With a bulk of the winter sports finished, the “four things” series wraps up with a look at a combination of sports.
The combination of swimming and diving, skiing and gymnastics into one story is because each of the sports has a shorter season than the previously done sports and fewer events for competition. The Capital Area is well-represented in all of the aforementioned activities, especially on the slopes.
If you missed any of the previous pieces in the series including: girls’ basketball, boys’ basketball, girls’ ice hockey, boys’ ice hockey and wrestling, they’re all available on the Monitor website to get a head start on the winter schedule.
Perhaps the largest Nordic skiing event in the state, the NH coaches’ series is a two-part, event where both public and private schools across the state compete in the truest form of a state championship. Area schools such as Concord, Bow, Hopkinton and Kearsarge year in and year out boast competitive results and will once again look to do the same. The first race takes place at White Mountain High School and the second at Plymouth High School.
Once again the swim and dive championships will take place at the Salem Workout Club over the span of two days. Division II teams will compete on the first date and area schools such as Bow, John Stark, Merrimack Valley and Bishop Brady will swim toward a title. Concord as the lone area Division I school will swim on the latter date.
Around a month before the state championship meet, however, is one of the few regular season meets where a large collection of area schools will compete against one another. The Falcons are the host school at the Concord YMCA and will compete against Concord, Bishop Brady, Belmont, Pembroke and Merrimack Valley amongst others.
Even though only one area school has a formally sanctioned gymnastics team – Coe-Brown – there are plenty of schools that boast at least one gymnast as independent programs and have a chance at competing for a state championship. The most recent state champion from an area school is Julia Riordan from Bow who won back in 2003.