Track
Girls Track takes state title
Boys finish second
By Kevin Higgins
On Saturday, the York track teams competed for the state championship honors at Mount Desert Island. Across the state the weather was terribly cold and rainy. Class B was the only state meet, with the class A and C meets being postponed until Monday. Yet even the Class B meet could not unfold completely, as the rainy conditions made pole-vaulting a hazard, forcing the event to be pushed to Monday in Winslow.Even without the pole vault though, the York girls track team clinched the state championship on Saturday. The girls closed the day with 93 points, ahead of Cape Elizabeth (73), Greely (61), MDI (60), and twenty other teams. At that score, no team could accumulate enough points in the pole-vault to oust York. York has the top-seeded vaulter, Sibley Blum. Her mark of 10'5" is one inch shy of the state record.
The outcome of the boys meet was decided on Monday in the pole vault make-up. Going into the final event York was the leader with 61 points, just ahead of Waterville at 58 points. Lake Region and Cape Elizabeth were tied for third with 48 points. Unfortunately, Waterville had the top-seeded pole vaulter and took first on Monday. Combined with another Waterville vaulter's fifth place finish, Waterville closed out the event with 14 points, enough to beat out York's second place finisher Brendan Boston, and give Waterville the overall title by three points, 72-69.
The miserable weather prevented many athletes from achieving their best marks. However, the Wildcats faught through the adverse conditions, alternately cheering their teammates on from the sidelines, and warming up in the school or box-truck. In the first event, the 4x800 meter relay, it looked like boys and girls would be third. For Matt, Hosmer, Nate Green, Nick McMahon, and Mickey Rose, that was indeed the case. But in the girls race, the winning team, Waterville, was disqualified for not having matching uniforms, bumping Haley Blackburn, Molly Carl, Annie Boardman, and Lacey Cartier up to second place. Their time of 10:00.95 was their best of the year.
After that came the preliminaries of the hurdles and 100 meter dash. In the girls 100 meter hurdles, Liana Grieg and Lauren Blackburn both made it to the finals. Chelsea Tewell and Zach Prugar made it to the finals of the girls and boys 100 dash.
The finals were certainly exciting for York. Blackburn ran to the win, with Grieg behind her in fourth place. Tewell placed third in the 100. Prugar missed placing by five hundredths of a second, but he is still pumped to be the first York boy in the finals in several years.
Next up was the race walk. Emily Goering placed fifth in the girls' race. Tom Ciampa walked his best time yet, 7:24, which was worth second place.
After the finals of the hurdles and 100 came the 1600 meter run. Rose placed second in the boys race. Several events later, he placed seventh in the 800.
In the girls 4x100 relay, Jenna Hosmer, Danielle Clements, Carl, and Tewell placed fourth. In the next race, the 400, Cartier and Morgan Taylor placed third and seventh, respectively. Cartier also placed seventh in the 800.
The 300 hurdles was a source of big points for both the boys and the girls. Gabe Zinck and Robert Piazza placed second and fifth. In the girls race, Grieg (state champ '05) and Lauren Blackburn (state champ '04) placed second and third, respectively.
York's triple jumpers were also successful. Zinck placed second for the boys. On the girls side, Taylor placed second, and Michelle Carson won with a jump of 33'7.25". Taylor and Carson combined for 18 points from this event alone, which gave the girls that final edge over the competition. Also successful in the high jump, Regan Cleminson placed third, at 4'10".
The York boys throwing squad had an amazing day. Brandon Cross placed second in the discus. Josh Moulton moved up four spots from his seed to place third in the shot-put, with a huge PR of 47'75". Dan MacGlashing, not even seeded to score, placed sixth in the javelin.
The final event of the day was the 4x400 relay. Grieg, L. Blackburn, Taylor, and Cartier cruised to a second place finish, over four seconds ahead of third place. Sam Ramus, Boston, Rose, and Green placed fourth in the boys relay. Green had just come from placing fifth in the 3200 run, pulling off a brutal combo.
Both the boys and the girls teams had outstanding seasons: undefeated during the regular season, Western Maine Champions, and state champions for the girls. The sports awards night is Monday, June 12 at York High School.
