On a sizzling hot Memorial Day Saturday, local athletes scorched the track at Newfound Regional High School the NHIAA Division III Championship.
For the Mascenic Vikings, the long day built toward the climactic boy’s 3200M run, the final individual event of the day.
Teammates Avery Traffie and Jake Movsessian sought to control the race – even after getting caught in the back at the start, Movsessian led by the end of the first lap. The duo, whose three years of running together ends next week, finished second and third behind Dom Repucci of Hopkinton, running 9:59 and 10:07 respectively. They scored all 14 of the Vikings’ points.
The plan was to try to tire the Hopkinton star, who ran three events, early and outlast him. “We thought we could take him,” Movsessian said. “I went out front and just died in the last half.”
“They knew their best shot with the number of guys [running multiple events] was to make it hurt early,” Mike Smith, Mascenic’s long-time coach, said.
“They know their strengths and they play to them a little bit.”
Those strengths are rooted in endurance, not necessarily speed.
“If I’m prepping a kid to go to college I want him to be strong, I’m not worried about speed,” Smith said.
Traffie said he is going to college next year at Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio, where he plans to continue competing in track and field. Movessian will be back at Mascenic next year as the top returner in the 3200M, and hopes to handle the pressure. “It’s a little scary,” He said. “I’m gonna do what I can do.”
The team from Conant went a little deeper. It was led by junior Tyler Sands, who scored every one of the boys’ team’s 18 points by himself. He was runner-up in the 100M, 11.55, and 200M, 23.37. He also placed in the high jump and competed in the pole vault.
On the girls’ side, the Orioles were led by a trio of senior jumpers. Jessie and Jammie Mascitti tied for fourth in the pole vault, soaring 8 feet 6 inches. Brandi Pugh finished second in the long jump with a mark of 15 feet 3.5 inches.
The team’s scoring was rounded out by freshman Isabella Mormando, who was fifth in the 3200M in a time of 12:56.
Beyond just those who scored by finishing in the top six, lots of local athletes had big days.
On the boys’ side, Conant’s Aaron Bresnick won the second heat of the 800M in 2:04.79, a personal record by almost three seconds. “He was really nervous,” his coach Erin Kelly said.
Sophomore Ryan Marshall ran 11.95 in the 100M and 24.40 in the 200M.
For the girls, Conant sophomores Taylor Banish and Monique Hill competed in the pole vault, and Lily Bennett, Julia Aho, Monique Hill and Claire Van Houten ran the 4 by 800M relay.
The 4 by 100M relay of Jessie Mascitti, Jammie Mascitti, Zoe Tardiff and Brandi Pugh placed sixth.
The Mascenic team was completed by junior javelin thrower Alex Talbot and freshman miler Logan Thibault.
A lone athlete from Wilton-Lyndeborough competed in the discus and shot put. Samuel Bailey, whose sister qualified provisionally for the meet but did not make the cut due to entry limits, scored by placing sixth in the shot put with a throw of 38 feet 10.5 inches.
“I [earned a personal record] by over a foot,” he said. “It’s pretty fun.”
He said he hopes next year to meet the automatic qualifying standard, and compete at the Meet of Champions.
Qualifying for the state championship, or Meet of Champions, takes a top three finish in the DIII meet, or an at-large spot based on best marks from around the state. Several local athletes met that standard and will go at it again next week in Hampton.
Reporter Brandon Latham can be reached at 924-7172, ext. 228 or blatham@ledgertranscript.com.