Last week the NHIAA announced that there will not be a high school indoor track season due to venues (the state’s indoor tracks are almost exclusively on college campuses) not being available for NHIAA competition.
But that hasn’t stopped New Hampshire’s top runners from making their mark on a national level.
New Hampshire’s state champion and record holder, and last weekend’s Nike Northeast Regional champion, Aidan Cox finished seventh in the Garmin RunningLane Cross Country Championships in Huntsville, Ala., on Saturday.
The Coe-Brown Northwood Academy junior clocked a 14:18.43 in the 5K Gold Race, which turned out to be the fastest edition of the high school race in the history of the event.
Seventy-three runners broke 15 minutes (Cox’s state record is 14:58.8).
Colin Sahlman of Newbury Park High School in California won the race in 14:03.29, followed by two teammates.
“My plan was to just run with the Newbury Park team and mix it up with them and see where that put me,” Cox said. “I wanted to hang in there as long as I could. I’m definitely feeling happy with my race and pretty exhausted too. I had a bunch of adrenaline and it’s just hitting me now how tired I am, but I’m extremely happy.”
Cox’s teammate Lars Hogne – a senior at Coe-Brown – finished 95th in the Silver Race in 15:42, while Souhegan’s Chloe Trudel finished fifth (17:56) and Coe-Brown’s Sheldyn Fisher finished 81st (19:09) in the girls’ Silver Race.
Loudon’s Seth Baylus – a senior at Merrimack Valley High School – competed in the VA Beach Club Opener, an open indoor track meet with competitors from across the country.
Baylus finished second in the 60 meters in 7.02 seconds and third in the 200 meters in 22.37 seconds.
Baylus has been breaking new ground for New Hampshire sprinters. He was the first Granite Stater to ever compete at the high school nationals in the 100 meters in the spring.
Like Baylus, Cox will also be entering some open indoor track meets since the NHIAA season was canceled for the second consecutive year.