Concord News : Bow

Bikers, runners and paddlers complete Contoocook Carry

Bow Editor — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 20:11:00 GMT

Since I first spoke with event organizer Mary Congoran about the race, she has been telling me the Contoocook Carry brings out the best in Hopkinton residents.

I figured she was right, but until I rode my bicycle into a ditch on the side of the road, I never really completely understood.

On Sunday, Sept. 21, what seemed like the entire town of Hopkinton was either racing, setting up the race, handing out Gatorade and water – or, in the case of Peter Sorel, helping a stranded reporter pop his chain back into place.

The race got started with a 2-mile run. I found myself in the middle of the pack when I arrived with my red kayak, a piece of equipment I hope to never see again.

I hopped in, pushed off and started paddling my way down the Contoocook River, starting the 5-mile voyage down the calm river (Believe me, I wish there had been a current).

It took me a while to realize that I was taking on a bit of water, and by a bit, I mean about half of my kayak was filled with the Contoocook River. But hey, I’m not one to make excuses.

Getting my kayak out of the river was nearly as difficult as the 5 miles of paddling, and carrying it to the second half of the river wasn’t that easy either.

By the time I slowly paddled by selectmen Chairman Scott Flood, who was floating on a metal boat on the river, I considered paddling over to him and seeing if I could find a way to finagle the motor off and attach it to my kayak.

Eventually, I made it to my bicycle and thought I had finally made it to the point where I could cruise the final 14 miles to the finish line, but as I took my first left onto Dustin Road, I heard a pop – never a good sign when you’re on anything attached to wheels.

No longer able to pedal, I tried to pull off the road, which turned out to be a bad decision. While my bike came flying up at me, I landed square on my feet. I did, however, have a severely bruised ego, and wasn’t sure I’d be able to finish the race I had been looking forward to for the past few months.

Then, along came Peter Sorel.

“Come on over to my barn, let’s see what we can do for you,” he said.

A complete stranger who happened to live nearby, Sorel walked with me toward his home, and jokingly asked me if I knew who Rosie Ruiz was, and if I was interested in performing a similar feat. (In 1980, Ruiz registered for the Boston Marathon and got a ride close to the finish line before running the rest of the way.)

After Sorel finished repairing my bicycle, I hit the road, and as I peddled I had one question: When did Hopkinton get so many hills?

A little over three hours after I started, I returned to Hopkinton High School, extremely exhausted but happy to have been able to take part in an event that both raised money and brought a community together.

This year, the event raised about $9,000 from event-day participants and donations from numerous people, according to Congoran. The event brought 82 teams, with more than 200 participants, ranging in age from 3 months to 88.

All of the proceeds go toward fuel assistance, a cause that will be crucial this winter with the rising costs of oil.

My time certainly was nothing to brag about in this challenging event, but on the bright side, I lived to tell about it.

Hunter education courses offered around N.H.

Bow Editor — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:49:00 GMT

To purchase your first hunting license in New Hampshire, you must first complete a hunter education course.

Individuals 16 and older need a hunting license to hunt in New Hampshire. The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department offers hunter and bowhunter education classes around the state, as well as trapper education.

To find a class, visit www. wildlife.state.nh.us/Hunting/ hunter_ed_schedule.htm or call 271-3214.

The basic hunter education course averages about 16 hours of classroom instruction and field experiences, including live fire on a shooting range. Courses are taught by trained, certified volunteer instructors according to national guidelines and state standards.

Safe firearms handling; wildlife ID; game trailing, recovery and care; hunter ethics; outdoor safety and survival skills; hunting laws; and map and compass skills are covered.

Each class concludes with a written test and practical field exam. If successful, students receive their hunter certification card. Hunter education instruction and course materials are provided free of charge; instructors may charge up to $5 per student to cover the use of facilities.

To receive a certificate of completion in basic hunter education or bowhunter education, participants must be at least 12 years old by the end of the course.

In addition to traditional classes, Fish and Game offers a home-study option for completing the hunter education requirement. This option takes about the same amount of time as a classroom course, but preparation is done at home, and participants attend a required field day involving a written exam and field skills testing. There are specific deadlines for signing up for the home study option, and space is limited.

For successful completion of the home-study course, participants must be at least 15 years old.

For a list of home study sessions, call 271-3214 or visit www.wildlife.state. nh.us/Hunting/hunter_ed_ homestudy.htm.

Contoocook trombonist swings to the sound of jazz

Bow Editor — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:47:00 GMT

BY MATT SCHOOLEY

Dave Dustin has never been a big fan of reading – not music, anyway.

The Hopkinton Town Band member also plays the trombone in the Tall Granite Jazz Band, a group he founded that is dedicated to Chicago-style jazz and swing.

“I’ve always liked jazz because of the energy and the expression that’s possible in it. Part of it also is that it also seems more suited to my talent,” said Dustin. “I’m not the greatest reader of music in the world. I can always close my eyes and imagine the music, so improvisation has always come fairly easy to me.”

By day, Dustin works in Concord at Nobis Engineering, where he negotiates and administers contracts to the federal government, but upon leaving the office he turns to his trombone.

“I think that they’re probably not all that similar. Maybe they are in that they are fairly detailoriented,” he said. “I’ve always looked at music as a therapy and a refuge from the burdens, toil and strive of the day job and making a living. Music is my therapy, and it’s a very helpful one to have.”

Dustin said he enjoys the ability to rely on his other band members in order to put on a successful show.

“(The night of a concert) is a lot of excitement and anticipation, and you’re always glad when you look to either side of you and see a great group of musicians, sometimes with skills that exceed your own,” said Dustin. “You know you can rely on them.”

The jazz influence for Dustin came from his parents, who lived during the age of jazz and swing in the 1930s and 1940s. Dustin’s parents continued to listen to the music after he was born, and he was constantly exposed to it.

“When I was growing up, there was a lot of big band music in my house,” he said. “It just became something that was a real habit for me, and something I loved to listen to. I would fantasize about being a musician in those bands.”

Although Dustin said it can be harder to find venues to play at in New Hampshire, he said when you find the right spot there is no feeling like it.

“I really love it when we’re bringing some great music and great musicians together to make a joyful noise. I like it when the band is just cooking along and you can see that people are really enjoying the music,” he said. “It’s a bond between musicians, and a bond between the band members and the audience.”

You can listen to Dustin and The Tall Granite Jazz Band play at the Bow gazebo as part of the Bow Rotary Club’s summer concert series on Sunday, July 27, beginning at 6 p.m.

The Tall Granite Band is also scheduled to play Thursday, July 31, at Nonni’s Open House at the Concord Holiday Inn. The ballroom doors open at 4:30 p.m. and the band kicks off at 6:30 p.m.; and at the Beech Hill Farm and Ice Cream Barn in Hopkinton for the Hopkinton Congregational Church Rally Sunday picnic on Sept. 14, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The band will also play at the Eastern States Exposition, “The Big E,” in West Springfield, Mass., on New Hampshire Day, Friday, Sept. 19, at 5:30 p.m.

Two paths, one goal – Saltsman, Meagher regional champs

Bow Editor — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 01:26:00 GMT

BY MATT STOUT

One tried not to look ahead to his next match, while the other made sure his opponent didn’t survive to see the next minute.

Either way, Concord’s Tyler Saltsman and Bow’s D.J. Meagher both dominated on Saturday, March 3, at the New England wrestling championships in New Haven, Conn.

After three years of state titles but none of the New England variety, Saltsman captured his first regional crown, overcoming an early 1-0 deficit in a 4-1 victory over Corey Paulish of Ridgefield, Conn., in the 130-pound finals.

With the victories, the U.S. Naval Academy-bound senior completed a 48-0 season and became just the second Tide wrestler to ever win a New England title, joining Todd Calley, who did it in 2005.

Meagher, on the other hand, achieved his goal of never going a full six minutes in any of his four matches, pinning two opponents and defeating two others by technical fall en route to the 145-pound title, his second New England championship in as many years.

The Falcons senior also earned co-Outstanding Wrestler honors, sharing them with 140-pound champion T.J. Hepburn of Ledyard, Conn. Meagher led all individual wrestlers with 29 total points, a year after finishing second to Salem’s Aaron Kalil in that category.

Concord placed two other wrestlers at the event. Harry Paul won four one-point matches, including a 1-0 decision in his final bout to capture fifth at 160 pounds, and Alex Buessing matched his performance from last season with a sixth-place finish at 135 pounds.

“It’s just fun wrestling for New Hampshire because I’ve kind of grown up with this senior class through youth wrestling, with Saltsman and (Timberlane’s Derek) Sickel and (Salem’s Aaron) Kalil and all those guys,” said Meagher, highlighting two other Granite State seniors who took home titles.

“It was kind of cool to see all those guys in the finals with me in the end and New Hampshire, when you think about it, we did really well,” he continued. “We have like 33 high schools compared to those other states, and we had five finalists and five champs (including Salem’s 125-pound junior Trevor Dearden).”

Saltsman’s accomplishment far transcended “cool” after he suffered years of frustration at the regional level. Guilty by his own admission of looking ahead in past years, most notably last season when he lost two decisions by one point while wrestling up a weight class, the only four-time state champ in Concord history remained focused throughout the two-day tournament.

He posted wins of 7-1, 6-5 and 9-2 to earn a place in the finals with the Connecticut all-state champ, where an escape put Saltsman down 1-0 in the first before he executed a takedown to close the second and another with 20 seconds left in the third to seal the win.

“It all paid off, you know?” said Saltsman, who went through the fourth-, third- and second-place finishers for his title. “All that hard work, and it felt great to finally do what I wanted to do. It was my goal since I was a freshman.”

Meagher disposed of both the eventual third-place and sixth-place finishers in his bracket, but did so with ease, the last drubbing coming in the finals when he battered Connecticut state champ Eric Campbell in an 18-2 decision.

Meagher later joked with Hepburn, the reigning national champ among juniors at his weight, that they wrestle in a winner-take-all match for the Outstanding Wrestler award.

“He was the most dominant wrestler in the tournament,” Bow coach Jim Kaufman said of Meagher. “He’s had as good a two-year run (at the New England tournament) as I think you can have.”

Enjoying perhaps the most exciting and exhausting tournament, however, was Paul, whose only losses came to the eventual champion and third-place finisher, while not one of his wins came easily. His four victories ended in 2-1, 3-2, 4-3 and 1-0 scores, with the 4-3 decision coming after he executed a reversal with three seconds left in triple overtime.

“I came out ready for a war each match,” he said with a laugh. “And I got it.”

Four score – Different stories, same destination for state champs

Bow Editor — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 19:56:00 GMT

BY MATT STOUT

They’re four wrestlers, with four stories and four impressive performances. And still, it’s just more one step.

For Concord senior wrestlers Tyler Saltsman, Alex Buessing and Harry Paul, as well as Bow senior D.J. Meagher, this year’s Meet of Champions on Saturday, Feb. 24, at Winnacunnet High School will certainly stand as a memorable event. But while the day meant slightly different things to each athlete, it may be better remembered for where it got them rather than what it got them.

For Saltsman, it was a coronation. With his 15-3 win over Salem’s Alex Pittera in the 130-pound final, the Naval Academy-bound veteran became the third wrestler in state history to claim four straight individual titles. Saltsman also remained undefeated on the year at 44-0 and nearly perfect for his career with a 156-10 record.

For Buessing, it was vindication. Mired in what he considered a slump that hit its low-point with a third-place finish at the Capital City Classic on Jan. 27, he refocused mentally with the help of coach Ham Munnell and retuned physically by practicing live more in practice with Saltsman.

Together, it sparked a turnaround that carried over to his second straight state title. He held off Keene’s Keith Beardsley, 6-4, in the 135-pound final.

“My mind was kind of out of it,” Buessing said. “I was always looking at the clock, I was like, ‘When am I going to get out of here?’ I think I was focusing too much on results, and you can’t do that before a match because you can talk yourself out of winning. But Munnell helped me with that and then Tyler with endurance, so I don’t even need to look up at the clock anymore.”

For Paul, it was a test. In defeating Jordan Peterson, 5-4, in a physical 160-pound semifinal match, Paul received two deep gashes, one on his left eyebrow and one on his left cheek.

Utilizing the two-hour break he had before the finals started, he drove with his parents to Exeter Hospital, received seven stitches – four above his eye and three below – and returned in time to borrow a protective mask from the John Stark team to wrestle four-time M of C finalist Ty Sullivan.

Paul dropped the match, 3-1, but for the fifth time this year, took Sullivan to the brink.

And finally, for Meagher, it was business as usual – with a twist. The reigning 140-pound New England champ claimed his third straight state title, this one a 16-1 win over Alvirne’s Seth Carter at 145 pounds, and earned his second straight Outstanding Wrestler award.

In addition, the Falcons’ leader – who owns a 160-9 career record – was also honored with the sportsmanship award, given by the state’s officials.

Yet, Saturday’s titles and final appearances also earned them perhaps the most coveted prize – invites to the New England Championships on Saturday, March 3, in New Haven, Conn.

While Meagher aims for not only his second straight crown but “to go in and dominate everyone,” he said, Saltsman, Buessing and Paul are all in search of their first.

Though Paul said the main goal is a top-five finish in his third regional tournament, Buessing hopes to build off his sixth-place finish from last season. Saltsman, however, has never fared well by his own standards, never placing and losing two one-point decisions last year.

“It feels good and all, but the celebration is over, pretty much,” he said moments after winning the state title. “I just want to win New Englands really bad.”

The quartet will not be joined by any of their teammates this weekend, but several of them did place on Saturday.

Eleven of Concord’s 12 wrestles took to the podium, including Brandon Paige, fourth at 119 pounds; Derek Bisson, fourth at 145; Marshall Gleason, fourth at 215; Bob Daniels, fifth at 103; Rob Garcia, fifth at 152; Levi Byers, fifth at 189; Dan Herrick, fifth at 275; and Pat Boyle, sixth at 171.

Bow’s Ben Morrow also placed, finishing sixth at 119.

Indeed, it was a memorable day, but also another step.

“During the season, it kind of just whirls right by,” Meagher said. “You’re so focused the whole time, so before you even know it, the season’s over. But when everything’s done, like New Englands and Senior Nationals, I can take a look back and think about what I’ve done.

“And,” he continued, “what I need to improve on.”

Concord, Bow athletes track indoor success

Bow Editor — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 21:16:00 GMT

BY MATT STOUT

Maybe on a different track, different day and different foot, Brendan Hyland could have surpassed Manchester Central’s Matt Paulson for the 1,500-meter state title on Saturday, Feb. 3, during the Class L indoor track and field championships at Dartmouth College.

Running on Paulson’s heels the entire race, the Concord senior made his move at the start of the last lap, running shoulder to shoulder with this past fall’s cross country state champion entering the lap’s first straightaway.

But on a 200-meter track, Paulson kept his slim lead through the final turn and out-kicked the top-seeded Hyland for first place with a time of 4-minutes, 5.26 seconds, nearly a second better than Hyland’s mark of 4:06.23.

Already recovered from tendonitis that sidelined him during the cross country season, Hyland’s also had to overcome a sprained ankle and nagging blister on his left foot that at times severely limited his training.

Despite the second-place finish, Hyland’s performance and teammate Kyle Audet’s third-place showing in the same event accounted for the Tide’s 14 points in a 10th-place team finish, 73 points back of champion Merrimack.

“The big highlight of the day was the 1,500,” Concord coach Tim Gunn said. “There were only two races – a race for first and another for second.”

Twenty minutes after his finish, Hyland was still hunched over in a chair next to a trash pail, almost hidden by a set of adjacent bleachers. He was tired, but in good spirits.

Forget 20 minutes. Recovery time, he said, has sometimes stretched into a week this season.

“But I’m happy with it,” Hyland said of his finish. “We both knew it was going to come down to the kick, but I didn’t have good positioning. I was in lane two, he was in lane one, and with a short track, it’s really hard to pass on the corners. I had to work that much harder, and it was that much more of a cushion for him, and I just couldn’t get by him.”

Audet, a senior who entered the race seeded sixth, stayed back as others like Pinkerton Academy’s John Greenlaw tried to make a run for the top spot. The Astros junior couldn’t keep the pace,
though. Audet made his move with 400 meters to go, taking third with a time of 4:12.31.

“I knew those two would run away with it, and I knew I had a good shot at coming in behind them,”

Audet said, before adding about Greenlaw, “I just didn’t want a kid with dreadlocks and shaved legs to beat me.”

Concord results

Trevor Shea ran a personal-best time of 8.61 seconds to finish ninth in the 55-meter hurdles, and Zach Brosseau took 12th in the shot put with a throw of 37-feet, 4 inches.

For the girls, Concord’s Moriah Brown finished fifth in the shot put with a toss of 33-04.25; Faye Harrington placed sixth in the high jump with a leap of 4-10; and the 4 X 800-meter relay team of Elise Luers, Lauren Ryan, Caitlin Hyland and Skye Butman placed sixth with a time of 10:08.74.

Together, these athletes earned the Tide’s four points.

Bow results

The Bow girls 4 X 200-meter relay team of Emily Hannon, Jill Hannon, Julia Waddell and Timiny Mosher earned all of the team’s points in the Class I meet with a third-place time of 1:52.51. Elodie Reed was the top individual finisher at eighth in the 1,500.

On the boys side, Ian Verderame and Jon Dugas placed third and sixth, respectively, in the 55-meter dash with times of 6.79 and 6.84 seconds, earning the squad’s seven points.

For complete results, visit lancertiming.com.

Classic competition – Host Concord is second; Bow’s Meagher is tops

Bow Editor — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 21:30:00 GMT

BY MATT STOUT

For all the Concord wrestling team has accomplished – most notably, its three state titles – it shouldered two enormous chips entering this season.

Following Saturday, Jan. 27, it still bore one of those burdens. But that doesn’t mean its ditching any plans of shedding the second.

Despite boasting five finalists and a tournament-high four individual champions, Concord finished second – again – to Mount Anthony of Vermont at the Capital City Wrestling Classic, compiling 237.50 points to the Patriots’ 258.5.

It marked Mount Anthony’s 16th straight tournament crown, while the Crimson Tide placed second to the 18-time defending Vermont state champions for the fifth straight year and 11th overall. In the 17-year history of the Classic, Concord has never won its own tournament.

Afterward, Concord senior Pat Boyle described the situation as “extremely frustrating,” perhaps a first for a Tide squad that’s rolled through every one of its Division I opponents this season and collected a number of tournament titles along the way.

But as irritating as it is, Concord has little time to dwell on it. With the Division I championships three weekends away, the Tide still have their eyes on dethroning six-time defending state champ Timberlane.

Concord, which has finished second in D-I three straight years, faces the champs Feb. 7 in a dual meet.

“It’s really disappointing and frustrating because it’s our senior year, and we’ve never won the Capital City Classic, and that will always be in the back of our minds,” said Boyle, who took home top honors in the 171-pound weight class on Saturday. “I mean, that’s not our No. 1 goal, but it will keep us humble and make us want to be a lot better and show that we’re not quite there yet to win states.”

Still, Dan Breen, at 103 pounds; Tyler Saltsman, at 130; Boyle, at 171; and Marshall Gleason, at 215, all claimed individual titles, while senior Harry Paul nearly won Concord’s sixth before falling 2-0 in the 160-pound finals.

Brandon Paige, at 119; Nick Poulin, at 125; and Alex Buessing each finished third in their weight classes, and Levi Byers finished fourth to round out Concord’s nine place-finishers.

It wasn’t enough to top Mount Anthony’s three champions, eight finalists and 12 top-four wrestlers, but the 21-point difference was the closest the hosts have come to defeating Vermont’s finest.

“Like our coach (Ham Munnell) said, it’s a good thing we’re not peaking yet, and we’re saving that hopefully for the state tournament so we can beat Timberlane,” said Gleason, who beat his second cousin, Goffstown’s Tom Foote, to win his weight class. “It’d be nice to beat Mount Anthony, but I would rather beat Timberlane.”

A bumpy flight

The Bow wrestling team entered the Capital City Classic undermanned, but didn’t leave empty-handed despite placing 14th in the loaded 16-team field.

Falcons senior D.J. Meagher earned Outstanding Wrestler honors after collecting two pins, including one in the 145-pound final, and two technical falls en route to winning his weight class title.

Though 119-pounder Ben Morrow and 140-pounder Josh Nawn also wrestled well for Bow, the Falcons managed 45 points with eight wrestlers in the tournament.

They’re also still nursing injuries, though 152-pounder Spencer Wolverton may return this Saturday from a strained elbow, said Bow coach Jim Kaufman. Besides Winnisquam, Bow was the smallest school at the Classic.

“That said, I can count on one hand the amount of matches we lost to Division-II (opponents). We saw out-of-state kids almost the whole tournament,” Kaufman said. “We were using this tournament to get as many good matches as we could. We would have liked more, and we would have liked to have done better, but we’re pointing toward (the D-II state championships on) Feb. 17. Talk to me after that meet.”

Who’s running for office in your district?

Bow Editor — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 15:18:00 GMT

By Ryan O’Connor
Staff Writer

Voters will go to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 7, to elect the following candidates:

For governor, incumbent John Lynch is being challenged against Republican Jim Coburn, while Democrat Paul Hodes hopes to unseat incumbent Independent Charlie Bass for a Congressional seat. Ken Blevens, a Libertarian, is also running for Congress.

Other common elections across Bow, Dunbarton and Hopkinton include the race for sheriff, which features Republican Scott Hilliard and Democrat Clark Karolian.

For register of deeds, Kathi Guay faces Lawrence Hennessy Sr., and register of probate lists Jane Bradstreet against Alexander Lee.

In Bow and Dunbarton, incumbent Ted Gatsas is being challenged for state Senate by Bob Backus. In Hopkinton, Republican Kristie MacNeil faces Democrat Sylvia Larsen.

For the Governor’s Executive Council, Republican Dave Wheeler is vying against Democrat Debora Pignatelli in Dunbarton, while Republican Peter Spaulding and Democrat John Shea go head-to-head in Bow and Hopkinton.

Those running for state representative seats in Bow and Dunbarton include Republicans Thomas Keane, Eric Anderson and Jack Finan; and Democrats Mary Beth Walz, Deborah DeMoulpied and Stephen DeStefano.

In Hopkinton, Richard Kennedy, Scott Westove and Fred Creed represent the Republican party for state Senate, and Derek Owen, Gary Richardson and Christine Hamm represent the Democratic Party.

Other races include Stuart Trachy facing Leo Bernier for Merrimack County treasurer and uncontested seats include J.D. Colcord for county commissioner and Dan St. Hilaire for county attorney.