BY MATT STOUT
If the first one is the best one, then this certainly qualifies.
The Hopkinton girls track and field team cruised to its first title in school history on Saturday, May 26, at the Class M-S championships in Gilford, compiling 124 points – 51 better than the next closest team.
Senior Christine Head, in the pole vault; sophomore Quinn Nicols, in the 800-meter run; freshman Emily Cousens, in the 1,600; and the 4 X 100-meter relay team of Ali Grise, Head, Amber Travers and Caroline Maynard all earned first-place finishes among several sterling efforts from the Hawks.
Grise, a freshman, added a third-place finish in the 100 and took fourth in the 200; Maynard, another rookie, placed in the top six in both those events and the 400; and Cousens took second in the 3,200, Travers was second in the 110-meter hurdles, and senior Kate Scheffey placed third in the shot put and discus, one spot behind sophomore teammate Amelia Paquette.
It was an outright dominant performance by Hopkinton, which features eight seniors and a strong contingent of 17 freshmen and sophomores. Winnisquam finished second as a team with 73 and Inter-Lakes third with 70.
Among the upperclassmen, Suzie Jackson also placed sixth in the javelin with a throw of 102-feet, 3 inches, and Jewell placed sixth in the pole vault after she cleared 7 feet. In the same event, Quinn Nichols cleared 7-0, and Head, the state’s most dominating vaulter, hit 10 feet, though she conquered 10-6 earlier this year.
Besides the first-place 4 X 100 team, Hopkinton’s other relay squads also placed, including the 4 X 400 team of Head, Gretchen Loft, Grise and Nichols that finished in second and the 4 X 800 team of senior Jackie Bonifant, junior Allison Bartlett, freshman Emma hunt and Loft, which placed third.
The Hopkinton boys didn’t hoist a plaque, but the 23.5 points earned the team ninth place, its highest finish in the last nine years.
Andrew Meyer finished third in the 800 with a time of 2 minutes, 5.42 seconds and third in the pole vault with an effort of 10-6 to lead the Hawks.
Steve Claggett, third in the 300 hurdles and fourth in the 110 hurdles; Sam Schlepphorst, sixth in the 3,200; and David Kurtz, fifth in the pole vault, rounded out the scoring.