PLYMOUTH, N.H. — After finishing in second place at last year’s New Hampshire Division I state meet, the Pinkerton Academy boys had prepared all season for a little redemption.
On Sunday afternoon, the Astros fulfilled that quest by easily taking the title, compiling 111 points, well ahead of of Bedford (72), who finished in second place. This is Pinkerton’s first D-I title since 2020 (no state meets in 2021 and 2022). Bedford won it last year.
“What is really exciting when you come to this meet is you hope that all of the kids place in all of their events and they did,” said head coach Ian French. “You really hope that your team shows up, you really hope you prepared them to do well. They are just such an awesome bunch of guys. They are such hard workers, they have done all of the necessary things to get prepared for this meet and then they showed up and executed. That’s all on them, the execution. I’m just super proud of these guys for having such a great day.”
The Astros were led by junior Matt Morrison. In a matter of minutes, he became the champion of the 55-meter hurdles with a personal best time of 7.61 seconds. He then came back and finished second in the 55-meter dash with a time of 6.47 seconds.
“I’m tired,” he said, “definitely tired.”
Winning the hurdles, though, made his fatigue a little easier to deal with.
“I really wanted that one. (Winning this) means a lot and just feels awesome,” he added.
About a half hour later, Morrison returned to the track and took second in the 300 with a time of 35.63.
“Man, (Morrison is) awesome,” said Windham’s Kevin Brooks, who beat him in both the dash and the 300. “He’s only a junior and he wins the hurdles, takes second in the dash and the 300 so next year he’s going to be unbelievable, actually this season he has been unbelievable.”
Also for Pinkerton, Caden Michaud picked up a third in the long jump (21-6) and a fifth in the 55-meter dash (6.57). John Child added a third in the 55-meter hurdles (7.88). Finn Christensen Kraft was second in the 3,000 at 8:56.80. In the 600, the Astros took three spots with Nathan Binda second (1:24.93), Aiden Dowd third (1:25.36) and Cody Santomassino (1:25.87). In the 1,000 meters, Jason Rzasa was second (2:36.38) and Noah Daigle was third (2:40.73).
The Astros picked up a fourth place in the 4×800 relay behind the efforts of Jason Rzasa, Logan McDonald, Santomassino and Jason Robie, who combined for a time of 8:45.13. The 4×400 relay team of Dowd, Santomassino, Jamison Isaac and Binda finished second at 3:35.03.
In the shot put, the Astros had three of the top five place finishers including Jordan Chick taking second with a throw of 48-5. Luke DeLangie was third with a mark of 47-3.75 and Joseph Packowski was fifth at 46-1.
Brooks started his day out by winning the 55-meter dash with a time of 6.45.
“This is the fastest that New Hampshire has been in a while (in the 55-meter dash) so I knew coming into the race that I would be facing real tough competition so I just had that in mind and didn’t take it lightly. Last year I took second and wanted to come back to win it and that’s what happened,” he said.
He came back after a short rest to also win the 300 with a time of 35.27. In the first 150 meters, he was trailing in third place, before making a move at the last turn to pass both Chris Stevens of Keene and Morrison.
“I know Chris and he likes to start off fast so I tried to keep up with him during the first half of the race, but at the end I was able to close and that’s where I like to pick up my speed,” said Brooks.
Also for Windham, Cameron Williams, tied for second in the high jump, clearing 6-0.
Salem’s Ben Lagrasse earned a fifth place in the 1,500 with a time of 4:16.74.
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Pinkerton Academy finished third as a team behind Bedford and Exeter. The Astros were led by the first place finish by the 4×200 relay team consisting of Eva Roberts, Aislinn Sprague, Nora Brayall and Hannah Sippel who had a combined time of 1:48.40.
Also having a big day was Contessa Silva, who was second in the 3,000 with a time of 10:26.22, which was five seconds better than her seed time. She was also third in the 1,500 at 4:57.14. Isabelle Groulx was third in the 1,000 at 3:07.99 and Hannah Sippel finished fifth in the 300 (42.10). Kalisan Marzolf added a fifth in the 3K at 11:11.90.
The 4×800 relay team of Sarah Rzasa, Gabrielle Bedard, Isabelle Groulx and Parker Knowlton finished second with a combined time of 9:47.34. The 4×400 relay team of Camryn McNulty, Knowlton, Isabella Sippel and Silva finished fifth with a collective time of 4:16.73.
Also for Pinkerton, Eva Roberts was fourth in the long jump with a mark of 17-0.25.
For Salem, Leanny Ortiz-Blanco was fifth in the 55-meter dash (7.40). Also the 4×200 relay team of Jennifer Olson, Ortiz-Blanco, Avery Aliberti and Fareedah Adigun finished fifth at 1:51.83.
Timberlane’s Charlotte Beaudoin picked up a fifth in the 600 (1:41.41). Finally, Windham’s Katherine Klinger was fourth in the 1,500 with a time of 5:01.39.