Londonderry High School’s girls’ and boys’ outdoor track and field squads competed among hordes of skilled and determined athletes at the annual Merrimack Invitational at Merrimack High School last Thursday, May 10. And a number of LHS athletes really stood out.
The Lady Lancers finished a more than respectable fifth out of 16 teams at the event, with their biggest news being made in the pole vault in which three of their athletes notched points.
Suzie Moore won the event with a leap of 9 feet 6 inches, with teammates Maddie Croteau (fourth) and Gianna DelViscovo (tied for fifth) also placing among the top six finishers.
Jess Brien gave her squad a second in the 200-meter dash (time of 27.11 seconds) and worked with three teammates including Croteau to bag a third in the 4×100 relay (51.0). Brien was also a member of the team’s 4×400 relay group which claimed a fifth (4:20.47).
Freshman Ashley Griffin was also a member of the 4×100 quartet, and she snared a fourth place on her own in the 100 dash (13.31). And Akolam Wambu was good for a third in the discus (100’3″) and a fifth in the shot put (31’9″). Battle-tested veteran Kalin Gregoire contributed a sixth place in the 3,200 run (11 minutes, 54.61 seconds).
On the boys’ side of things, the Lancer males finished right in the middle of the team pack – eighth out of 16 contingents – and got their top event performance from field events star Patrick Hagearty with his win in the shot (48’2 1/4″).
Other scoring efforts were registered by Will Heenan with a third place in the 1,600 (4:33.05), Khalique Bagley with placement of sixth in the 200 dash (23.68), and Bagley and three teammates with a sixth place in the 4×100 relay (45.77).