After narrowly losing out on a 100-meter title at the Division I track and field champions last weekend, Concord’s Dalton Mutz wasn’t about to let it happen again. Mutz delivered not once, but twice, winning the 100 dash in 11.07 seconds and anchored the winning boys’ 4×100 relay at the Meet of Champions at Merrimack High School on Saturday.
Mutz wasn’t the only Tide runner to come away with a pair of titles.
Concord’s Grace Devanny won the 200 (25.96) and defended her title in the 400 (56.28), breaking the school record set by Rachel Umberger in 2000.
“She’s up in the stratosphere with some elite runners,” Concord head coach Hayden Daly said.
Sam Orzechowski, Zackary Jenks and Nate Hillyer were also on the Concord boys’ 4×100.
Ian Daly of Inter-Lakes won the boys’ 800 in 1:54.98, three seconds faster than his previous best.
Coe-Brown’s Kathleen Collins won the girls’ discus with a toss of 133 feet, 6 inches.
For the Tide, Mutz posted the fastest time in 100 qualifying (11.08 seconds) and ran even faster in the finals. Mutz nearly won a third crown when he finished second in the 200 by 0.13 seconds.
“Dalton had himself a day,” coach Daly said. “He has come a long way.”
The top six in each event qualify for next weekends New England Championships at the University of New Hampshire and Concord had several other athletes qualify.
Forest MacKenzie finished second in the 3,200, losing out on the title by 0.16 seconds. Teammate Eli Boesch-Dining finished third.
“You always get 100 percent from him,” Daly said. “He is an incredible competitor.”
Colin Conery finished third in the 800 and Aidan O’Hern finished sixth in the 1,600, while the fourth-place 4×400 (Pat Hall, Adam Dwight, Conery and Josh Adams) and the fifth-place 4×800 (Ryan Devine, Nate Nichols, David Cook and Matt O’Brien) also qualified.
Devanny also ran on the second-place 4×100 (50.13) for the Concord girls, breaking the school record they set last weekend at the Division I Championship.
Sam Ossoff, Kaitlin Jelley and Sarah Waite also ran on the 4×100, while Ella Fabozzi finished fifth in the pole vault.
“I want to give some props to Ella,” coach Daly said. “She earned her spot to New Englands … I am so proud that all of her hard work has paid off.”
After winning three events in the D-II Championship, Coe-Brown’s Orion Clachar qualifed for New Englands in the 110 hurdles (second), 300 hurdles (second) and javelin (third).
Teammate Evan Tanguay finished fourth in the boys’ 3,200 and ran on the fourth-place 4×800 with Porter Heigis, Dawson Dubois and Colby Hoffman.
The fifth-place 4×800 of Olivia Noni, Sophie Laird, Abby O’Connor and Ella Malone qualified for the Coe-Brown girls.
Other local qualifies for the boys were Belmont’s Hunter Dupuis (third 400), Newfound’s Reid Wilkins (third high jump), Inter-Lakes’ Drew Schriewer (tied fourth pole vault), Gilford’s Korey Weston (fifth javelin), Kearsarge’s Ben Corbyn (sixth high jump), Hillsboro-Deering’s Ben Ketterer (sixth long jump) and the third-place Inter-Lakes 4×400 (Owen Billin, Eli Dupigny, Alex Losada and Daly).
Other qualifiers on the girls’ side were Newfound’s Jasmine Peterson (second javelin), John Stark’s Ashley Audet (third javelin), Inter-Lakes’ Emma Wheeler (third triple jump), Merrimack Valley’s Theresa Irving (third high jump), Kearsarge’s Mya Dube (fourth 3,200) and Gilford’s fourth-place 4×400 (Kaitlyn Callahan, Natalie Fraser, Brianna Fraser and Lauren Dean).