Portsmouth High girls take three first places at state track meet

Nikki Merrill wins 800 and 1,500 meters

Posted 6/5/18

PORTSMOUTH — Portsmouth High School’s standout runner, Nikki Merrill, had another impressive performance at the Rhode Island Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Brown …

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Portsmouth High girls take three first places at state track meet

Nikki Merrill wins 800 and 1,500 meters

Posted

PORTSMOUTH — Portsmouth High School’s standout runner, Nikki Merrill, had another impressive performance at the Rhode Island Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Brown University on Saturday.

Merrill, a junior, won both the 800- and 1,500-meter runs in times of 2:13.45 and 4:37.73, respectively.

Although she’s run faster times, Merrill said she was pleased with her performance.

“The race went alright,” she said after the 1,500 meters. “It wasn’t really close to my personal record but I’m pretty happy to get out there and get a pretty big win; I think I had seven seconds on second place. I was proud I was able to do a little bit better than I did last week and also conserve for my next race as well.”

She also tipped her hat to her older runner-up, Barrington senior Kate Zitzman, and another Eagles runner, sophomore Caroline Livingston. They finished in second and third place.

“(Zitzman’s) been here since I was a freshman and has been an inspiration to me, being so close to Portsmouth and living in Barrington. It’s always great to race against people who live nearby. Really proud of her today — top three for both Barrington girls. That’s amazing,” she said.

The 800 was a tougher race, said Merrill, who ran a fast first half and labored a little bit in the final 400 meters.

“The rest of the race I struggled, but I really tried with all my heart and finished the race. It wasn’t my best time at all, but I’m proud of how I got out out hard and tried to just hang on to it,” she said.

Merrill didn’t start off as a distance runner.

“I ran in middle school, but I was doing the long jump and the short hurdles, she said. “When I got to high school, my friend Elizabeth Sullivan, a really great distance runner, kind of convinced me to run cross-country my sophomore year. That’s when I started getting into the 1,500. It’s been a really fun journey.”

Merrill also ran the first leg in the 4x400-meter relay, joining Mariana McManus, Zoie Howes and Keegan Sullivan. They finished in eighth place with a time of 4:15.62.

Merrill wasn’t the only lady Patriot to notch a first-place win on Saturday. Senior Brianna Shablom won the discus throw with a best toss of 123 feet, 7 inches.

As a team, the Patriots finished in sixth place among the girls. Here are some other individual results:

• 4x800-meter relay: The team of Olive Allen, Maura Driscoll, Keegan Sullivan and Sabrina Leary ran the race in 10:04.24, good enough for fourth place.

• 3,000-meter run: Olive Allen, a junior, ran a 10:34.95 for fifth place. Senior Maura Driscoll came in 10th with a time of 10:57.95.

• 4x100-meter relay: The team of Eleanor White, Mariana McManus, Abbie Armijo and Jessie Chen came in ninth with a time of 51.53 seconds.

• Pole vault: Madison Lambert, a junior, took ninth place with a best effort of 8 feet. Sophomore Eleanor White came in 12th with a vault of 7 feet, 6 inches.

• Triple jump: Freshman Meghan Lehane came in 13th with a best leap of 32 feet, 9.75 inches.

• Discus throw: Senior Megan Sieben came in 13th place with a best toss of 92 feet, 9 inches.

• Shot put: Gabby Bryan, a sophomore, came in 13th place with a best toss of 30 feet, 1 inch.

Boys’ results

The Patriots 4x800-meter relay team of Vincent Gardner, Noah Gramitt, Isaiah Kittel and Ethan Shea took seventh place with a time of 8:21.86. 

In the 4x400-meter relay, Jordan Cardoso joined Shea, Gramitt and Kittel for a 10th-place finish in a time of 3:34.58.

Shea, a senior, came in 15th place in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:06.59.

Sophomore Ben Chase ran the 1,500 meters in a time of 4:19.37, good enough for 13th place.

Another sophomore, Dan McKinnon, came in 13th place in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 43.61 seconds.

New Englands this Saturday

Merrill’s impressive performance also qualified her to compete in both the 800- and 1,600-meter runs in the 73rd annual New England Interscholastic Outdoor Track & Field Championship at the University of New Hampshire this Saturday, June 9.

She will be joined by another PHS junior, Olive Allen, who will compete in the girls’ 3,200-meter run.

Both the PHS boys’ and girls’ 4x800-meter relay teams will also represent Rhode Island at the New Englands.

Although her first-place win in the discus throw automatically qualified her for the New Englands, Brianna Shablom decided not to compete. Head coach Jeff Rose said he scratched her from the meet in order to give another athlete an opportunity to compete.

Portsmouth High School, PHS track

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