NORTHWOOD – As the largest team-scoring invitational in New Hampshire that falls around the middle of the season, the Black Bear Invitational can often be used as a measuring stick to see how the state’s high school track and field teams stack up against each other. This spring’s edition wasn’t a typical one, with wet and windy conditions forcing the cancellation of the pole vault and high jump events. 

But Merrimack Valley did exceptionally well in the field events that were contested, with senior Aiden Paquette winning the triple jump in 43 feet, 5.5 inches, leading a 1-2-3 sweep in that event for the Pride, and also finishing third in the discus as MV topped the boys’ standings at the 29-team invitational hosted by Coe-Brown Northwood Academy on Saturday.

“I give a lot of credit to Coe-Brown, they could’ve given a number of reasons to cancel the meet,” MV co-head coach Bob Mullen said. “Today was the first elite outdoor meet that many of these kids have competed in. It gives us a chance to see where everyone is at.”

As it turns out, the Pride stacks up well against elite competition. MV scored 59 points to top the boys’ standings, ahead of runner-up Phillips Exeter Academy’s 52 points. Host Coe-Brown (45), Milford (38) and Nashua North (28) were the top five teams.

Meet directors postponed the start time from 9 a.m. to noon in an attempt to avoid the heaviest of the rainfall. Wet surfaces and, at times, heavy winds made getting secure footing on runways and secure grips on throwing implements, especially challenging.

But MV adapted to those conditions better than most. Senior Nicolas Oglesby finished second to Paquette in the triple jump and third in the long jump, while fellow senior Logan Vong (triple jump) and junior Davian Loiselle (javelin) also had third-place finishes.

“We had a lot of kids get better in the field events,” Mullen said. “On a rainy day, that is sa sign of being well prepared. We’ve got really good coaches (Mullen credited co-head coach Dyrace Maxfield and assistant Brian Reynolds) and the kids are buying in.”

On the track, senior Mychal Reynolds scored in both hurdling events, finishing third in the 300-meter hurdles and sixth in the 110 hurdles, while the Pride also showed its depth by scoring points in all three relays.

Chris Bode, Owen Turner, Oglesby and Reynolds took third in the 4x400-meter relay, and the 4x100 (Vong, Riley Moore Jahn, Bode and Turner) and 4x800 (Jonathan Degges, Rutger Gilliland, Nathan Bain and Ben Newton) both came in fifth.

“It was a pleasant surprise to win the meet,” Mullen said. “The kids did a great job.”

There were plenty of area individual champions as well. 

The Coe-Brown girls finished third as a team behind two champions - junior Isabelle Grenier in the discus (107-4), who also finished fourth in the shot put, and the 4x800 relay (11:04) of  junior Meredith Kerivan, senior Paige Murdough, freshman Eloise Hill and sophomore Annabelle Lovett.

Concord junior Grace Saysaw won both of the girls’ sprinting events, winning the 100-meter dash in 12.61 seconds and the 200 in 25.65 seconds, as well as anchoring the runner-up 4x100 relay. Sophomore Consuelo Borico, also of Concord, won the girls’ shot put with a toss of 34-6.25, helping lead the Crimson Tide to fourth place.

Bow senior Hannah Pawlowski claimed the girls’ 800 title with a strong finishing kick, winning in 2:20.32, half a second ahead of runner-up Rosalie Neveu of Nashua North.

John Stark senior Rio Calle won the boys’ long jump in 21-7.75.

Cameron Lee (second 300 hurdles), Luc Kerouac (second 1,600), Brogan Grzybowski (third 110 hurdles), Bryce Sartin (fourth long jump, fourth triple jump) and Patrick Youngs (sixth 3,200) scored individually for the Coe-Brown boys, which also had strong performances from their second-place 4x800 (Youngs, Ben Larson, Gavin Dyjack, Kerouac) and third-place 4x100 (Lee, Sartin, Anthony Szatko, Ethan Newick).

The John Stark boys (14th, 19 points) were led by Calle, Joel Douzanis (second shot put) and Grant Spooner (sixth discus).

Concord and Bow (tied 20th, 4) were led by Sam Pfitzenmayer (fourth discus) and the fourth-place 4x800 (Thomas Sargent, George Kohl, Wyatt Worcester, Sam Kohl), respectively, and Pembroke (25th, 1) was by Zachery Heichlinger (sixth javelin).

Exeter (73), Oyster River (66), Coe-Brown (56), Concord (48) and Nashua North (36) were the top five girls’ teams.

Lilah Fitzpatrick (second 100, third 200), Jazzlyn Curry (third long jump, fourth triple jump), Elizabeth Joy (third javelin) and the fifth-place 4x400 (Brooke Main, Joy, Bianca Brouillard-Smith, Curry) scored for Coe-Brown.

Concord was led by the runner-up 4x100 (Chelsea Toenah, Conteh, Annalise Beniste, Saysaw) and individual points from Conteh (fourth long jump, sixth 100), Shelly Smith (fourth 3,200) and Nabah Yahya (sixth 400). 

Bow and Pembroke tied for 12th with 12 points. Pawlowski and Charlotte Larochelle (fifth long jump) led Bow, while Jasmine Blake (second javelin) and Caitrin Bergeron (fourth 1,600) led Pembroke.

Jenna Sinclair was fourth in the javelin for John Stark (tied 19th, 4) and Isabelle Navoy was sixth in the long jump and anchored MV’s sixth-place 4x100 with Lily Moser, Madison Geddes and Jada Lucas to lead the Pride (tied 22nd, 2).