NASHUA – About a minute after she completed the 800-meter run, Exeter’s Hillary Holmes embraced her father, Jeff, who is also her track and field coach.

“It was the perfect Father’s Day present,” Jeff told his daughter.

Hillary had just posted her best time in the 800 (2 minutes, 26.03 seconds), which allowed her to set the all-time scoring record in the New Hampshire Heptathlon Championship. Holmes finished the two-day event at Nashua South with 4,582 points. Oyster River’s Alison Poulin set the previous record (4,555 points) in 1988.

“It was a perfect way to end the season,” Hillary Holmes said. “I knew I had to run a 2:27 or better to get the record and my best before today was a 2:30. It was really cutting it close. I’m glad there were people to push me, because I’m really bad at pacing myself.”

Merrimack Valley’s Chris Bohi captured the New Hampshire Decathlon, outpointing Nashua South’s Shazwn DeCost.

Holmes, who also won last year’s heptathlon, called Sunday’s victory the highlight of her high school track and field career. She will continue to compete in the heptathlon at Cornell next season.

“We knew if she had a good day today she could break the all-time record here,” Jeff said. “She had a good long jump, but she didn’t have a good javelin. That’s her weakest event.”

The only other time Holmes has run the 800 this year was at the Clipper Relays in Portsmouth.

“She’s trained so hard, she just hasn’t done this event (the 800). We had a plan of what she had to hit every 200 meters and she was real good on that. The last 200 meters you run on guts.

“I told her to trust her conditioning. Trust your training and just go for it. Sometimes when you train hard you find that second wind.”

Holmes finished fourth in the heptathlon as a freshman, and third as a sophomore.

Jenna and Michaela Athanasopoulos, twins from Monadnock Regional of Swanzey, finished second and third respectively. Jenna earned 3,795 points and Michaela finished with 3,696.

Another noteworthy performance was turned in by Prospect Mountain’s Sahara Brown, who set a meet record in the javelin (132 feet, 3 inches). Hanover’s Sara Nichols held the previous record (131-3).

Bohi, who skipped his high school graduation ceremonies to compete in Saturday’s portion of the decathlon, finished with 5,595 points. He set a meet record in the javelin with a throw of 173-11, and also won the shot put and the pole vault. He cleared 13-6.25 in the pole vault, which is a personal best.

Londonderry’s Tristan Hall set the previous record in the javelin (170-2) in 2002.

“If feels good because I’ve been practicing over the years to get better,” Bohi said. “I’ve done this (the Decathlon) two other years and I didn’t really do good. I messed up in my good events last year and the year before I got like 30-something.”

Bohi won the javelin and the pole vault at the Meet of Champions earlier this month.

“He didn’t practice Tuesday through this weekend because he strained a muscle somewhere near his ribs, so we just kind of rested him all week,” Merrimack Valley coach Bob Mullen said. “His expectation coming in was to win, but I’ve been coming to this decathlon since 1967 and I’ve seen all the possible scenarios. This is an amazing meet with good competition and anything can happen. One bad event and you’re lucky to stay in the top 10.”

DeCost was second (5,344 points) and Londonderry’s Matt Dalzell was third (5,234).

Bohi, who became the first Merrimack Valley athlete to win the decathlon since Jesse Mulder in 1996, said skipping his graduation ceremony in favor of the decathlon was an easy decision.

“I got my diploma during a ceremony at my coach’s house,” he said. “This was a lot more fun than standing around or sitting in a seat somewhere. I’m happy.”

rbrown@unionleader.com