavin is a 6-4 jumper and it was won at 5-10,” Gagnon said. “That’s just a testament to Gavin and how he comes up clutch and performs under any conditions.”
He was also third in the 400 in 50.65
Titan Kobe Perry took third in the 100 dash in 11.26 seconds, but was second in the 200 in 22.54.
North got a fifth in the shot put from Nicholas Jurczak a fourth from Jose Marcano in the discus. Josh Sullivan got a fraction of a point in a three-way tite for sixth in the high jump. Jacob Griffith scored with a fifth in the300 hurdles
In relays, the Titans’ 4×800 team of Bunhour Chea, Owen Gagnon, Cole Burns, and Ryan Mamos was fourth in 8:22.23. North was sixth in the 4×100 relay.
Bishop Guertin’s Eric Fischer was second in the 3200 in a great race with Pinkerton’s Jason Robie, who pulled away toward the end, as he finished at 9:11.47 to Robie’s 9:08.30.
Sam Woodward had a good day for BG, second in the high jump at 5-8 and third in the javelin at 137-11.
Jacob Parshay was fourth in the 100.
Bishop Guertin was second in the 4×100 relay with the foursome of Ryan Connelly, Jack Mello, Cam Sydow and Parshay in at 44.18.
For South, the Panthers had a champion in Sawyer Penny in the javelin at 152-2. Preson Bois was second in the pole vault at 13-0 and second in the triple jump; at 43-11.
Colin Langer was sixth in the 132-4.
The Panthers’ 4×800 relay team of Isaiah Rodriguez, Sriam Vanga, Pranav Dasari and Matthew Motherway was fifth. Rodriguez took sixth in the 800. Ryan Jansen got a sixth in the 200.
Alvirne’s Charles Barrett took the shot put at 45-2 and was second in the discus at 142-7. Joey Marcotte took second in the 110 hurdles in 14.69 seconds. Sam Oquist was sixth in the 100.
Merrimack’s points came from a third in the 4×100 relay (Brady Cardin, Austin Cassetty, William Farrell, Stephen Doyle) in 44.49, plus a sixth in the shot put by Andrew Minichiello, another sixth by Austin Cassetty in the long jump, and Tyler Hussey the same in the 300 hurdles.

Nashua South’s Preson Bois pole vaults into the shadows duirng Saturday’s Division I Boys Track Championships at LHS. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)
GIRLS MEET
The Titans are fourth with 69 points, while Exeter was in first at 111, two ahead of Pinkerton (109) with Bedford third at 77. The South girls were seventh (21), Merrimack ninth (17), Bishop Guertin 12th with six and Alvirne 13th with four.
The two big highlights for North were going one-two-three in the 300 hurdles and then the 4×400 relay win. It was Allison Frye (46.27), Charlotte Wilson (47.58) and Abigail Azevedo (47.81) taking over the hurdles event in that order.
“We’d been talking about it all week,” North coach Renee Archer said. “We were kind of joking about it but as the week went on we went, ‘Wait, you guys could actually do this.’
“Watching them finish and the excitement they saw when they did that made this all (the rain, cold, wind) worth it.”
The last running event was the 4×400, with Sarah Frye starting out, followed by Wilson, then Allie Frye, who was pushing hard and finally Neveu who was almost alone with the cumulative finish of 3:59.24.
“I just knew I needed to give Rosie the baton in first,” Allie Frye said.
“I really felt the adrenalin,” Neveu said. “Honestly, I didn’t look back. Crossing that finish line and seeing a sub-4 (four minute) is like huge for our team. We’ve been trying to that for a long time.”
North’s Azevedo was second in the high jump at 5-2 as was Sarah Frye in the triple jump (35-0.50) while Kaylee Young was sixth in the same event. Neveu was third in the 800 in 2:13.50
Abigail Bozek was third in the 100 hurdles in 16.44. The Titans’ 4×100 relay team of Allie Dandaneau, the Fryes, and Azevedo was fourth. Azevedo was also sixth in the 200.
Nashua South’s Amalie Ramirez was third (15-10) in the long jump with Sarah Witta fourth (15-9.75). Emma Millette was third at 34-7 in the triple jump while Amalie Ramirez was sixth. Penelope Rodriguez was sixth in the high jump.
Camrin Ayi took fifth in the 100 and the Panthers’ 4×400 relay team was sixth.
Guertin got a fifth from Noelle Gauthier in the shot put and same from Zoe Coler in the 1600. Jayln Paul was fifth in the 3200.
Merrimack’s Josephine Swisher had a good day, a division champion in the 400 in 58.81was third in the 200 (26.73) and sixth in the 100.
Alvirne’s Noelle Tardif was fourth in the javelin.

The North boys track team shows off its hardware after finishing second in Saturday’s Divison I title meet in Londonderry. (Courtesy photo)


