Area Sports Roundup, May 17-18

May 17—Keene boys track & field compete in mini meets

Keene boys track members attended two mini meets over the last week, at Souhegan on May 8 and Monadnock on May 14.

The runners came away with some season-best performances and state-qualifying marks for a number of individual athletes as well as team relays.

At Souhegan, Torin Kindopp ran a 1600 race in 4:17.98 in winning while running with virtually no competition to record the second best mile time run this season in the state, as well as being a personal best performance.

This is the second fastest time ever run by a KHS athlete in the 1600.

Silas Johnson ran a personal best state qualifying time in the 800 of a 2:04.38 and Marty Nelligan ran a 10:26.35 personal best for 16th on the state qualify list for the Division I meet.

On Friday, Keene participated in another mini meet at Monadnock.

Keene ran 3 relays that all recorded season best and DI qualifying performances:

4 X 100 Relay — 46.04 (ranked 7th in D1) (Jake Migneault, Peter Shield, Will O'Connor and Erik Nolan);

4 X 400 Relay — 3:32.46 (ranked 2nd in Div 1) (Jonas O'Mara, Will O'Connor, Erik Nolan, Torin Kindopp)

4 X 800 — 8:13.74 (ranked 1st in Div 1) (Marty Nelligan, Silas Johnson, Jonathan Hills, Torin Kindopp)

In addition, Johnson ran a personal best time in the 800 of a 2:03.24 to place him tied for 11th on the DI qualifying list (top 12 qualify) and Hills ran a 2:03.94 to place him 12th on the D1 qualifying list.

Keene's next meet is Tuesday at 4:30 on the Alumni Field track for Keene's last meet of the season before the DI state meet.

FPU baseball splits pair at Division Final

MANCHESTER — Senior Jonel Ozuna had a day Sunday.

The first baseman clubbed four home runs and drove in eight runs over the course of a doubleheader at Penmen Field. The Franklin Pierce University baseball team could capitalize with only win though, as the Ravens split a doubleheader on the road at No. 20/23 nationally ranked Southern New Hampshire, to open the best-of-three Northeast Division final of the Northeast-10 Conference Championship.

Franklin Pierce drilled four home runs on the way to a 9-7 win in the opener, and SNHU scored single runs in the ninth and 10th innings to post a 4-3 victory in the second game.

With the split, Franklin Pierce moves to 21-8, while SNHU now stands at 21-6. The decisive third game of the series is set for noon Monday at Penmen Field.

FPU men's track & field nets two finishes

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. — A pair of All-New England finishes highlighted the day for the Franklin Pierce University men's track and field team on Saturday at the second and final day of the NEICAAA Championships (New England Championships).

Freshman Stephen Harris, as well as the 4x800-meter relay team, earned honors for their top-eight performances at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

The 4x800-meter relay team lineup is freshman Thomas Darrah, freshman Evan McNeice, freshman Ryan Outerbridge and freshman Ryan Walker turned in a time of 8:07 to finish seventh.

For the women's team, sophomore Julieth Nwosu and freshman Nkechi Nwosu both posted All-New England finishes in both the shot put and the discus.

Julieth Nwosu took second in the shot put with a throw of 14.09 meters, while Nkechi Nwosu placed seventh with a heave of 12.50 meters. The distances are currently good for first and third in the East Region, respectively.

Nkechi Nwosu came out in front in the discus, in seventh place with a throw of 40.15 meters. Just four inches back, at 40.06 meters, Julieth Nwosu took eighth. Neither throw was a season best, but the sisters rank second and third, respectively, in the East Region.

Four Keene State athletes also earned All-New England honors at the meet.

Jacob Pearl ran the 800 meters in 1:52.42, finishing fifth overall and second amongst Division III competitors. That time lifts him to 24th in the country, less than one second out of the last qualifying place for the NCAA Division III Championships.

Ben Musese, making his season debut, had a triple jump of 13.89 meters to finish eighth overall. The school record holder in the indoor triple jump, Musese jumped into the national rankings at 50th overall.

Sisters Skyler and Alexis Gauthier both earned All-New England honors by finishing seventh and eighth, respectively, in the heptathlon.

Skyler Gauthier totalled up 3,944 points, while Alexis Gauthier had 3,749.

The Owls will make one final push for individuals to qualify for the NCAA Division III Championships at the Tufts Last Chance qualifier on May 20 at Tufts University.

Kimball, Buffone, Cam Curtis win at Monadnock

WINCHESTER — Matt Kimball stormed to victory in the 40-lap NHSTRA Modified feature Saturday, May 15, at Monadnock Speedway. It was the young Bennington (N.H.) star's second win of 2021, both scored just ahead of veteran shoe Todd Patnode.

Saturday was also a night on which both Chris Buffone and Gordon Farnum earned their second victory laps of the young season.

Cam Curtis, the young hot shoe from bucolic Baltimore, Vt., crushed all competition in the Late Model Sportsman feature for the second week in a row, moving to the top of his division's point standings with Saturday's romp.

In the night's Young Guns 15-lapper, Eddie Petruskevicius cruised to his first career victory.

— Sentinel staff