Sanborn Invitational
Key players: Bishop Brady – Katie Palmateer (3rd 1,600); Coe-Brown – Anushka Chavda (1st 100 in 12.87 seconds, 2nd 200), Natalie Riley (1st discus at 111-3, 2nd shot put), Makena Lee (1st pole vault at 9-6), Josephine Malloy (1st long jump at 16-5, 2nd pole vault), Natalie Sicard (2nd 100 hurdles, 4th triple jump), Olivia Buzzell (2nd triple jump, 5th high jump), Annika Gunderson (3rd javelin), Kylie Prusia (5th 200), Anissa Thorne (6th 300 hurdles), 4×100 (4th), 4×400 (6th); Hillsboro-Deering – Alejandra Whisman (21st long jump); Hopkinton – Grace Hall (1st triple jump in 35-1, 4th long jump), Hannah Bennett (1st 3,200 in 12:21), 4×800 (1st in 10:29), Cailey Stockwell (2nd 800), Elise Miner (2nd javelin), Charlotte Presti (4th 200, 6th 400), Reese Bove (5th 800, 6th triple jump), Natalie Noble (6th shot put), 4×100 (5th); John Stark – Brianna Langdon (3rd 100, 3rd 200); Kearsarge – Molly Ellison (3rd 800, 4th 1,600), Bristol Messer (5th 300 hurdles); Merrimack Valley – Sophia Reynolds (2nd 1,600), Victoria Leak (3rd discus, 4th javelin), 4×400 (4th); Pembroke – Kayla Amyot (6th 200), Lillian Corbitt (6th javelin), 4×800 (6th)
Highlights: The Sanborn Invitational didn’t have team scores, but defending D-II champion Coe-Brown (won four events) and defending D-III champion Hopkinton (won three events) still stood out at the 31-team invitational that had previously been hosted by Merrimack Valley for over the past two decades. Hopkinton did especially well considering this was the Hawks first meet of the season.
Coach’s quote: “The girls had some impressive results both on the track and in the field. Grace Hall took up where she left off last year with a win in the triple jump and a solid fourth in the long. She has some great talent. It took her a little bit to settle it during the preliminaries, but she had it dialed in by the end of the finals. Elise Miner is throwing great early season and just missed out on the win for the javelin. On the track, the strong distance team of Hannah Bennett, Cailey Stockwell, Anna O’Reilly and newcomer Reese Bove showed what they could do against some of the strongest D-II and D-III teams out there. The sprints are starting to show some improvement over the previous years, which is a welcome and needed change. Overall, we were very impressed by the early season results but there is definitely room for some improvement in the coming month. Second overall at a meet like this with 29 teams is a pretty solid start to the season. I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do in the next month.” – Hopkinton’s Rob Rothe