PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Jameson Trask had one wish for her athletic career before leaving for Army National Guard Boot Camp.
To be a state champion.
Finally, in her fourth try, the Pinkerton Academy senior did just that, with the second best discus throw in program history. She tossed a gem of 117-1 to take gold at Friday night’s NHIAA Division I championship meet.
“I’m very excited to win a DI championship. I’ve been coming here since my freshman year and it’s always been a dream of mine to win,” she said.
As a 14-year-old freshman, she came out for the outdoor track team and threw 65 feet.
“When I was a freshman, I kind of made up my own form,” she said with a laugh. “Now I’m 18-years-old and a senior. I’ve learned so much over the years thanks to coach (Dean) Squires and (the program’s record holder Briana Danis), who was my mentor.
“To win today is awesome and I just had so much fun.”
In a short time she will be leaving for boot camp at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, before starting classes at the University of New Hampshire, where she will not be going out for the track team.
She is honored to have the chance to serve and protects the United States.
“I always wanted to serve my country. A lot of my family have served and even when I was in the middle school I wanted to serve,” she said, noting her father Richard was a drill sergeant in the Army, her grandmother was a nurse in the Navy and her two grandfathers.
“I think it will be fun and it’s honorable.”
Pinkerton boys run away with team title
After finishing second in each of the past two years — and winning the indoor state title the past two years — the Pinkerton boys easily won the team title compiling 101 points behind four first place finishes.
Nashua North was second with 64 points.
The top highlight came from the 4×100 relay team of Travis Cavallo, Winston George, Elijah Roberts and Jamieson Isaac, who re-broke the state record with a combined time of 42.28 seconds.
“Going in our main goal was to obviously win but to qualify for Nationals,” said Cavallo, the leadoff leg. “We have been just there, just short and today we did it. We’re all close friends, so the handoffs are smooth and we all ran great.”
In the 110-meter hurdles, junior John Child, who sat out the first half of the season with a hip flexor injury, won with a time of 14.79 seconds. His performance is a significant upgrade from last year’s third place finish and 15.40 time.
“At the start of the race I was still shaky and tired from the (trial race),” he said. “My legs felt like jelly, and I came out of the blocks a little slow. But towards the second half of the race, I was able to catch up.”
Senior Charlie Franks re-broke his own school record in the javelin, throwing 194-3.
“We finally got some good weather,” he said. “It’s been rainy and wet, and I woke up with no rain knowing it would be a dry surface, so it was like, ‘let’s go and do this’.”
Last year he finished third, throwing 162-8.
“To be a state champion feels amazing. Hard work does pay off,” he said. “I worked really hard in the off-season. I did a lot of training, weight lifting and I just threw a lot more than I did in the previous off-seasons.”
Oliver Gould captured the long jump title (20-9).
Two other first places
Also in the girls meet, Windham’s Kelly Wright took home the javelin title, throwing 111-7.
The other first place came from the Salem boys 4×800 relay team of Jackson Gannon, Benjamin LaGrasse, Evan Spencer and Brock James, with a combined time of 8:08.45.
“We knew we were the top seed, so we just wanted to take care of business,” said James, the anchor leg. “Jackson put us in a good spot (with his leadoff leg) and Ben and Evan kept (up the lead) allowing me to bring it home for us.”