MERRIMACK – Dalton Mutz clutched at his hamstring and crumpled to the ground near the finish line. For as much as the Concord junior was anticipating the day, it was cut short before he ever even had a chance to get going.
“The last 10 meters I started to slow down and I wasn’t really sure why, and then the last 5 meters, all of a sudden, it was a quick pop and then like a stabbing sensation,” said Mutz, who still limped his way to a fourth-place finish for the Tide in the 100-meter dash. “I thought I was on track to win, but I guess not today.”
Losing one of its best runners was a tough blow for Concord, but it wasn’t enough to diminish what was a standout evening for a number of Tide athletes at Friday’s Division I Track and Field Championships in Merrimack – even if it didn’t end in another title.
Led by sophomore Grace Devanny, the young Concord girls’ team placed fifth overall with a score of 40.50. Bedford (107) cruised to earn the crown, with Pinkerton settling for runner-up at 91.
The Concord boys’ notched an eighth-place finish with a score of 26.50. Injuries and illnesses played their parts, but the Tide wasn’t making any excuses, especially after Pinkerton ran away with things for the title at 147.
“I don’t like to make excuses,” Concord Coach Hayden Daly said. “Everything has got to work out perfectly for you to win this, and Pinkerton was having an amazing day.”
Perhaps the biggest bright spot for Concord was Devanny, who continued to add to her impressive resume by defending her Division I crown in the 400. After finishing the event in 57.96 seconds last year, Devanny dropped a personal best on Friday at 57.03.
“I was having a slow start to the season, so I was kind of worried about this meet,” said Devanny, who also finished second in the 200 and ran on the third-place 4×100 relay team. “I was glad that I picked myself up and rose to the occasion and was able to defend the championship.”
At such a young age, Devanny is already turning heads, and she’ll be shooting to improve upon her third-place finish from a year ago at New Englands.
“I started track pretty early and I didn’t think I could improve as much as I did,” Devanny said. “But with the support of all the coaches, the training that we do everyday and how much they push me, it’s incredible how much improvement you can do with just hard work.”
Daly added: “She’s talented, but she works really hard. She’s super competitive and she’s got people that push her. She’s a girl in a family full of boys and they’re all athletes.”
The Tide girls were also aided in the scoring with points from Allison Silverstein (fourth in 1600), Jennika Mannesto (fourth in 3200), Hannah Barton (fifth in pole vault) and Stephanie Oberg, who finished third in the javelin throw.
While things didn’t go according to plan for the Concord boys, there were still a handful of events that had Daly smiling.
Forest Mackenzie came up four seconds shy of winning the 3,200, taking second place at 9 minutes, 38.63 seconds; Clinton Mungeta scored for the Tide in the 400 by placing fifth; Adam Dwight landed in fifth in the pole vault despite not being seeded in the top 10; and Patrick Hall, filling for the injured Mutz, helped the 4×100 relay team of Samuel Orzechowski, Liam Devanny, and Mungeta notch a fourth-place finish.
“They showed a lot of moxie to pull together some scoring when things weren’t going very well,” Daly said. “The future is bright. We’re going to stay positive and keep working at it.”
Many of the same athletes will return to Merrimack on June 3 for the Meet of Champions, with the New England High School Outdoor Championships on tap for June 10 in Norwell, Mass.
(Jay McAree can be reached at 369-3371, jmcaree@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @JayMcAree.)