Nashua South Notebook: Relay team turns in top performance

Ryan DuVarney doesn’t usually get nervous before a race, unless it’s a larger track meet.

This one certainly qualified, as the Nashua High School South junior and his indoor track teammates were competing at the 12th East Coast Championship at the Providence Career & Technical High School on Jan. 13, along with 63 other teams from all over the eastern part of the country.

“Not a whole lot of space to move around down by the track, and even when you were down there, on the track, it was still tight,” DuVarney said. “Everyone is warming up and doing stuff on the track. It’s really more intimidating for sure. I don’t get nervous around races too much, but when I do, it’s at a meet like that.”

It helped that DuVarney was in two events, and after he’d already run in the 2-mile race, finishing fourth overall, running the first leg of the 3,200-meter relay wasn’t going to be as bad, so long as he could recover in time.

“I was talking to (DuVarney), who was kind of tired, and I was considering going first to set the tone,” South senior Dante Castellano said. “I think we made a good decision keeping the order.”

Matthew Motherway took the second leg after DuVarney and Camden Brien had the anchor leg, hoping to give South a kick at the end, if needed.

“I like it,” Brien said of going last in the relay. “I like coach (Doug Booth) giving me the chance to hunt kids down and pass them.”

DuVarney wanted to give the Panthers a good start in the relay, but was still feeling some affects of his previous race.

“I like being the first leg and I knew I had to get out hard,” he said. “It wasn’t the greatest because I was coming right off the two mile, so I was still kind of dead. Seeing how tired I was, I wasn’t that disappointed.”

While Motherway was waiting for his teammate to finish the opening leg, he was trying not to think about his own.

“I’ve never been to a meet like that,” the sophomore said. “I was definitely a little nervous. It was my first time running the 4×800 and I didn’t want to let my teammates down by running a bad leg. I tried to relax a little and tried not to stress too much.”

The handoff from DuVarney felt good and Motherway was able to keep South in a good position when he turned it over to Castellano, who was more than ready to go.

“It was a really long meet, so I had like four hours in between the races,” he said. “I was fully recovered and it was a bit tough to warmup again, but once I did, I was feeling pretty good.

“When I got the baton, I had no clue what spot we were in. I was just going to hit my splits. I didn’t hit them exactly. Eventually, I saw there was a pretty good-sized pack in front of me, and I ended up passing them, that felt good.”

Waiting for the final leg, Brien could see where South was, and when he took the handoff from Castellano, there were only three other runners ahead of him. After running the 800 run earlier in the meet, the anchor leg of the relay had a much different feel to it.

“Off the start, you get shoved a lot, but once you break free of the first lap, it’s comfortable and smooth sailing from there,” Brien said of the 800. “I tried my hardest and got to the first person.”

By the time he’d hit the final lap on the 200-meter track, Brien was moving into first place.

“I didn’t know until the last couple of laps,” Castellano said. “Is that really happening?”

After recovering from the two races, DuVarney switched out his shoes and got up to cheer on the final leg.

“Dante caught up a lot,” he said. “Camden caught second and first.”

And Brien held on to it, giving South a first-place finish in the relay in 8 minutes, 52.05 seconds.

“It definitely felt good,” Motherway said. “As a team, we all contributed and the hard work we put in paid off. It helps make you feel good but we still have to work. It’s not a guarantee. We might win this meet, but we still have to work hard.”

Panthers compete at PEA

The South boys and girls competed at a qualifying meet at Phillips Exeter Academy on Jan. 20. No team scores were kept and top 10 finishers are listed.

For the boys, Ethan Schnyer came in first in the 300-meter run with a time of 36.05 seconds. Michael Menezes was fifth in the 55 (6.89) and ninth in the 300 (38.89), while Marcell Perry was seventh in the 55 (6.95) and sixth in the long jump (18-6.5).

Barion Perry came in sixth in the 300 (38.35) and took eighth in the high jump (5-8) and Mitch Allard came in fourth (1:27.74) and Camdon Brien was seventh (1:31.61) in the 600, respectively.

Dante Castellano took second in the 1,500 (4:15.4) while Cameron Patronick was sixth (4;28.23) and Vedanth Penumatsa was seventh (4:36.62). Ryan DuVarney came in seventh in the 1,000 (2:47.29) and Matthew Motherway was eighth (2:47.37), also in the 1,000.

Preston Bois came in fifth in the 55 hurdles (8.56) and seventh in the high jump (5-8) while Aidan Bessada took 10th in the 3,000 (10:04.97).

Elyza Mercado finished second in the shot put (41-11.5) while Raymond Karuru took seventh (38-2).

Menezes, Schnyer, Ryan Jansen and Marcell Perry took third in the 800-meter relay (1:37.51). The Panthers also finished fourth (3:49.51) in the 1,600-meter relay.

Nyah Musa led the girls with a first-place finish in the 55-meter dash in 7.37 seconds and was also fourth in the 300 (43.37). Mimi Ortiz finished third in the 55 (7.48), fifth in the 55 hurdles (9.01) and ninth in the 300 (45.25).

Nora Gautieri took second in the shot put (32-6.25) while Chloe Cruz finished eighth (29-0.5) and Marissa Abbis was ninth (27-11.25).

Sarah Witta placed eighth in the 55 hurdles (10.39) and 10th in the 300 (45.26) while Emely Melendez took fifth in the 3,000 (11:30.14) and Ariana Marengo finished ninth in the 1,000 (3:36.06).

Penelope Rodriguez came in sixth in the high jump (4-6) and Alejandra Chavarin finished eighth in the long jump (14-6).

Witta, Musa, Ortiz and Nevaeh Eppolito were first in the 800-meter relay, finishing in 1:50.97, while Eppolito, Melendez, Witta and Chavarin were fourth in the 1,600-meter relay (4:25.9).

Up next: The Panthers will compete in the D1 League Relay Meet at 10 a.m. Saturday at UNH.

Gymnastics

Panthers improve team score

South finished third in a meet with Bishop Guertin, Pelham and Windham, recording a season-high score of 110.05.

Abby Herlihy and Renee Glidden competed in the all-around and set new season bests for scores, finishing at 29.15 and 28.8, respectively.

Nine Somorrostro competed on the vault, bars and floor, while Abbey Herbert was on the vault, bars and beam and Binita Rana did the vault, beam and floor. Sophia Collins also participated on the floor.

Up next: The Panthers return to action Sunday at 7 p.m. at a meet held at Noha’s Gymnastics Academy in Manchester.

Wrestling

Panthers drop pair at Concord

South traveled to Concord on Jan. 20 to take part in another Quad Meet with the Crimson Tide, Pinkerton and Souhegan. The Panthers fell to the Astros, 46-27, and to the Sabers, 54-29.

Against Pinkerton, South got pins from Robert Signor (106 pounds), Robert Perez (150), Connor Whitman (165) and Ian McCubrey (285). Benjamin Byrne (144) also picked up a win for the Panthers.

Against Souhegan, Signor and Whitman each recorded another pin, as did Diego Dominguez (157). Perez and McCubrey also picked up wins for  South.

Up next: South travels into Massachusetts to take part in the Methuen Tournament starting at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. The Panthers then head to North on Monday for a 6 p.m. dual with the Titans before hosting Keene in another dual at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

Girls Basketball

Panthers split a pair

After getting a win over Nashua North last Friday, the Panthers went on the road and fell to Exeter, 48-31, on Tuesday.

Up next: The Panthers hots Concord at 6:30 p.m. on Friday and go on the road Tuesday to take on Goffstown, also at 6:30 p.m.

Boys Basketball

Panthers bounce back

South saw its five-game win streak snapped in a loss last Friday to Nashua North, but bounced back on Monday against Exeter, getting a 40-point game from junior Josh Caruso.

Up next: South travels to Concord for a 4 p.m. tip off on Friday and returns home to face Goffstown on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

Boys Hockey

Kings streak continues

South-Pelham saw its losing streak reach six games, as the Kings dropped two road games to Hanover (8-0 on Jan. 20) and Winnacunnet (3-1 on Jan. 24).

Up next: South-Pelham will host Windham at 3:40 p.m. Saturday at Conway Arena before traveling to face Portsmouth-Newmarket on Monday and Pinkerton on Wednesday.

Upcoming Schedule

• Swimming: The Panthers return to the pool Sunday for Bobcat Invite at UNH, then they’ll finish out the regular season with the Last Chance Meet on Wednesday at UNH.
• Unified Basketball: The Panthers return to action on Monday when they host Berlin, followed by the regular-season finale against North on Thursday.
• Skiing: The Panthers will compete in a meet on Feb. 1 at Pat’s Peak.

Editor’s Note: This is a new weekly feature that will be posted every Friday through the end of the school year. South coaches can submit info to nhhighschoolsports@gmail.com. If you would like to sponsor the notebook, send an email to nhhighschoolsports@gmail.com.