By Ryan O’connor

In 2004, J.P. McManus petitioned the town and the school district to fund an indoor track and field team at Bow High School.

“It was something that J.P. decided there was a need for, so he put that petition together pretty much on his own,” said Dyrace Maxfield, the indoor track coach at Bow since the squad’s inaugural year in 2005. “Anytime you can fulfill a need for some of the students and allow them to participate in a sport or activity which keeps them motivated, that’s obviously a good thing. It has helped a lot of kids as they move toward outdoor season and has also helped a few of them get noticed by colleges.”

Four years after her older brother’s dream came to fruition, Katherine McManus, a freshman, is one of several Falcons reaping the benefits.

On Sunday, Feb. 3, she and teammates traveled to Hanover for the Class I-M-S Indoor Track and Field Championships at Dartmouth College.

McManus placed third in the high jump by leaping over a maximum height of 4 feet, 10 inches. The effort earned her a trip to New Englands.

In the 55-meter hurdle preliminary, she qualified for the final with a time of 9.75 seconds, then finished sixth in the state by cutting her time to 9.53 seconds, a personal best and school record.

Another athlete benefiting from J.P. McManus’ initiative is junior Ian Verderame, who earned runner-up in the 55-meter dash and qualified for New Englands with a 6.78-second sprint that broke the school record.

Steven McKernan then eclipsed his own school record with a time of 1 minute, 28.64 seconds in the 600-meter run. He placed sixth.

Verderame, Mason Hill, Griffin Sandler and Connor Lokar finished fourth in the 4x200-meter relay with a time of 1:38.54, breaking yet another school record.

And the girls 4x200 team of Jill Hanon, Emily Hanon, Nicole Allison and Julia Waddell came in fifth at 1:52.89.

Elodie Reed finished the girls 1,500-meter run in 5:16.16, her fastest time ever, and Jill Hanon finished 12th in the 55-meter dash preliminary, missing the cut by less than two-tenths of a second with a time of 7.9 seconds.

In total, the Bow boys finished ninth in the state with 13 points, and the girls came in 13th with eight points.

“It’s always great at a state meet when you can go in and set some personal bests and break some school records,” said Maxfield.

“We scored just about as many points as I could have hoped to score with a small squad. Obviously, I’m really proud of what we accomplished, showing up at the big meet. You can’t ask for more than a personal best or school record.”