Merrimack boys track finishes second

Friday, February 10, 2012

Joe Marchilena photo Merrimack's Devin Martin lands in the pit during the boys long jump at Sunday's Division I indoor track championship at Dartmouth College. Martin finished first in the long jump while the Merrimack boys finished second overall.

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Joe Marchilena photo Merrimack's Emily Pollard goes into a turn during the girls 600-meter run during the Division I indoor track championship.

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Joe Marchilena photo Merrimack's Devin Martin lands in the pit during the boys long jump at Sunday's Division I indoor track championship at Dartmouth College. Martin finished first in the long jump while the Merrimack boys finished second overall.

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HANOVER – The Bishop Guertin High School girls indoor track team completed a decade of dominance on Sunday.

And what better way to complete it than to, well, dominate.

The Cardinals scored in all but one event, taking seven first-place finishes, to win their 10th straight indoor title. Bishop Guertin scored 107 points, with Exeter second with 50, to win the Division I meet at Dartmouth College in Hanover.

Betsy Garnick won the 55-meter dash and the 55 hurdles for the Cardinals, helped the 4x200 relay to a win and finished second in the long jump, while Molly McCabe came in first in the 1,000, took third in the 1,500, ran a leg of the 4x200 and was a part of the 4x400 team, which also was first.

The margin of victory – 57 points – was 19 points better than when the Cardinals beat Pinkerton in 2007, and it was the most points scored by a girls team to win an indoor title since Hollis Brookline score 113 1/3 points to win the Class I-M-S title in 2002.

“It means a lot,” Bishop Guertin coach Steve Hunt said. “The girls worked hard. It’s a very, very talented group. Betsy Garnick, Molly McCabe, Jackyln Dubois in the shot put. And we’re only losing two girls.”

Timberlane and Pinkerton tied for third place and Nashua South came in fifth. Merrimack finished seventh overall. Nashua North was 10th and Alvirne 11th.

The boys meet was much closer, coming down to the final event, the 4x200 relay. Pinkerton led Merrimack by three going into the event, and edged the Tomahawks for first in the relay by 0.66 seconds to win the Division I title, 68-63.

North, Bishop Guertin and Londonderry finished in a three-way tie for third, while Nashua South came in sixth. Alvirne placed 13th.

“We had a great performance,” Merrimack coach John Snell said. “We thought that if we had a really good meet, we’d score 55 points and we got 63 points. Pinkerton, we knew they were the team to beat, and they had a great meet. We had a great meet.”

The Bishop Guertin girls also got a first-place finish from Jacklyn Dubois, who won the shot put with a throw of 37-2, ahead of Nashua South’s Adaeze Obinelo, who came in second.

Sarah Burke finished first in the 600, setting a division record by finishing in 1 minute, 35.17 seconds. Garnick also set a division record in the 55 hurdles, coming in in 8.21 seconds.

South’s Arashana Yanes had a second-place finish in the 55, a third in the long jump and a fifth in the 300. Lauren Kirby was North’s top finisher, coming in third in the shot put.

The Alvirne 4x800 relay team of Erica Notini, Sarah Rossetti, Marie Morrier and Lydia Lyman finished first in 10:04.16, setting a school record.

On the boys side, Merrimack got first-place finishes from Devin Martin in the long jump (21-0), Chaz Myers in the 300 (35.83) and Alex Doyle in the 55 hurdles (8.18). The Tomahawks also won the 4x400 relay in 3:35.15 while Martin was also third in the 300.

North’s Devin Motivala won the 1,000, finishing in 2:35.45, while Mike Lynch took second in the shot put.

Bishop Guertin got a second-place finish from Kent Horsley in the 600 and from Chris Cogliano in the 1,000. Brody Smith was also third in the long jump.

Kevin Shea gave South a first-place finish in the high jump (6-6), tying a division record, and he came in second in the 55 hurdles.

Alvirne got its points from Aaron Bellomo, who came in second in the 1,500.