PELHAM – When the John Stark boys’ track and field team last competed this winter, the Generals finished second in the state. On Saturday, the Stark boys opened the season by finishing second in the first major invitational of the season.
Junior Rio Calle won the long jump in 20 feet, 2 inches and also finished second in the 200 meters to lead the Generals to the runner-up spot at the 24-team Pelham Invitational, trailing just Division I Bedford.
Bedford scored 132 points, with John Stark (56), Monadnock (48), Coe-Brown (40.5) and Merrimack Valley (38) rounding out the top five. Bow finished seventh with 28.5 points and Pembroke was 18th with three.
Senior Logan Montgomery finished second in the 400 in 51.48 seconds (the winner Kevin Brooks of Windham set a meet record time of 50.14) and fellow senior Eli Lemire also picked up second-place points in the 3,200 meters, c l ocking a 10 minute, 1.38 second finish.
The Generals also had three runner-up finishes in the field events, with junior Sam Kinsey Turner (cleared 6-0 in the high jump), senior Rory Magoon (43-7 in the shot put) and junior Joel Douzanis (40-3 in the triple jump) scoring big points.
Montgomery, Ethan Veilleux, Lemire and Alex Keirstead formed the third-place 4×400.
Coe-Brown was led by senior Elias Warner, who swept the discus (135-7) and shot put (43-10) titles. Cameron Lee (third javelin, sixth 200), Bryce Sartin (fourth long jump) and Alex Conner (tied fifth pole vault) added individual points for the Bears.
Lee, Harrison O’Neal, Ethan Newick and Anthony Szatko finished third in the 4×100, and Griffin Beckman, Gavin Dyjack, Dylan Plowman and Quinn Froburg finished fifth in the 4×800 to complete the Bears’ scoring.
MV was led by junior Aiden Paquette’s victory in the triple jump (41-4.5) and strong performances from Nicolas Ogelsby (second long jump), Abhiman Karki (second discus), Mychal Reynolds (fourth 800) and the runner-up 4×400 of Brayden Laroche, Beckett Rose, Ogelsby and Reynolds.
Bow was led senior Ben McDowell’s win the pole vault (clearing 12-7), Kody McCranie (third 100), Miles Miller (sixth 400), Joe McDowell (tied third pole vault) and Liam Miller (tied fifth pole vault).
The Falcons also had points from its fourth-place 4×100 (Owen Boullion, Chase Flagg, Jonathan Gancarz and McCranie) and sixth-place 4×800 (Aiden Ciminesi, Jack Kohl, Jack Noce and Thomas Sargent).
Pembroke’s Gavin Currier (fifth triple jump) and Brandon Lurvey (sixth javelin) accounted for the Spartans’ points.
Bedford also topped the girls’ standings with 156 points. Pelham (52), Hollis-Brookline (47), Manchester Memorial (40), Coe-Brown (35) and Bow (33.5) completed the top six.
Coe-Brown sophomore Isabelle Grenier won the discus (103-8) and the shot put (32-2) to lead the Bears.
Jacqueline Heilshorn (third javelin), Shannon Ross (tied third pole vault), Bianca Brouillard-Smith (fifth triple jump), Brooke Bachhuber (sixth pole vault) and the sixth-place 4×100 (Bristol Shirland, Ross, Delaney Manning and Tessa Kouchoukos) scored Coe-Brown’s other points.
Hannah Pawlowski (second 400, fifth 800), Charlotte Larochelle (second long jump), Gwen Barrieau (third long jump), Camden Wilson (tied sixth high jump) and Mackenzie Szczepanik (fifth pole vault) scored for Bow, as did the Falcons’ third-place 4×800 (Lena Thompson, Madison Pfister, Olivia Shippos and Julia Hou) and sixth place 4×400 (Hou, Thompson, Madelynn Winch and Pawlowski).
Sophie Porter, Madison Geddes, Lily Moser and Sydney Spack comprised MV’s third-place 4×400 and Elizabeth Barringon (fourth triple jump, fifth high jump) also scored for the Pride.
Pembroke and John Stark competed, but did not score.