Track: Coe-Brown finishes second in D-II, ends championship streak

Coe-Brown’s Jamie Lano (1) edges Hanover’s Lucian Gleiser (2) to win the 800 meters by 0.12 seconds at the NHIAA Division II championship on Friday at Oyster River High School in Durham. Hanover won the team title, ending Coe-Brown’s streak at four consecutive championships. Coe-Brown finished second.

Coe-Brown’s Jamie Lano (1) edges Hanover’s Lucian Gleiser (2) to win the 800 meters by 0.12 seconds at the NHIAA Division II championship on Friday at Oyster River High School in Durham. Hanover won the team title, ending Coe-Brown’s streak at four consecutive championships. Coe-Brown finished second. JAY SMITH/ NHXCTF

Coe-Brown’s Emma Zeblisky throws the javelin at the NHIAA Division II championship on Friday at Oyster River High School in Durham. Zeblisky won the javelin with a toss of 114 feet, 5 inches. Coe-Brown swept the throwing events to finish second as a team.

Coe-Brown’s Emma Zeblisky throws the javelin at the NHIAA Division II championship on Friday at Oyster River High School in Durham. Zeblisky won the javelin with a toss of 114 feet, 5 inches. Coe-Brown swept the throwing events to finish second as a team. JAY SMITH/ NHXCTF

John Stark’s Logan Montgomery races to a title in the 400 meters at the NHIAA Division II championship on Friday at Oyster River High School in Durham. Montgomery won the event in 49.43 seconds to lead the Generals fourth as a team. 

John Stark’s Logan Montgomery races to a title in the 400 meters at the NHIAA Division II championship on Friday at Oyster River High School in Durham. Montgomery won the event in 49.43 seconds to lead the Generals fourth as a team.  JAY SMITH/ NHXCTF

Bow's Ben McDowell clears the bar to win the pole vault at the NHIAA Division II championship on Friday, May 24, 2024 at Oyster River High School in Durham. McDowell cleared 13-10 to win the title and set the Bow High School program record. Jay Smith / NHXCTF

Bow's Ben McDowell clears the bar to win the pole vault at the NHIAA Division II championship on Friday, May 24, 2024 at Oyster River High School in Durham. McDowell cleared 13-10 to win the title and set the Bow High School program record. Jay Smith / NHXCTF —Jay Smith / NHXCTF

Merrimack Valley’s Mychal Reynolds competes in the 300-meter hurdles at the NHIAA Division II championship on Friday at Oyster River High School in Durham. Reynolds finished the race in 41.14 seconds to win the D-II title. 

Merrimack Valley’s Mychal Reynolds competes in the 300-meter hurdles at the NHIAA Division II championship on Friday at Oyster River High School in Durham. Reynolds finished the race in 41.14 seconds to win the D-II title.  JAY SMITH/ NHXCTF

Merrimack Valley’s Mychal Reynolds (center) celebrates after crossing the finish line to claim the division title in the 300-meter hurdles at the NHIAA Division II championship on Friday at Oyster River High School in Durham. Reynolds finished the race in 41.14 seconds and also finished third in the 110 hurdles.

Merrimack Valley’s Mychal Reynolds (center) celebrates after crossing the finish line to claim the division title in the 300-meter hurdles at the NHIAA Division II championship on Friday at Oyster River High School in Durham. Reynolds finished the race in 41.14 seconds and also finished third in the 110 hurdles. JAY SMITH/ NHXCTF

John Stark’s Joel Douzanis tosses the shot put at the NHIAA Division II championship on Friday at Oyster River High School in Durham. Douzanis won the event with a throw of 48 feet, 5 inches.

John Stark’s Joel Douzanis tosses the shot put at the NHIAA Division II championship on Friday at Oyster River High School in Durham. Douzanis won the event with a throw of 48 feet, 5 inches. JAY SMITH/ NHXCTF

John Stark’s Sam Kinsey-Turner clears the bar while competing in the high jump at the NHIAA Division II championship on Friday at Oyster River High School in Durham. Smith-Turner cleared 6 feet, 2 inches to win the title.

John Stark’s Sam Kinsey-Turner clears the bar while competing in the high jump at the NHIAA Division II championship on Friday at Oyster River High School in Durham. Smith-Turner cleared 6 feet, 2 inches to win the title. JAY SMITH/ NHXCTF

By DAN ATTORRI

Monitor staff

Published: 05-26-2024 7:50 AM

DURHAM – Two winning streaks came to an end at the NHIAA Division II track and field championships on Friday evening at Oyster River High School, but disappointment wasn’t the emotion that Coe-Brown Northwood Academy head coach Lucas Fisher was feeling at the meet’s end.

Both the Coe-Brown teams finished second, the boys’ streak of consecutive outdoor track titles ended at four after a battle with Hanover, while the CBNA girls’ squad ended its streak at three to the overwhelming favorite Oyster River Bobcats.

Hanover won the boys’ title with 93 points, followed by Coe-Brown (66), Oyster River (65), John Stark (53) and Merrimack Valley (48) rounding out the top five.

Seniors Jamie Lano and Elias Warner won the 800 meters (1 minute, 57.72 seconds) and discus (152 feet, 5 inches), respectively to lead Coe-Brown, while John Stark had three individual champions: senior Logan Montgomery in the 400 (49.43 seconds), senior Joel Douzanis in the shot put (48-5) and junior Sam Kinsey-Turner in the high jump (6-2).

MV junior Mychal Reynolds won the 300-meter hurdles in 41.14 seconds to lead the Pride.

Bow senior Ben McDowell won pole vault with a school-record clearance of 13-10 lead the Falcons (17) to 11th place and Pembroke (5) finished 16th.

On the girls’ side, the host Bobcats were seeded to score 140 points and ended up winning seven of the 18 events to tally 137, more than doubling runner-up the Bears (61.5).

More than half of those points came in the throwing events, with sophomore Isabelle Grenier winning both the shot put (33-0) and discus (111-8), and junior Emma Zeblisky taking the crown in the javelin (114-5).

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Hollis-Brookline (53), Hanover (45) and Bow (39) completed the top five, while Merrimack Valley (14th, 12), Pembroke (tied 16th, 9) and John Stark (18th, 6) rounded out the local teams.

“We were going into it knowing it would be a toss up between us and Hanover,” said Fisher. “Oyster River is so deep, we just gave it our best shot.”

The Coe-Brown and Hanover boys were seeded to finish 1-2 within a few points of each other and had a few key head-to-head battles throughout the meet, namely between Lano and fellow nationally-ranked senior Lucian Gleiser.

Lano was the top seed in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200, but it was second-seeded Gleiser who won the 1,600 in 4:21.37, 2.02 seconds ahead of Lano. Lano won the 800 in 1:57.72 by an even tighter margin, .12 seconds, over Gleiser. 

The two Bear squads were both in contention for the team title early, but Hanover started to pull away midway through the meet, and Lano was too gassed to place in the 3,200, finishing 14th, in the third and final contest with Gleiser (he finished 12th).

“Those two went toe-to-toe in every event, it was great to watch,” Fisher said.

It’s the end of an era for Coe-Brown with the graduation of Lano, Warner (second shot put, fourth javelin), thrower Thomas Small and Sanjith Nomula (fifth 1,600).

Lano will continue his racing career in college at the Division I level with UMass-Lowell and Nomula will also compete in D-I at Marist College.

“The boys’ team is in a transitional phase,” Fisher said. “Between last year’s graduating class (that included three Division I college athletes) and this year’s seniors, we’re graduating a lot of core points. They’re great kids overall, held Coe-Brown standards to such a high.”

Luc Kerouac (third 800), Cameron Lee (third 300 hurdles), Alex Conner (fourth pole vault), Bryce Sartin (fourth triple jump) and the fourth-place 4x800-meter relay (Gavin Dyjak, Keegan Sousa, Quinn Froburg, Liam McLean) scored the rest of Coe-Brown’s points.

Coe-Brown’s girls’ team on the other hand was bolstered by strong performances from its numerous underclassmen qualifiers.

Ainsley Kilbreth (second discus) was the only senior to score individual points, while Bristol Shirland (third 100 hurdles), Shannon Ross (tied third pole vault), Jacqueline Heilshorn (fourth javelin), Delaney Manning (sixth 300 hurdles), Brooke Bachhuber (tied sixth pole vault), and the fourth-place 4x100 (Shirland, Ross, Kylie Prusia, Manning) and 4x800 (Samantha Perron, Madison Taylor, Meredith Kerivan, Anna Bergeron) relays provided the rest of the points.

“It’s really exciting for the coaching staff to have this new wave,” said Fisher, highlighting freshmen Shirland, Brooke Main, Tessa Kouchoukos, Annabelle Lovett and Bianca Brouillard-Smith, who all competed.

“They’re very coachable and are willing to try a lot of new things,” Fisher said. “Having them at a state meet representing Coe-Brown is huge.”

The championship streak is over, but that isn’t what Fisher is taking away from the season.

“The coaching staff is so proud of how they handled themselves,” Fisher said. “Yes, they didn’t get the victory, but they put out the best versions of themselves. They never gave up, which is all we ask for. Two runner-up finishes doesn’t happen often. It was a full-team effort, that was the coolest part for me.”

Other area scorers for the boys’ were John Stark’s Rio Calle (second long jump, tied sixth high jump), Rory Magoon (third shot put), Eli Lemire (fourth 3,200), Cedar Beaupre (fifth 400) Montgomery (tied sixth high jump) and the fifth-place 4x400 (Calle, Ethan Veilleux, Beaupre, Montgomery).

For MV, Reynolds also finished third in the 110 hurdles, and Aiden Paquette (second triple jump), Nic Oglesby (third long jump, third triple jump, fifth high jump), Abhiman Karki (fourth discus), the fourth-place 4x400 (Logan Vong, Beckett Rose, Oglesby, Reynolds) and fifth-place 4x800 (Ben Newton, Davian Loiselle, Ben Geoffrey, Nathan Bain) also scored for the Pride.

Kody McCranie (fourth 200), Joe McDowell (fifth pole vault) and Alden Betterley (sixth 1,600) scored for Bow, and Zachery Heichlinger (fifth discus, fifth javelin) and Gavin Currier (sixth triple jump) scored for Pembroke.

Bow’s girls’ scorers were Hannah Pawlowski (second 400, fourth 200), Julia Hou (second pole vault), Mackenzie Szczepanik (tied third pole vault), Sabrina Bernard (third shot put), Charlotte Larochelle (fourth long jump), Camden Wilson (fifth high jump), Gwen Barrieau (sixth triple jump) and the fifth-place 4x100 (Barrieau, Cara Van Dyke, Wilson, Larochelle).

MV was led by Lily Moser (fourth 300 hurdles), Jada Lucas (fourth high jump) and fourth-place 4x400 (Jada Lucas, Madison Geddes, Sydney Spack, Moser); Pembroke was led by Ty Valley (third triple jump), Avery Kelly (fifth 200) and sixth-place 4x100 (Teagan Nyhan, Jasmine Blake, Ty Valley, Avery Kelly); and McKenna Whittier (fourth discus) and Jenna Sinclair (fifth javelin) led John Stark.

The top three athletes in each event automatically qualify for Saturday’s Meet of Champions at the University of New Hampshire to take on the best from D-I and D-III.