Coach’s Corner:
Good afternoon,
Today the Pinkerton Astros competed at the 2024 NH D1 State Championships at historic Derryfield Park. The weather was sunny and dry in the high 50s and windy. The course was about 100m short of a 5k for the past several years and has been reconfigured to a full 5000 meters. The changes have made the course harder and we may need to retire the times from the old course and start anew.
Going into the meet, it looked like it would be a two team race between Exeter and Pinkerton. This proved very much to be the case.
Sophomore Sookie Folsom ran an inspired race, and was comfortably in the top 5 when she unfortunately had a medical issue that didn’t allow her to finish. She hopes to be back at full strength next week.
Finishing first for the Astros was Junior Captain Gabby Bedard. She continued her fantastic season with a top 10 finish, in 8th (20:48). Fellow Junior Parker Knowlton had one of her strongest races of the season, finishing 11th in 21:18. And yet another Junior Kali Marzolf also performed well, finishing in the top 15 in 13th (21:22). Senior Althea LeBlanc stepped up her game to the next level with an amazing race for her team in her final D1 race, finishing 16th in 21:29.
The fate of the team’s final score came down to our 5th runner, Junior Sarah Rzasa. She absolutely blazed to the finish line over the final 200 meters passing several runners finishing in 23:10. This would prove to be critical in the team scoring. Senior Captain Ava Mohammed also had a championship performance she can be very proud of finishing in 23:15.
When the dust settled, the collective effort of the Varsity resulted in the narrowest possible of victories, by a single point over Exeter to earn the 2024 NH D1 Championship! This is the Trailblazer’s third consecutive D1 Title.
The Trailblazers will hope to continue performing well in the postseason next Saturday at the Meet of Champions at Alvirne High School
Best regards,
Coach Jon Alizio