Track
Western Maine Champs!
Boys and Girls track finish seasons undefeated
By Kevin Higgins
Dan MacGlashing
Dave Cannata
Girls 100m hurdles (York Girls left to right are: Kirsten Dean, Megan McCrory, Lauren Blackburn [in the lead], and Lizzy Roy)
Morgan Taylor
The day started out with two very fast 4x800 relays. The boys team of Matt Hosmer, Nate Green, Nick McMahon, and Mickey Rose, placed second, at 8:13. The times of the top five boys teams were all faster than the state championship time last year. Hosmer opened the race with an amazing 2:04 split. Green ran with the leaders in a 2:00. McMahon held on, but got passed on the final corner. Rose surged at the end, laying down a speedy 1:59. Hailey Blackburn, Annie Boardman, Molly Carl, and Lacey Cartier placed third, almost half a lap ahead of the fourth place team.
York's race walkers scored major points for both boys and girls. Both boys and girls took the lead with the race walk, and did not relinquish that lead for the rest of the day. Tom Ciampa won the boys race. Brian Farrell moved up from his seed, placing sixth. Emily Goering surged on the final straight of way, winning the girls race. Brooke Simpson placed fifth.
York's hurdlers scored major points on both teams. Lauren Blackburn and Liana Grieg placed one-two in the girls 100 hurdles. Later in the day, the duo went two-three in the 300 hurdles, this time with Grieg in the lead. Carl placed fifth in the 300's, adding even more points.
Gabe Zinck won the boys 110 hurdles. Robert Piazza and Mark Vogel placed fifth and sixth. Vogel qualified for states, despite this being his first time running this race all year. Zinck and Piazza scored second and eighth in the 300 hurdles as well.
Chelsea Tewell and Danielle Clements both advance to the finals in the 100 dash. Clements was clearly seventh in the finals, but for the officials needed to check the finish picture to determine if Tewell was first or second. Sadly, the Lake Region girls leaned just a little more, making Tewell second. She also placed second in the 200, with a 27.5 f.a.t. computer timed, breaking the three way tie for the school record. Clements placed eighth.
Teammate Morgan Taylor placed sixth in the 200 as well. Earlier in the day, she placed fifth in the 400. Hana Carey placed eighth. Cartier won the race in 1:00.04, just shy of breaking the minute mark, but still fast enough to set the school record. She also placed third in the 800. Hailey Blackburn placed eighth in the 800.
Carey was part of York's immensely successful jumping squad. She tied for eighth in the high jump. Michelle Carson placed sixth. Regan Cleminson won the event, with a jump of five feet even.
Carson led the York girls triple jumpers in third place, with a great jump of 33'11". Taylor placed fifth. Casey Hoatson came in seventh. In the long jump, Tewell, Grieg, and Hoatson placed fifth through seventh, all three over 15 feet.
In the pole vault, Sibley Blum won, setting a new Western Maine Conference record of 10'01". On the boys side, Brendon Boston placed second. He also placed third in the high jump, with a huge jump of 5'10". Dave Canatta tied for eighth place.
Zinck dominated in the long and triple jumps, as well as the hurdles. He placed third in the long jump, with a personal best of 20'6.5". His jump of 42'6.5" won the triple jump and was almost three feet ahead of second place. Andrew Potter came in eighth.
Clements, Jenna Hosmer, Carl, and Tewell placed second in the girls' 4x100 relay. The team set a new school record, breaking the old one set back in 1988, before any of this relay team were even born.
In the boys' 400, Green came in seventh. He also placed fourth in the 3200. Boardman placed eighth in the girls' 3200. Rose placed second in both the boys' 800 and 1600.
York's throwers had an excellent day. Josh Moulton placed third in the shot put. Brandon Cross placed sixth in the shot, but won the discus. The discus was the last event of the day still going on, and York's win hinged on that event. All the York athletes went over to cheer, and Cross had a huge throw of 133'2.5", seeding him first at states, and winning.
For the girls' shot put, Aly Sweet placed third. In the girls' javelin, Patricia Sanchez placed fifth. Dan MacGlashing placed seventh in the boys' javelin.
York placed second in each of the last running events of the day, the boys and girls 4x400 relay. The girls' team of Grieg, Lauren Blackburn, Taylor and Cartier was four seconds ahead of the next team. The boys' team ran an amazing time of 3:33.21. Sam Ramus opened with a 53.5 split. Boston, running the relay for the first time all year, held on to the leaders with a 53.8. Rose moved into second place with a 52.9. Green opened a larger gap, coming in with a 52.9 as well.
This Saturday is the state meet at Mount Desert Island. York is sending about forty athletes to compete. Both boys and girls are strong contenders for the title of champion.
