Track
Indoor track still running strong
By Kevin Higgins
OUT FRONT. YHS sophomore speedster Chelsey Tewell blazes to another win in the 55m hurdles last Friday at USM.
Photo by Steve Rasche
HEAVE HO. Junior shot-putter Andrew Hirst lets it fly for the Wildcats in last Friday's meet at USM.
Photo by Tori Rasche
YORK - The indoor track teams continued to improve their records Friday night, Jan. 26.
The girls' team (193.5) placed second to Greely (231).
The boys' team (116) placed third, just behind Greely (128). Falmouth won with 128 points.
The girls are now 20-2 on the season, while the boys are 18-4.
Wildcat athletes continued to post strong performances. Four athletes qualified for five more spots in the state meet. Plenty of records fell as well.
Sibley Blum finally set the conference record in the pole vault. Last week, she was just an inch under; this week she was an inch over. Her record stands at 10 feet, 5 inches.
Her teammate Jillian Means set a York sophomore record at 6 feet, 6 inches.
Chelsey Tewell broke her own record in the junior girls' hurdles. While this is a junior record, her time of 8.79 seconds is faster than the senior girls' record.
Lacey Cartier broke the senior class 800 record. She was recognized as the meet senior division most valuable player for her wins in the 800 and two-mile, and for her victory as the senior girls' 4x200 anchor.
The junior girls placed second in their relay. However, this team of Marina Swietek, Emily Marshall, Molly Carl and Tewell broke the school junior girls' 4x200 record by four seconds.
While no Wildcat guys broke any records, Pat Graham did tie the senior boys' high jump record at 5 feet, 8 inches. This record is now a three-way tie between Graham, Cam Dillon and alumni Alex Johanson. His jump also qualifies him for the state meet.
Junior Katie Rasche expanded the number of girls' spots at the state meet, qualifying in the hurdles and the long jump.
The Nick McMahon and Kevin Higgins duo qualified in the boys' 800. The two concentrated on maintaining their speed throughout the crucial third lap in the four-lap race, and it paid off. A total of 15 York athletes, six boys and nine girls, are now qualified for the state meet.
There are over 100 Wildcats on the indoor track teams, which means that more than the relative handful of athletes who have qualified for states score the all important points during meets. With two thirds of these athletes on the girls' team, many of the scorers in meets are from York, including Kirsten Dean (hurdles, high jump), Regan Cleminson (high jump, triple jump), Emma Pressey (shot-put), Kiera Pressey (shot-put), Lindsay Warner (shot-put), Jenna Hosmer (55), Alison Bailey (shot-put), Annie Boardman (mile, 2-mile), Michelle Gearin (shot-put), Hillary Christopher (shot-put), Kaitlin Carson (high jump) and Kaitlyn Dow (high jump).
While there are not as many boys as girls on the team, there are still quite a few who score points, including Ryan Kelly (200, 400), Brian Farrell (400), Pat Seaward (hurdles, high jump), Cory Gallant (hurdles, high jump), Anthony Molino (hurdles), Dan Herbein (high jump), Billy Kennedy (shot-put), Sam Rasche (shot-put), Robert Cook (200), Mark Vogel (hurdles), Cam Dillon (high jump), Dave Cannata (high jump), Andrew Hirst (shot-put), Andrew Potter (long jump, triple jump) and Justin Gallant (triple jump).
York competes in the last regular meet of the season this Friday night, Feb. 2, at 4:30 p.m. against Falmouth, Greely, Lake Region, Traip and Gray-New Gloucester. After that, the post season begins with the Western Maine Conference Championship and then the state championship.
