Conant and Mascenic qualified several athletes for the Meet of Champions during the rain-soaked NHIAA Division III track and field state championships at Sanborn. 

States began on Wednesday afternoon with torrential rain in the forecast. Some start times were moved up 15 minutes, but even with the precautions, most of the competition took place in a heavy downpour. Ultimately, event save pole vault was completed Wednesday, with pole vaulters required to return the next day to finish up for safety's sake. 

Unlike 2021's thunder-hastened competition, the rain didn't appear to have much bearing on the end results beyond drenching the athletes to the bone. 

Conant sophomore Ben Sawyer was the only local competitor to win an event outright, repeating in long jump and winning a thrilling 300m hurdle contest that may have been the race of the day. Sawyer trailed favorite Aidan Malek of Gilford for about 298 meters before running him down at the line. 

"I didn't know if I was going to catch him, but I started kicking at the end, and I felt myself definitely reeling in that gap. It was up to the last hurdle,” Sawyer said.

As Malek approached that last hurdle, he peeked over his shoulder to find Sawyer closing in, clipped the top of the obstacle and fell just short of the finish line. 

"I kind of just jogged across the line after that," Sawyer said.

Malek crawled across the line in fourth to salvage a couple points for Gilford, who won the boys' team championship on the strength of senior Patrick Gandini's third straight "triple crown," winning the 800m, 1,600m and 3,200m all in the same day.

Conant had a solid day, but nothing like last year's big state championship win, and the Oriole boys finished in eighth place. 

Sawyer needed just two jumps to repeat as long jump champ, with his 20-foot, 4 1/2-inch jump more than 14 inches better than his closest competition. Sawyer was also last year's high jump champ, but was unable to clear the first height of 5-feet, 6-inches on Wednesday, as he got his body over the bar but caught it with a foot on the way down. 

Junior Kaden Colby was fourth in the 110m hurdles, 11th in pole vault and 14th in the 300m hurdles. Junior Jordan Nagle was sixth in pole vault, seventh in the 110m hurdles, eighth in the high jump and 14th in triple jump. Senior Jacob Sawyer was 11th in javelin. The team of Jon Ciglar, Austen Richard, Jacob Sawyer and Ben Sawyer took fourth in the 4x400m relay. Ciglar was also seventh in pole vault. Sophomore Gage Blanchette took 14th in discus. Sophomore Nathan Alajajian was 11th in the 1,600m run. 

Conant's girls took 13th overall, with the top finish belonging to sophomore and new pole vaulter Bella Nero, who cleared eight feet to qualify for the Meet of Champions. Nero was also fifth in the 3,200m run (12:52).

Senior Kylie Aho took fourth in the 1,600m run (5:38) and grouped up with LaineyHolombo, Emma Tenters and Isabella Brooks for an all-senior 4x400m relay team, which placed seventh. Brooks was also 13th in the 100m dash and seventh in the 400m dash.  Holombo was 13th in the 400m dash. 

 

Senior Adrienne Kennedy was seventh in the 800m run. Freshman Riley Vitello was 10th in the 800m run.  Freshman Amelia Hill was eighth in the 1,600m run and 13th in the 3,200m.  Sophomore NeveMormando, freshman Ava Rollins, junior Ellie Cassidy and junior AmarahLapinsky placed 11th in the 4x800m relay. 

Mascenic qualified a team of underclassmen girls for the Meet of Champions with a second-place finish in the 4x800m relay for freshman Erin O'Shea, junior Amelia Smith, junior Emma Schaumloffel and freshman Kaitlin O'Shea (10:38.40). 

Kaitlin O'Shea was also fifth in the 1,600m. Schaumloffel was sixth in the 3,200m run.  Erin O'Shea was eighth in the 3,00m run.  The O'Sheas and Schaumloffel teamed with sophomore Mackenzie Vaillancourt for a 13th-place finish in the 4x400m relay. 

Mascenic's one senior girl, BrielleShippee, was 11th in the 3,200m as the girls finished 15th as a team.

On the boys' side, senior Drew Traffie was the only entrant, and he took sixth in the 3,200m run. 

Top-three finishers qualified for the Meet of Champions scheduled for Saturday at Oyster River High School, where the Mascenic 4x800 team, Bella Nero and Ben Sawyer will go up against the best from Divisions I and II. For Sawyer, while his long jump crown might have been expected, the hurdles title was a pleasant surprise, and he hopes to build on that success Saturday. 

"I didn't even expect to be doing [hurdles] this year," Sawyer said. "I ran my first race here [at Sanborn] earlier this year, I guess I'm just good at it. I'm just hoping to do the best I can."

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