The Lady Lancers highlighted the Londonderry High outdoor track and field teams’ performances by finishing a strong fourth at the 2017 Division I championships at Merrimack High School Friday, May 26.
Sophomore standout Maddie Croteau won a first place as an individual and contributed to a relay victory as well in helping her team to the 42 points which enabled the Lady Lancers to snag their top-five team finish out of the 18 competing teams.
In the boys’ meet, veteran coach Matt Smith’s Lancers finished 11th out of some 16 competing squads with a point total of 13. Young field events star Patrick Hagearty claimed a pair of top-six performances in tallying points for his crew.
GIRLS
Youthful stalwart Croteau proved unbeatable in the pole vault, leaping nine feet to win that event. Her teammate Suzie Moore also tallied points in that event, snagging fourth place with an effort of six feet. And Croteau also helped the Lady Lancers’ 4×100 relay quartet to an individual title, working with Jess Brien, Bella Ziolek, and Gretchen McGrath to win in a time of 50.30 seconds.
Brien, Ziolek, McGrath, and Devyn Enwright combined to tally a third place performance in the 4×400 relay (4 minutes, 05.20 seconds), and senior McGrath grabbed a third place in the 200-meter dash on her own (26.23).
The Bedford High Lady Bulldogs won their fifth consecutive state championship that day, with the Pinkerton Academy Lady Astros finishing second.
BOYS
The Pinkerton Academy males won their first D-I crown since 2014, easily outdistancing the Nashua North Titans to do so.
Londonderry’s top performance came from sophomore Hagearty, who took an impressive second place in the discus with his toss of 125 feet. He also scored a point for his squad in the shot put with his effort of 42’7″.
The Lancers also received a fourth place finish from battle-tested veteran Chris Zaino in the 200 (2:00.33).