PENACOOK – Kevin McGrath hasn’t had many chances to compete this season, so when the Hopkinton senior got a chance at the 18th annual Merrimack Valley Invitational, he delivered.
In a meet featuring 32 teams and around 1,100 athletes from Division II and III, McGrath, a jumper on the Hopkinton boys’ track and field team, one of the smallest programs in the state, won the long jump with a leap of 19 feet, 10½ inches and the high jump with a season-best mark of 6-4.
McGrath currently holds the best performances in both events in D-III this season. His best jump came on his sixth and final attempt, although his second- and third-best jumps would have been enough to secure the win.
The MV Invitational is a non-scoring meet, but it served plenty of purposes on Saturday, providing the first big test for most athletes in decent weather conditions.
This is especially important for athletes like McGrath, whose only chance to jump in actual track and field facilities is during competition. Weather has forced the cancellation or modification of meets across the state.
“I can do speed workouts at practice, but the only chance I get to actually jump is during meets,” McGrath said. “It means a lot to win here (against D-II schools), especially coming from a small town where we don’t have a track to practice on.”
Other local winners on the boys’ side were Coe-Brown’s Orion Clachar in the 300-meter hurdles (42.3 seconds), Coe-Brown’s Tyler Troy in the pole vault (12-6) and Kearsarge’s Hunter Burns in the 800 (2:04).
Merrimack Valley’s Kaitlyn Covell also took advantage of the good conditions. Covell won the 300 hurdles on her home track in 48.91 seconds, the only competitor to break 50 seconds in the event, and finished second in the 100 hurdles after posting the fastest time in the prelims.
For senior Covell and the Pride, whose squad relies heavily on points in specialized events such as the hurdles, jumps and throws, the spring weather has wrought havoc on MV’s ability to compete and keep up with training in those events.
“It was hard (competing at Pelham on April 14),” Covell said. “It was very cold, rainy and a very long day, so it ended up not being a great day of races. This was kind of our first meet we had good weather for, so it was good to get out there and see what we could do with our times.”
MV’s Madison Palmer (second long jump), Asia Grace Hanson (fourth javelin), Emma York (fourth 1,600), Addie Hodge (fifth long jump and triple jump) and Theresa Irving (sixth javelin, seventh triple jump) were other Pride athletes with strong performances.
“That team is starting to take shape,” said MV coach and meet director Bob Mullen, who also credited the MV community and grounds crew for getting the facilities ready for competition. “It’s amazing the performances we had today given where we’re at (with the amount of training time). We were really just getting our feet wet today.”
The Coe-Brown 4×800 relay of Sophie Laird (second 800), Addison Cox (third 1,600), Abby O’Connor (seventh 800) and Ella Malone (eighth 800) won in 10:05, 57 seconds ahead of the runner-up, while teammate Kathleen Collins won the discus with a meet record toss of 144-6 and also finished third in the shot put.
Laird, O’Connor, Malone and Olivia Noni formed the runner-up 4×400.
John Stark’s Ashley Audet won the javelin in 111-7 and Kearsarge’s Mya Dube won the 3,200 in 11:33 and Cougar teammate Jenna Bears finished sixth in the event.
Gilford was led by Lauren Dean with a second-place finish in the 400 and ran a strong leg on the third-place 4×800 relay with Aria Stephan, Carly White and Kaitlyn Callahan. Sydni Lehre was fourth in the long jump.
Megan Ellsworth (eighth 400) was the top finisher for Hopkinton and Ashley Toupin (12th triple jump) was the best finisher for Bishop Brady.
Other top finishes on the boys’ side came from Clachar, who finished second in the javelin, just 6 inches behind the winner. Jonathan Thorn (third shot put and discus), Jonathan Mohelmann (sixth 300 hurdles) and the third-place 4×800 relay of Gavyn Lewis, Luke Tkaczyk, Sam Patteson and Dawson Dubois) had the other top finishes for Coe-Brown.
Kearsarge’s Ben Corbyn was part of a four-way tie for second place in the high jump, while John Cunningham finished second in the pole vault and seventh in the 110 hurdles.
Host MV’s best finish was David Reynolds, who was second in the 3,200, just 2.12 seconds behind the winner.
The Pride also had strong performances from the second-place 4×400 relay of Herman Nixon (sixth 400), Christian Oglesby, Matt Lyle (sixth 1,600, eighth 800) and Isiah Shedd and the fourth-place 4×800 of Ethan Dodenhoff, Matt Reynolds (sixth 3,200), Oglesby and Shedd.
MV’s Camden Donovan was sixth in the high jump.
John Stark’s top finishers were from Patrick Kalob (second 300 hurdles, sixth triple jump), Manuel Biskaduros (fourth 100, eighth 200), Brandon Langdon (fifth 1,600), Colin Astholz (third 110 hurdles, seventh 300 hurdles), Joseph Wegman (fifth 110 hurdles, tied seventh high jump) and Nikos Biskaduros (sixth 110 hurdles).
Korey Weston (second long jump, third javelin), Sandor Gamache (third triple jump, fifth long jump) and Michael Wernig (sixth discus) led Gilford, and Joey Bergeron (20th discus) led Bishop Brady.
Concord at Nashua North Invite
Key players: Concord – Dalton Mutz (1st 200), Aidan O’Hern (2nd 1,600), Colin Conery (3rd 800), Forest MacKenzie (3rd 3,200), Adam Dwight (3rd pole vault), Ryan Devine (5th 1,600), Nate Hillyer (5th triple jump), Eli Boesch-Dining (6th 1,600), Brayden Kearns (2nd in freshman/sophomore 1,600 race), Eben Bragg (3rd in freshman/sophomore 1,600 race), Jacob Nichol (6th 300 hurdles), 4×400 (4th), 4×100 (5th)
Highlights/key moments: Mutz won the 200-meter dash in 22.76 to lead the Tide at the 20-team, non-scoring Nashua North Invitational against strong D-I and Massachusetts opponents.
Coach’s quote: “The boys scored points all over the place. O’Hern almost won the mile and Dalton had a very solid 200. He is ranked first in the 100 and 200 in D-I right now. I think this meet gave (the boys) a lot of confidence.” – Concord’s Hayden Daly
Belmont, Franklin, Inter-Lakes
at Winnisquam Invitational
Key players:Belmont – Hunter Dupuis (1st 100, 1st 400), Zach Ennis (1st 1,600), Bryce Hall (1st high jump), Lucas Mathieu (1st javelin), 4×100 (1st); Franklin – Christian Shepard (1st 300 hurdles), Inter-Lakes – Drew Schriewer (1st pole vault, 1st shot put, 1st discus), Ian Daly (1st 800), Eli Dupigny (1st long jump), Owen Billin (1st triple jump), 4×400 (1st); Winnisquam – Hunter Hinxman (1st 200), Andre Cormier (1st 110 hurdles), 4×800 (1st)
Highlights/key moments: Four Lakes Region teams competed in the non-scoring Winnisquam Invitational. Schriewer was the top individual athlete at the meet with three wins.
Concord at Nashua North Invite
Key players: Concord – Grace Devanny (1st 400), Morganne Orcutt (2nd in freshman/sophomore 1,600 race), Sarah Waite (4th 100), Hannah Barton (4th pole vault), 4×100 (2nd), 4×400 (3rd)
Highlights/key moments: Devanny won the 400 in a D-I season-best time of 58.02 seconds and ran on both the 4×100 and 4×400 relays that finished in the top three. Sam Ossoff, Faith Hatcher and Waite also ran on the 4×100 that finished second only to Andover, Mass. Serena Britos, Kat Jepson and Waite ran on the 4×400 with Devanny, who ran a 57 second split during her leg.
Coach’s quote: “Grace had a breakout day. The 4×100 team is getting close to the school record and has the fastest time in the state right now. This meet gave the (girls team) a lot of confidence.” – Concord’s Hayden Daly
Belmont, Franklin, Inter-Lakes
at Winnisquam Invitational
Key players:Belmont – Sana Syed (1st 100 hurdles), Gabriel Day (1st 100), Alexus Day (1st 800), Alice Riley (1st 3,200), 4×400 (1st); Inter-Lakes – Emma Wheeler (1st 200, 1st high jump), Alison Haight (1st pole vault), Greta Achenbach (1st triple jump), Georgiana Ducsai (1st discus), Mollie Durand (1st javelin), Becca Leberman (1st 400), 4×800 (1st); Winnisquam – Casey Lang (1st 300 hurdles, 1st long jump, Faith Gosselin (1st 1,600), Gabby Isabelle (1st shot put), 4×100 (1st)
Highlights/key moments: The Lakers won eight of 18 events, led by two victories from Wheeler, at the non-scoring Winnisquam Invitational.
Merrimack 11, Concord 7
Key players: Concord – Nicole Toler (4 goals), Christina Soule (goal), Brenna Vandersea (goal), Maria Armaganian (goal), Hannah Waite (defense), Fabi McLeod (goalie)
Highlights/key moments: Toler took advantage of her scoring opportunities and Toler and Ananya Nadeau both got to the ball on the draw, but the Tide couldn’t capitalize on enough shots to earn the win.
Coach’s quote: “We had a few opportunities but were not able to come away with the win. The team is steadily improving and looking to progress and move forward.” – Concord’s Steph Johnson
Records: Merrimack 2-2; Concord 1-3
Nashua South 9, Concord 1
Highlights/key moments: The Tide dropped its second game in two days, this time to the Purple Panthers.
Records: Nashua South 1-3; Concord 1-2