Meet of Champions Wrap, wherein I shall determine my limit of astrisk usage
Six and a half new school records people. I call the half record Jason Robie’s mile/1600m thing. It’s technically a record! Oh, and the Astros reclaim a STATE record?
*** NEW SCHOOL RECORD ***
This one got broken once and almost got broken twice. Freshman Naomi Ebhaleme has been a revelation in the 400/800. Here she pops off in the MOC, a 2:16.54 800m, places 3rd behind Mikita freaking Barry, and breaks the school record. The record breaking margin was a convincing 1.5s off a 30 year old record that tied with a 35 year old record! The old record holders were dominant in the middle distance in their time: Kate Burakowski ’95 and Kristen Rackley ’89. I want to say that Kate was the first female lacrosse player at the Academy when she made the boys JV team her junior year, but that’s my memory and I haven’t got the confirmation yet. Kick ass people kick ass, is all I can say, and Naomi goes by those times from over 30 years ago (gulp). A bit of a fun moment is caught on the NH T&F youtube feed. I don’t think Naomi has any idea she broke the record, but the camera catches her on the infield as a few people are clearly breaking the news. What fun.
And that is certainly not all. Just behind Naomi in that race was the force that is Kali Marzolf. A fourth place at the MOC in 2:18.22 is good for No. 4 All-Time, a scant blink behind the old records.
*** NEW SCHOOL RECORD ***
Gabby with the big PR Bedard. This time its a program PR. Gabby brings the girls track team into the era of a sub 5-minute 1600m. Placing an MOC third behind only the Paterna twins, Gabby Bedard slams a 4:58.83, well under the prior record of 5:02.48 by Brittney Johnson ’17. The now No. 3 All-Time performance is 5:07.87, a yawning gap back from where Gabby now stands. My own take on Brittney now that her records are finally coming back to the group: what a team runner. Very few of her records are PRs are from Division meets. They’re all from the week before or the weeks after because that girl was a horse when it came to scoring team points. In both her junior and senior year indoors she went 4×8, 1000, 1500, 4×400, scoring tons of points and leading the team to a championship in 2018. Getting back to Gabby, her 11:05.69 in 5th place shows she’s still capable of challenging school record times in the 3200m even after that 1600m effort.
2026 MOC 4x100m Champions Nora Brayall, Courtney Russell, Rachel Osanya, and Abby Stienecker made the loop in 49.42. That moves them to a tie for No. 6 All-Time with the Wheaton-H. Sippel-Connors-Roberts edition in 2022.
The 4x400m team of Nicole Blake, newcomer Elizabeth Gustavson, Sarah Rzasa, and Naomi Ebhaleme took 4th place at MOC in 4:07.52, enough to move them to No. 8 All-Time.
The 4x800m team of Nicole Blake, Kali Marzolf, Sarah Rzasa, and Naomi Ebhaleme came in 2nd, behind the State Record efforts of Exeter, in a No. 3 All-Time position of 9:40.00.
Courtney Russell, a new 12.76 PR in the 100m that improves her tie for 9th All-Time. Courtney finished 6th overall and Nora Brayall finished 4th.
Abby Stienecker, still knocking time off her 100m HH, bolted to a 15.57 coming down the line in 6th place in Lane 1. Her new PR drops by a few tenths as she improves her No. 5 All-Time mark. Remember that girl that led the cross-country team in the JV championships with a 9th place finish? Yeah, that one. This one. Same runner. Awesome.
Anna Grady sets a new pole vault PR at 9′-6″, breaking out of a tie in our All-Time marks and now sitting by herself at No. 4. Anna finished in 7th and Delaney Paquin in 3rd overall at 10′-0″. Delaney also finished in 6th in the triple jump with her bound(s) of 34′-4.50″.
Avery Trask took home a 2nd place MOC medal with her mark of 36′-2.25″. Superb sophomore season for Avery.
And to round it out for the girls’ results, Sarah Rzasa finishes up the javelin with a 2nd place finish and a mark of 115′-11″. That’s a new senior record, which means Sarah holds both the senior and junior records, and it’s just that pesky Amelia Graves ’19 sophomore mark that makes up the school record.
*** NEW SCHOOL RECORD ***
Yeah I’m leading with Gavin Edgecomb. Wow, he only broke into the Sub-40 club recently–just 7 of us in that club–and now he’s sub-39, a club of one. Gavin’s 38.93 was a beauty in a wildly contested group of 3 down the home stretch and placing 3rd. In the trials of the 110m HH, Gavin dipped under the electric 15.00 line, casually leveling up to 14.97, a tie for No. 7 All-Time. Gavin would finish 6th in the finals. Just noodling on the fly here, the sub-40/sub-15 hurdle club has five members now, in 46 years of competing at the metric distances.
John Child 2026 MOC 110m HH Champion! A 14.55 nudges up his No. 3 All-Time status. Oliver Gould came in 4th with his 15.06.
Ian Magnan finished in 2nd, matching his PR of 13′-6″. A reminder that Ian is only the 6th Astro to touch this performance level and he’s been here a few times. Great senior year season.
Kyle Severance places 6th in the triple jump with a 42-5.5, a great senior season for him as well.
*** NEW SCHOOL RECORD ***
2026 MOC 200m champion Winston George hammered the 200m in a blinding 21.82, making him only the second Astro to ever get under the 22.00 mark. His new school record finally dethrones Jadyn Ruimwijk ’18 after stalking him for a few weeks. Jadyn had fantasitc talent from the 100 to the 400, a similar range to Winston’s and a similar knack for contributing to individual and relay school records.
2026 MOC 100m champion Winston George also grabbed the title in the shortest sprint. His 10.88 in trials and 10.85 in the final proved enough to take home the double gold medal.
*** NEW SCHOOL RECORD ***
2026 MOC 800m Champion Joe Gustavson got a solid challenge in the 800m from Portsmouth’s Will Hart. TWO athletes under 1:53? Joe, as he has for his prior big races, had one more gear to use to push him over the line in 1:52.23. Friends, that’s nearly 3s better than the No. 2 slot on our lists. You don’t see this kind of separation of talent frequently on the boys’ side. You’ll still see it in Briana Danis ’23 (discus) or Camille Quarles ’07 (TJ). You can see it now with Jason Robie’s 1600/mile and look back to Jake Radzevich ’02 (PV). But it’s rare, it’s special, and we’ve been watching it all of outdoor and indoor. Congratulations, Joe.
*** NEW SCHOOL RECORD ***
2026 MOC Champion Jason Robie technically sets a new 1600m record with his first place 4:14.61, even though I use his mile time as the current record. Like Joe, Jason got pushed on this one by Monadnock’s Peyton Joslyn in a fantastically close finish.
Do not overlook Trainor Mailloux and the Top-10 season he has put up. His 5th place 9:28.23 improves his No. 7 All-Time mark in the 3200m. Great season by Trainor.
2026 MOC 4x100m Champions Michael Duarte, Winston George, Ryan Robinson, and Gavin Edgecomb ran a no. 3 All-Time performance of 42.18. Missed seeing you out there Travis Cavallo and Elijah Roberts, even John Child who has anchored this team. Ryan Robinson and Gavin Edgecomb show just how deep the developed sprinting depth has become.
** NEW STATE AND SCHOOL RECORD ***
2026 MOC 4x400m Champions Michael Duarte, Caleb Arroyo, Winston George, and Joe Gustavson make the statement win in a new State Record clocking of 3:21.05, taking the title back to Pinkerton from Winnacunnet ’25. Just thinking of all the high school teams that have taken shots at this record over time makes my head spin, and this foursome is the fastest to ever do it.
The athletes that are STILL setting PRs:
