PORTSMOUTH – Ten weeks ago Nick Reynolds hadn’t even touched a javelin. Now he is a state champion.

Reynolds popped off a throw of 205 feet, 10 inches on his second attempt of the day to win the Division I title and set the division record, highlighting a day of strong performances by the Concord High School team at Saturday’s NHIAA Division I championship at Portsmouth High School.

Concord junior Ella Goulas won the triple jump with a leap of 36-11.5 and also finished third in the high jump (5-2) and long jump (16-3.25), while senior captain Morgan Doherty placed in two events (third 100 hurdles in 15.33 seconds and fifth 300 hurdles in a personal-best time of 47.48) to lead the Crimson Tide girls to third place overall.

In addition to his victory in the javelin, Reynolds also finished third in the high jump, clearing 6-2, and third in the triple jump (43-2).

Fellow senior Alain Twite finished second in the high jump (6-2), triple jump (43-8) and long jump (21-11), and anchored the fifth-place 4x100-meter relay to lead the Concord boys’ team to fourth place.

Both squads relied on their top athletes to triple up, or even quadruple, on their events, which is especially challenging for field events that take place on different fields scattered throughout the Portsmouth athletic complex.

“We made a lot of phone calls to each other. We were kind of wishing we had walkie talkies instead,” Concord assistant coach Zach Procek said. “But the kids that we have at this stage of the season, they’re good at managing where they need to be and what they need to do.”

For athletes like Goulas, Doherty and Twite who competed in events that also had finals, it meant extra attempts to improve their place, but also added to the volume of their workload, and meant sacrificing individual success in a single event in order to score more points across multiple.

“It was very hard, but I had to push through,” said Twite, one of the boys’ team captains, who credited his coaches and teammates for helping him coordinate his four events. “I was surprised we did so well as a (boys’) team today. We normally don’t finish (in the top four) at these meets.”

Other contributors on Saturday were seniors Fabrice Nshuti and Jackson Borkush, and sophomore Tim Fahnbulleh joined Twite on the 4x100, which clocked in at 44 seconds flat.

Junior Colby Nyhan finished as the D-I runner-up in the boys’ pole vault, clearing 14-6, the second-best performance in the entire state this season.

Seniors Kendall Barton (second pole vault at 10-0), Chloe Gudas (third 800 in 2:19), Ayva Mullen (sixth triple jump at 33-9) and Kelley Mikelson (sixth high jump at 5-0); juniors Shelly Smith (third 3,200 in 11:23) and Madeline Muller (fifth pole vault at 9-6); and sophomore Grace Saysaw (fourth 100 in 12.62 seconds and fourth triple jump at 34-9) all scored individual points for the girls.

The Concord girls showed they have strong individual talent, but displayed their depth with two scoring relays: the fifth-place 4x400 of Gudas, Doherty, freshman Gianna Gualtieri and junior Nabah Yahya, and the sixth-place 4x100 of sophomore Chelsea Toenah, Saysaw, junior Ballay Conteh and Goulas.

“It’s not just the fact that people are doing so well, it’s the fact that everyone contributes to being on the team,” said Doherty, who will continue hurdling in college at the Division I level for the University of Vermont. “Everyone shows up for dinners, everyone puts in their effort and you can see that people are so appreciative (of the team) whether they are on top or not. … Seeing the team culture, getting to witness everyone coming together and then to succeed so much, it’s really incredible to experience, especially as a senior.” 

Bedford (104 points), Pinkerton (81), Nashua South (71), Concord (56) and Winnacunnet (49) were the top five team scores in the boys’ standings, while Bedford (106), Portsmouth (67), Concord (65), Nashua North (53) and Pinkerton (52) were the top five teams for the girls.

“All in all a good day, big successes from a lot of kids,” Procek said. “We’re really proud of them.”

The top three finishers in each event automatically qualified for next Sunday’s Meet of Champion, which will be held at the University of New Hampshire.