ConVal senior Ross Stephens broke a 21-year-old state record Sunday while winning the 300-meter dash for the second straight year, leading the Cougars to a third-place finish at the NHIAA Division II Indoor Track and Field State Championships at Plymouth State University.
Stephens won the 300 in 34.73 seconds, breaking the state record of 35.02 set in 2005 and the Division II record of 35.37 set in 2006. His victory earned 10 points for ConVal, which finished with 36 points, one ahead of St. Thomas Aquinas and four ahead of Oyster River. Coe-Brown won the team title with 61 points, while Souhegan placed second with 50.
Stephens added six points by finishing third in the 55-meter dash in 6.67 seconds.
Griffin Schultz contributed 10 points Sunday, placing fourth in the 55 meters in 6.69 seconds and third in the 300 meters in 36.01 seconds. Including four points from a fourth-place finish in the high jump last week, Schultz totaled 14 points for the Cougars.
ConVal clinched third place in the final event, the 4×200-meter relay. Stephens, Schultz, Bretton Davies and Marcus Jordan finished third in a school-record time of 1:37.84 to earn six points. Morly Johnson placed seventh in the shot put with a throw of 42 feet, 6 inches.
In the girls’ state championship meet, ConVal’s Whitney Adair scored a point with a sixth-place finish in the 1000-meter run, posting a personal-best time of 1:45.37.
Stephens’ record-breaking performance and Schultz’s third-place finish in the 300 meters both qualified them for the New England Championships, scheduled for Feb. 28 at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Boston.