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Hammar, Gray strong in states

It took a record-breaking time to keep Steven Hammar from victory.

The Pelham runner placed second in the 1,500 meter run at the Division 2 state championships at Dartmouth, bested by Bow's Jonathan Vinnenberg in a time of 4:06.50 that was almost five seconds faster than the two-year-old record he broke. Hammar ran a personal-best 4:15.54 as runner-up.

Vinnenberg had an outstanding meet as he also shattered the divisional record in winning the 1,000 (2:32.40).

Windham's Derek Gray provided the area's other highlight, finishing a strong third in the dash with a 6.66 that was 0.17 of a second behind the record-setting effort of Oyster River's Ethan Druskat.

"It was by far his best time and a school record," said head coach Ryan O'Connor of Gray's performance. "He cut close to 3/10 of a second off his best."

Druskat, who also won the 300, broke the divisional dash record twice as he shaved 0.01 of a second off the old mark with a 6.56 in the prelims before blazing a 6.49 to win the title.

Windham's top-ranked 4x200 relay team of Gray, CJay DiPrima, Kenny Padin and Brandon Dreyfuss set a school record with a 1:38.48, but one tough baton exchange hurt and dropped them back to a third-place finish.

In the 4x400, Sanborn's quartet of John Brown, Tyler Peterson, Josh Childs and Colin Cooper set a new school record with a 3:51.75.