NH Middle School State Championships

Sandwich NH Monday February 16th

The NH middle school state championships were held in Sandwich today under sunny but cold skies. The Silver Hawks of Gilford carried the day by winning both the girls' and boys' championships. Sixty middle school skiers vied for champion bragging rights on a 4 kilometer freestyle course in the morning and then teams combined their strengths for a 3X 1 kilometer classic relay race after lunch. Team totals were combined from the results of both races to determine this years' champions. The Gilford girls' team started the momentum for Gilford with a first place finish by Evgenia Badamshina of 12:12, followed closely in second by teammate Danielle Baron (12:32). Monique Baron and Christina Tierney completed Gilford's scoring with finishes of 11th(16:09) and 16th(17:39) respectively. Alyssa Loureien finished 28th (26:40) for Gilford. Gilford also placed one-two in the boys' race, with Alex Howe taking first (9:57) and Ian Tovell second (11:26). Andrew Tidd and Kevin Hackett placed 18th(15:38) and 19th(16:22) respectively to put Gilford out in front for the mornings' event. Other local finishers for the girls freestyle race were: Lauren Klinker(4th, 13:20), Maria Youngman(6th, 14:34), Kristen Murphy(12th, 16:16), Shannon Mackinzie(17th, 18:03), Elyssa Blairstow(22nd, 19:20), and Mimi Ramsdell(23rd, 21:07) for Hopkinton, Blair Southworth(9th, 15:00) and Caroline Pond(15th, 17:20) for Andover, Maureen Capron(10th, 15:15) and Janina Misiewicz(21st, 19:03) for Inter-Lakes, and Grace Marden(14th, 17:00), Colleen Maguire(24th, 21:19), Liaassian(25th, 21:21), and Susan Smith(26th, 24:08) for Kingswood. Local finishers for the boys were: Ben Helm(13th, 14:43), Mike Klinker(14th, 14:55), Sam Schlepphorst(16th, 15:12), Ian Head(17th, 15:26), and Jay LeBlanc(23rd, 17:59) for Hopkinton, Forrest Elliott(24th, 18:40) for Interlakes, and Tom Roseen(20th, 17:00) for Kingswood.

The relays were a continuation of the mornings' results with both Gilford teams dominating the event. Evgenia Badamshina, Danielle and Monique Baron combined on the girls' side and Alex Howe, Ian Tovell, and Andrew Tidd were the winning team for the boys. Final Team scores for both events for the girls were: Gilford 474, Hopkinton 455, Fall Mountain 421, Kingswood 387, and Inter-lakes 319. Scores for the boys teams were: Gilford 464, Fall Mountain 450, and Hopkinton 426. Not all teams had enough members to make a complete relay team.