After finishing second in three of the last four years, the Exeter High School girls track team finally broke through Friday, winning the Division I outdoor championship meet at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton.
The Blue Hawks scored 95 points, finishing ahead of Bishop Guertin (89 points), just the third time since 2002 that Cardinals didn’t win the title. Londonderry came in third with 74 points and Nashua South took fourth with 52. Manchester Central rounded out the top five, scoring 36 points.
Hillary Holmes led Exeter by finishing first in three events and second in another, scoring 38 points for the Blue Hawks. Holmes was first in the 300 hurdles (44.81 seconds), first in the long jump (18-3.75) and first in the triple jump (38-2). She also came in second in the 100 hurdles.
Rachel Leonard won the 400 (58.82) for Exeter and teammate Sydney Petersen took second in the same event and was third in the 200. Shannon Murdock was second in both the 1,600 and the 3,200 while Elisa Leavitt came in third in the 300 hurdles and sixth in the 100 hurdles. Brianna Harvey took sixth in the discus and Exeter was second in the 4×400 relay and sixth in the 4×100.
Bishop Guertin was led by Betsy Garnick, who broke a 24-year old state record in the 100 hurdles, finishing in 14.48. Garnick was also second in the 100-meter dash and the 300 hurdles and also came in sixth in the 200. The Cardinals’ Molly McCabe also finished first in the 1,600 (5:05.34) and was third in the 800 while Sarah Burke won the 800 (2:17.8) and was sixth in the 1,600.
BG also won both the 4×400 relay (4:04.03) and the 4×800 relay (9:42.04). Melissa LaCoste took second in the high jump and Jacklyn Dubois came in third in the shot put while Sarah Murphy finished sixth in the 3,200.
Arashana Yanes was a double winner for South, taking first in the 100 (12.48) and first in the 200 (26.35) while also placing second in the long jump. Adaeze Obinelo finished first in the shot put (37-11) while Melanie Packard took third in the pole vault. The Panthers also came in fourth in the 4×100 relay.
Nashua North finished 13th overall with 15 points, as Taylor Choate led the way with a fourth place in the 200 and a sixth in the 100. The Titans were also fifth in the 4×100 and sixth in the 4×400.
Alvirne scored eight points to finish 15th, getting a fourth place from Brittney Lambert in the high jump and a fourth place in the 4×800 relay. Merrimack was 17th, getting its lone point on Taylor Blain’s sixth place in the 400.
Central’s Elizabeth Conway was first in the 3,200 (11:23.5) and Salem’s Victoria Rozumek won the high jump (5-6). Pinkerton won the 4×100 relay (50.55) and Keene’s Jacilyn Briggs took first in the pole vault (10-8).