By DAN ATTORRI
Monitor staff

It’s still early in the season, but the Gilford girls’ track and field team showed it is already a force to be reckoned with.

The Gilford 4x100 and 4x400 relays, both the defending Division III champions, won Saturday’s 30-team Pelham Invitational, outperforming their seeds and leading the Eagles to seventh place overall in a field consisting of teams from all three divisions of NHIAA competition.

Senior Lauren Dean and sophomore twin sisters Natalie and Brianna Fraser ran on both relays. Sophomore Laurel Gingrich ran on the 4x100 and senior Kaitlyn Callahan rounded out the 4x400.

“We’re very happy,” Gilford coach Joe Wernig said. “They’ve got their handoffs down. They’re a very cohesive team.”

Nashua North won the girls’ team title with 58 points. Sanborn (54), Souhegan (48), St. Thomas (41), Pelham (40) and Lebanon (35) rounded out the top six. The Eagles scored 34.

Other local girls’ teams that scored points were Inter-Lakes (tied for 10th, 24 points), Merrimack Valley (12th, 16 points), Winnisquam (16th, 11 points) and Bow (26th, two points).

All of the teams had to battle the cold, and at times, the rain. For some teams, like Gilford, the length of the meet plus travel time was 13 hours.

The 4x100 won in 53.4 seconds, which was 1.39 seconds faster than the runner-up team, D-II Plymouth, and the 4x400 won in 4:22.95, which was 6.36 seconds faster than the second-place team, D-I Nashua North.

The times weren’t the fastest the Eagles have put together, but “they did exceptionally well in the rain,” according to Wernig.

The 4x400 outperformed its third seed, while the 4x100 out-performed its ninth seed and won despite not running in the heat with the fastest teams.

“Running in the second heat, they knew they needed their heat by a lot to have a chance (at winning the title),” Wernig said.

In addition to the relays, Dean finished second in the 400, running a 1:02.08, just .02 seconds behind the winner, Sanborn’s Kristina Allard. Natalie Fraser was third in the 400.

Another local winner was Winnisquam’s Casey Lang, who won the long jump with a leap of 14 feet, 9¾ inches. Teammate Gabby Isabelle finished sixth in the long jump to round out Winnisquam’s scoring.

Emma Wheeler finished second in the triple jump and third in the 100 hurdles to lead Inter-Lakes, while Alison Haigh (tied for second in the pole vault) and Mollie Durand (sixth shot put) also scored the Lakers.

Merrimack Valley had second-place finishes from Asia Grace Hanson (javelin) and Kaitlyn Covell (100 hurdles).

Bow’s 4x400 of Kristina Pizzi, Jennifer Ess, Eve Anderson and Nicole Sartorelli finished fifth.

Hopkinton and Pembroke competed, but did not score, although they had seventh-place finishes.

Hopkinton’s 4x400 finished seventh while Pembroke’s Madison Bennett qualified for the 100 finals in a field of over 80 runners.

On the boys’ side, Nashua North had a commanding victory with 103 points. ConVal (58), Merrimack (42) and Campbell (34) rounded out the top four, while Sanborn and Inter-lakes tied for fifth with 28 points.

Ian Daly won the 800 in 2:01.54 to lead Inter-Lakes while Drew Schriewer (second pole vault, fifth discus) and Owen Billin (second triple jump) also scored.

Hopkinton finished ninth with 22 points, led by Kevin McGrath’s victories in both the long jump (20-4) and high jump (6-2).

Hopkinton’s 4x400 finished fifth to complete the Hawks’ scoring.

Merrimack Valley tied for 12th with 17 points, most of them coming from David Reynolds with his victory in the 3,200 (9:59) and fourth-place finish in the 1,600.

John Barger (sixth 100) and the fifth-place 4x800 of Christian Oglesby, Matt Lyle, Mason Graham and Matt Reynolds also scored for MV.

Gilford finished 14th with 15 points, led by Connor Leggett’s victory in the 300 hurdles in 45.26 seconds, nearly two seconds ahead of the runner-up.

Korey Weston (fourth javelin) and Sandor Gamache (sixth triple jump) also scored for the Eagles.

Bow finished 15th with 13 points. Tyler Bennett (fourth pole vault, sixth javelin), Sam Berbue (fifth 3,200) and the third-place 4x400 (Gabe Neff, Hunter Fortier, Devin Perry and Dan Leuchtenberger) scored for the Falcons.

Winnisquam’s runner-up finish in the 4x800 relay account for the majority of the Bears’ 12 points. Riley Mann, Ricky Fournier, Dylan Robert and Kyle Mann formed the relay, which led Winnisquam to tie for 16th overall.

Andre Cormier finished fourth in the 110 hurdles to round out Winnisquam’s scoring.

Pembroke tied for 25th behind Tyler Smith’s two points from a fifth-place finish in the long jump.