For the second time in her career, Merrimack Valley’s Kristie Schoffield can say that she truly is the best in the state.
Running with two of the best runners in New Hampshire in the 800, Schoffield kicked it in to high gear over the last 200 meters, took a slight lead with 20-25 meters to go and edged Lebanon’s Corinne Kennedy and Bedford’s Leya Salis in a photo finish at Saturday’s Meet of Champions at Merrimack High School.
Schoffield, a senior, clocked a 2:09.3 in the event, just .06 seconds ahead of Kennedy and .30 seconds ahead of Salis. Schoffield also won the 400 MOC title in 2015.
The Meet of Champions features the top three athletes from all three divisions of NHIAA competition in each event, as well as the top performers from the regular season. The top six in each event at the MOC qualify for New Englands.
“It went out a little slower than what he had expected,” MV Coach Dave Irving said. “We thought that Salis would go through the 400 faster, but they ran a huge negative split. Kristie made the first move with 200 left. We always say that nobody outkicks Kristie and that was true today.”
Schoffield finished second to Kennedy in the 800 with a time of 2:16.1 at the Division II championships, but had already run the 400 and 1,600 (she won the 400 and finished third in the 1,600) and wasn’t fresh.
Schoffield’s personal-record in the 800 is a 2:08.46 that ran at the prestigious Loucks Games in New York and she will try to best that time at next Saturday’s New England Championships in Norwell, Mass.
“She’s super self-motivated,” Irving said. “You have to be to compete at this level.”
Schoffield also ran on the fifth-place 4×400 with Kaitlyn Covell (fifth 100 hurdles), Asia Grace Hanson (sixth javelin) and Cassidy Considine.
Concord sophomore Grace Devanny also won a title, winning the 400 in 57.54 seconds, adding to the D-I 400 crown she won the previous weekend with a 57.04.
“She is looking really fast for New Englands,” Concord Coach Hayden Daly said.
Devanny has already bettered her time of 58.27, the time she ran in her third-place finish at New Englands last year as a freshman – multiple times.
Devanny also finished second in the 200 and ran on the sixth-place 4×400 with freshmen Sarah Waite, Allison Silverstein and Ellie Erickson.
Concord’s sixth-place 4×800 of Jennika Mannesto, Silverstein, Gillian Bennett and Sarah Zarakotas also qualified for New Englands, as did Stephanie Oberg (fifth javelin) and Hannah Barton (tied sixth in pole vault).
Kathleen Collins (second discus, fifth shot put) and the fourth-place 4×800 of Sophie Laird, Alli Pratt, Elly McDonough and Abby O’Connor qualified for Coe-Brown.
Bow’s Dom Biron (second long jump, third 300 hurdles, tied for third in high jump) and Inter-Lakes freshman Emma Wheeler (third triple jump) were the other local qualifiers.
On the boys’ side, Coe-Brown’s Orion Clachar (third javelin, fourth 300 hurdles), River Groves (fourth 1,600), Zach Richards (sixth 800), Tanner Richards (sixth pole vault) and two relays had top six finishes.
Gabe Deely, Groves, Zach Richards and Davio DeLuca formed the runner-up 4×800 and Mike Mulligan, Chris Pratt, Zach Richards and Groves formed the sixth-place 4×400.
Concord’s 4×800 of Jamie Wilkes, Aidan O’Hern, Colin Conery and Nate Nichols finished third and Forest Mackenzie (sixth 3,200) also qualified.
MV’s Joey Baylus (110 hurdles) and 4×800 of Dylan Guinard, Isaiah Shedd, Dylan Lessard and Matthew Lyle finished fourth.
Hopkinton’s Kevin McGrath (second high jump), Kearsarge’s Grant Croft (second pole vault), Inter-Lakes’s Shawn Deflorio (third shot put) and Ian Daly (fifth 800), Newfound’s Leo Ntourntourekas (fourth shot put), Bishop Brady’s Sean Sullivan (fourth discus), Bow’s Mike Perry (sixth triple jump) and Belmont’s Ian Remenar (sixth 300 hurdles) were the other area qualifiers.
State Doubles Tournament
Key players: Concord – Becky Cistulli, Alex Killinger, Sabrina Hart-Meyer, Abby Pope
Highlights/key moments: The doubles team of Cistulli and Killinger earned a spot in Thursday’s semifinals with second round and quarterfinal victories. The third-seeded duo had a first round bye, defeated Bedford’s Caroline Herz and Emily Thompson in the second round (8-5) and defeated Pinkerton’s Zoe Freedman and Riley Reinert in the quarterfinals (8-6). Hart-Meyer and Pope came back from down a break to defeat Souhegan’s Eliza Cullen and Sophie Knight in the first round (8-6) before falling to Bishop Guertin’s Claire Reynolds and Sara Schmitt in the second round (8-4).
Coach’s quote: “It was great to see the (Cistulli and Killinger) live up to their No. 3 seed and play as well as they did against consistently determined competition. The girls played with a lot of focus and were active at the net to neutralize Bedford and close out the match.” – Concord’s PJ Cistulli
No. 8 Mascenic 3,
No. 9 John Stark 0
Key players: John Stark – Robert Blouin (hitting, defense), Griffin Caswell (setting), Robbie Yelle (midle hitting, blocking), Noah Payeur (middle hitting, blocking), Justin Bowen (defense)
Highlights/key moments: The Generals kept it close in the first set, losing 25-23, but the Vikings pulled ahead in the second and third sets, winning 25-13 and 25-18 to eliminate John Stark in the first round of the playoffs.
Coach’s quote: “Unfortunately we just lacked the size and depth that’s needed to go deeper into the tournament.” – John Stark’s Dave Simeone
Records: Mascenic 9-8; John Stark 5-12