Manchester Memorial’s Jonathan Harkins clears the high jump bar on his way to finishing second in the event on Sunday, May 4 at the Meet of Champions. The senior cleared 6-00.00. (Hooksett Banner/Bruce Preston)

By Matt Stout
Staff Writer

Every meet, Manchester Memorial sophomore Chris Lemieux has a goal in mind for the high jump.

It’s not to jump a certain height exactly or to capture a particular place. Lemieux just wants one thing, though in a season where he’s tied the school’s all-time mark for a sophomore, it’s been the most elusive: to beat Jonathan Harkins.

“I want to beat him every time we go to a meet,” Lemieux said following his fourth place finish at the Meet of Champions on Sunday, June 4 -- two places behind the senior Harkins.

“I want to kill him but I just can’t,” he continued. “He’s cocky but it works for him. He always seem to do well.”

Yet, as intriguing as the rivalry is between the two, even stronger is their bond as teammates. For as quick as he is to try to pass Harkins, Lemeiux is more likely to offer tips. And it goes both ways.

“When you have two people doing the same thing,” Harkins said, “it’s easier to get your steps in and know what you’re doing wrong because they tell you.”

So is the situation facing several Neighborhood athletes. Besides Memorial’s Lemieux and Harkins, Central’s Matt Paulson and Alex Hall finished first and second, respectively, in the 800-meter run. Concord twins Andrew and Mark Westover placed first and third, respectively, in the pole vault. Goffstown senior Chris Morgan and junior teammate Jon Salerno both earned top-10 throws in the javelin, with Morgan taking first.

These athletes are competitors, both with and against each other. But ultimately, they’re teammates above anything else.

“There have been a couple workouts this year where I haven’t really been quite on and coach comes up to me and reminds me he’s two years my junior,” Hall, a senior, said of the sophomore Paulson.

“But every time coach talked about this race, it wasn’t really like, ’Alex, don’t be afraid to out-kick him.’ It was like, ‘Matt and Alex, go get 1-2.’”

Feeding off each other, the pair did, with Paulson taking the title by about a half a second.

Lemieux said he enjoys knowing one of his closest competitors is also a teammate, and Hall and Paulson both agreed that the friendly competition between two has helped make both of them better.

“If one day one of us is slacking a little bit, the other is usually there to pick the other one up, try to encourage them,” Paulson said. “It helps.”

Local Results

Memorial teammates Wesley Cotnoir and Peter Bannon finished fourth and eighth, respectively, in the 100. Brian LaMarche finished fourth in the 300 hurdles and Memorial’s David Irving and William Wrobel placed second in the discus and javelin, respectively.

On the girls side, Kaley Griffin finished third in the 100 hurdles, Christina Bourbeau took third in the pole vault and Charlene Dobson placed 13th in the discus. Mindy Hardy also took eighth in the javelin.

For Central, the girls 4 X 100 relay team placed third, the 4 X 800 team fourth and the 4 X 400 team 10th. Whitney Fremeau placed eighth in the high jump and Melissa Guenther took eighth in the 3200. For the boys, Musafur Aku placed sixth in the 100, Dante Vitagliano seventh in the 1600 and Craig Brown 11th in the 3200.

Pembroke freshman Allison Brehm finished second in the 100 and Erin Keeler took sixth in the triple jump. Kelly Thomas placed eighth in the 300 hurdles while Kathleen Moran finished 13th in the javelin. On the boys side, Wili Brehm placed third in the 400 and John Tetlow took seventh in the 800.