The Bishop Guertin boys track team edged Merrimack by two points to win the Class L indoor championship Sunday at Dartmouth College.
The Cardinals did enough in the relays to hold off a late Tomahawks’ charge, pulling out an 80-78 win for the school’s first boys indoor track title. Nashua North finished third with 50 points, while Pinkerton (46) came in fourth and Dover (31) was fifth. Nashua South, the defending-champ, came in 10th with 12 points, while Alvirne (two) was 15th.
The battle between the top two teams came down to the final events of the day. The Cardinals got 12 points from Jeff LaCoste and Francis Hernandez in the 1,500-meter run to turn a four-point lead over the Tomahawks into a 16-point lead with two relays left.
Merrimack won the 4×400, while Bishop Guertin failed to place, pulling the Tomahawks within six points. Merrimack finished first in the 4×200, but the Cardinals came in third and the six points was enough to edge the Tomahawks.
Bishop Guertin was led by its distance runners, as Hernandez won the 1,000-meter run (2:31.35), setting a Class L record, and also finished fourth in the 1,500 (4:14.63). Joey Jourdain finished first in the 3,000 (8:47.95) and LaCoste took second in the 1,500 (4:06.73) and third in the 1,000 (2:34.47).
The relay team of Chris Cogliano, Matt Chapman, Brian Donaghy and Brandon Latham also took first in the 4×800, finishing in 8:09.23.
Adam Hall took third in the 55 (6.61) and third in the long jump (20-9 1/4) while Ryan Fitzpatrick was third in the 300 (36.5). Those two teamed with Trent Barillas and Andrew Perrella to finish third in the 4×200 (1:35.41).
Andrew Perez also came in third in the 600 (1:25.93) and Peter Fucci took fifth in high jump (5-6).
Merrimack got a first-place finish from Steve Harshman in the 600 (1:22.2), and he joined Ryan Reagan, Chris Busby, Nicholas Johnson to take third in the 4×800 (8:26.76).
The 4×400 relay team of Reagan, Jonathan Jimenez, Tom Duda and Chaz Myers finished first in 3:31.93, just a second off the Class L record and almost four seconds ahead of second-place Dover. Myers and Jimenez also joined Steve Alario and Brody Williams to win the 4×200 (1:34.51).
Devin Martin won the long jump (21-2) and was third high jump (6-0) while Duda was second in the high jump (6-0) and Chase Distasio finished sixth in the high jump (5-4) and was fifth in the long jump (18-11 3/4).
Alario finished second in the 55 hurdles (8.13) while Williams was sixth in the 55 hurdles (8.37) and John Conlin took third in the 3,000 (8:57.12).
The Titans got two first-place finishes to come in third overall. Kevin Rosenberg took first in the shot put (55-9 1/4), his winning throw nearly eight feet further than second place. Eric Muite also came in first in the 55 hurdles (7.98) while the 4×200 relay team of Andre Williams, Jahmar Gathright, Myles Parker and Luis Tarantino came in second in 1:35.36.
Matt McCarty took second in the 600 (1:22.65) while Parker finished fourth in the 300 (36.65) and Williams came in fifth (36.77). Gathright also was fourth in the long jump (19-3 1/2).
Parker, Williams, McCarty and Mark McHugh came in fourth (3:37.6) in the 4×400 relay.
Ian Parsons led South with a third-place finish in the shot put (45-0) and Aaron Martin came in fifth in the 600 (1:27.13). Martin also teamed with D.J. Fernacz, Brandon O’Donnell and Steve Latina to finish fourth (8:29.24) in the 4×800.
Alvirne got its points from Derek Janko, who finished fifth in the shot put (43-8 1/2).
