Union Leader Athlete of the Month: George overcame injury, weather to help Pinkerton win boys track title
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Neither rain nor pain stopped Winston George from helping the Pinkerton Academy boys track and field team win the NHIAA Division I title.
In rainy conditions and while nursing a right hamstring injury, the sophomore from Hooksett won both the 100- and 200-meter dashes and ran the second leg for the Astros’ winning 4-by-100-meter relay team at the Division I Championships on May 30.
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Pinkerton repeated as the Division I champion by recording an astounding 156 points at Londonderry High School. Nashua North was the runner-up with 47.33 points.
For his three event victories at the D-I meet, George was chosen as the May New Hampshire Union Leader Apple Therapy Services/Bedford Ambulatory Surgical Center/Express MED Athlete of the Month by the Union Leader Board of Judges.
George won the 200 in 22.01 seconds, .53 of a second ahead of Nashua North senior Kobe Perry (22.54).
In the 100, George edged out last year’s champion in the event, Manchester Central senior Ceasar Flahn. George won in 11.02 seconds, using a late burst of speed to hold off Flahn (11.14).
George skipped the Londonderry Invitational on May 23 to rest his hamstring, but it was still hurting at the D-I meet.
“He’s a tough kid,” Pinkerton boys track and field coach Carol Quarles said of George.
George teamed with classmate Michael Duarte, junior Gavin Edgecomb and senior Elijah Roberts to win the 4-by-100 with a time of 43.21 seconds — nearly one second ahead of runner-up Bishop Guertin (44.18).
Duarte ran the opening leg before handing the baton off to George. Roberts ran the third leg and Edgecomb ran the anchor leg.
Quarles, Pinkerton’s longtime coach, always has her fastest and most reliable runner in the second leg for the 4-by-100 relay.
Roberts, a Derry resident, said running with George helps him improve as a sprinter.
“He really pushes everybody else around him because he’s a lot faster than everyone else he trains with,” Roberts told the Union Leader in April, “so, it makes you want to go faster and work harder. That’s what’s really good about being a teammate with him.”
Other athletes considered for the May honor were Exeter High School track athlete Lexi Paterna, Londonderry High School softball player Elisabeth Kearney, Goffstown High School boys tennis player Tyler Dionne, Southern New Hampshire University softball player Alyssa Abbott and St. Bonaventure University baseball player Manuel Castro.
Paterna, a junior, won the 1,600 run in a state-record time, won the 3,200 run and placed second in the 800 run at the Division I championships.
Paterna won the 1,600 in 4:47:18, surpassing the previous state record of 4:47.48 that was set in 2010.
Kearney, a senior pitcher, threw a perfect game and posted a 6-1 record, 1.27 ERA and 99 strikeouts over seven NHIAA Division I regular-season games for Londonderry.
Dionne, a senior captain, went 8-1 in No. 1 singles play and 6-2 in No. 1 doubles play over Goffstown’s final eight regular season matches and quarterfinal match against Oyster River — all of which the Grizzlies won in May.
Abbott, a sophomore from Hudson, batted .333 (12-for-36) with six RBIs, four runs scored and three walks over SNHU’s May campaign, which ended in the NCAA Division II East Regional.
Castro, a junior from Manchester, batted .480 (12-for-25) with six RBIs, six runs scored and two walks over his last seven games of the season for Division I St. Bonaventure.
He was named to both the Atlantic-10 All-Academic Team and College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team after the season.