Dartmouth Relays Coverage

Dartmouth Relays (NH)

Coverage

Performance List - Boys | Girls

Results - Friday | Saturday Field | Saturday Running

Photos  - Album #1 | Album #2

Videos

Highlights 

• Precious Holmes (Hillhouse, CT) established a new US#1 time and meet record by winning the 400m in 55.80.  She had the fastest time of the day by over 3 seconds; a truly impressive feat on the non-banked track of the Dartmouth Field House.

• Mike O'Donnell (Methuen, MA) took the boys seeded mile out in 61 seconds for the first 400m and forced the pack to play catch-up at the half.  O’Donnell split 2:12 at 800m and then Connor Rog (Fairfield Prep, CT) and Wes Gallagher (Pembroke, MA) launched an attack.  Gallagher took over the lead and crossed 1200m at 3:20, but O’Donnell was not done.  He went to the outside with 300m to go and regained the lead; forcing Gallagher to find a completely new gear over the last 25 meters.  Gallagher collected the win in 4:23.45 with O’Donnell in second (4:23.58), and Harlow Ladd of Messalonskee, ME closing out nicely in third (4:24.09).

• It was a stacked field in the girls 55m hurdles, with the top four finishers posting times that now have them ranked in the top 25 nationally.  The finals resulted in a photo finish, with Vanessa Clerveaux of Brockton (8.23) edging Betsy Garnick of Bishop Guertin (8.26) and Kyle Plante of Colonie (8.29) for the win.  Garnick would finish the hurdles, then immediately return to the starting line for the finals of the 55m.  Understandably tired, she finished 6^th in that race (7.45) and then walked straight to the long jump where she finished 7^th (16’9.75”).  One of New England's best all-around athletes, Garnick finished in the top 10 in three very competitive finals within a 45 minute time-span. 

• Hillary Holmes of Exeter (NH) had a multi-event day that rivaled the impressive performance of Garnick.  Holmes posted marks of 17’6” in the long jump (3^rd), 5’4” in the high jump (2^nd), and 8.61 in the 55m hurdles (7^th). 

• Carla Forbes (Newton North, MA) opened up the long jump competition with a 19’4” (US#3) bomb.  To prove it was not a fluke, she launched two more jumps over 19 feet to win the competition by over five inches.  Forbes also won the triple jump with a US#1 mark of 40”10”.  She leads the country in that event by almost nine inches.

• Giancarlo Sainato (Colonie, NY) matched Andre Rolim’s US#1 600m time of 1:21.67 from last weekend.  Rolim was in the race, but finished a very respectable second place in 1:22.53.

• Molly Keating (La Salle, RI) entered the meet as the most decorated female distance in the field, but Courtney Hawkins (Milford, NH) and Hannah Kimball (Timberlane, NH) were determined to defend their home turf.  Keating went straight to the lead at the gun and split 72 seconds for the first 400m, and 2:30 at the 800m, with Hawkins in tow.  Hawkins took over at 1200m, crossing the line in 3:49, but Keating responded to the challenge and pulled way in the next lap for the win in 5:03.85.  Hawkins’ gamble may have cost her second place, as Kimball closed nicely over the final 200m to edge her 5:09.35 to 5:09.80, respectively. 

• Both 2 Mile races were dominated by single athletes pressing the pace alone en route to nationally ranked times.  Stephen Robertson of Wakefield (MA) took the lead from the gun and lapped the field as he posted a US#4 time of 9:23.35.  Bethany Brown of Waterville (ME) did much the same, except her 10:48.35 is US#1.  Brown has now posted the two fastest times in the country this season.

• After splitting 1:57 for 800m on Friday night in the DMR, Joe Vercollone of Pembroke returned to win the 1000m in a meet and school record time of 2:30.51.  Vercollone took the lead with 300m to go and displayed tremendous foot speed in the final 200m.  This was his first meet of the indoor season after competing in the Nike Cross Nationals last month.

• Mike Cyphers of Lebanon, NH won the pole vault by 2 feet with a US#2 mark of 15'0".

• Kevin Thomas ran an incredible 1200m leg in the DMR to give his Marshfield (MA) team a respectable lead at the first exchange, but Pembroke closed 10 seconds on the gap behind the strong performances of Chris Horn (400m) and Joe Vercollone (800m).  Chariho High School (RI) fought back to join the mix, and at the final exchange all three were just seconds apart.  Anchor legs Joel Hubbard (Marshfield) split 4:18 and Wes Gallagher (Pembroke) split 4:20 in the mile to break away from the chase group, but it was Marshfield that would get the win with a US#3 time of 10:26.42.  Pembroke finished second at 10:29.61 (US#5); followed by Chariho (US#13 / 10:38.07), and Fairfield Prep (US#16 / 10:39.24).

• The La Salle Academy (RI) DMR team of Madison Meehan, Erin Kane, Caitlin Marino, and Molly Keating crushed the field to win by over 30 seconds.  They made easy work of some talented competition, and their 12:12.44 posting is currently the second fastest time in the country.  Colonie (NY) finished second at 12:44.80, and Bishop Feehan (MA) was third at 12:55.12.

More impressive performances.....

163 National Elites Performances