Track
Wildcats shine at Western Maine Championship
By Kevin Higgins
ON THE MOVE. The Wildcats indoor track team had a strong showing at Friday's Western Maine Conference Championship. Pictured here, from York, are Sam Rasche, Patrick Seaward and Cory Gallant, who swept third through fifth place, respectively, in the junior boys' hurdles.
Photo by Tori Rasche
MAKING THE SHOT. Kiera Pressey placed fifth in the junior girls' shot-put event for the Wildcats indoor track team at the Western Maine Conference Championship.
Photo by Tori Rasche
YORK - On Friday, Feb. 9, the indoor track teams competed in the Western Maine Conference Championship meet.
Greely topped the 13-team girls' meet with 170 points while York placed second with 142 points and Falmouth came in third with 123.5 points.
Falmouth won the boys' meet with 148 points. Greely placed second, scoring 109 points. Wells (83), Gray-New Gloucester (80) and York (78.5) placed third through fifth, respectively.
York continued its season of incredible performances, setting several new records and winning seven events.
Sophomore Chelsey Tewell received the Most Outstanding Track Athlete award for the meet. She won three events: the junior 55-meter hurdles, the junior 55-meter dash and the triple jump. Her time of 7.4 seconds in the 55 dash was fast enough to break her own conference record.
Molly Carl won two events, the junior girls' 400-meter dash and the junior girls' high jump, and placed fifth in the junior 200 dash. Her time in the 400 set the sophomore class and school record, and bested the competition by four seconds.
In the next race, her teammate Lacey Cartier ran the exact same time, setting a senior class record, and tying the new school record. Cartier placed second in the 400 as well as the two-mile.
Regan Cleminson won the senior girls' high jump, clearing 5 feet. She also placed third in the triple jump with a leap of 31 feet, 10.5 inches.
Sibley Blum won the girls' pole-vault, clearing 10 feet. Her jump topped the competition by three feet. She also placed sixth in the senior girls' 200 dash.
Andrew Hirst succeeded in setting the junior class boys' shot-put record with a toss of 42 feet, 3 inches. His throw earned him second place.
Andrew Potter placed second in the boys' triple jump and sixth in the long jump. His leap of 40 feet, 7.5 inches puts him within 10 inches of the school triple jump record.
Pat Graham tied for second in the senior boys' high jump at 5 feet, 10 inches. This height ties his current senior class record.
Jenna Hosmer was seeded eighth after the preliminary of the senior girls' 55 dash. She turned it on in the finals, placing fourth with a time of 8.05. This time qualifies her for the state meet.
Rob Cook qualified for states as well in the 200 dash. His time of 25.18 was fast enough to secure sixth place.
Nick McMahon placed fifth in the boys 800 meter run. Kevin Higgins placed sixth in the boys' mile.
Katie Rasche was seeded fourth in the senior girls' hurdles after the preliminary round. When it came down to the finals though, she moved up to second place.
Mark Vogel placed third in the senior boys' hurdles.
In the junior girls' hurdles, Kirsten Dean and Stephanie Lomasney placed fourth and fifth, respectively.
In the junior boys' hurdles, Sam Rasche, Pat Seaward and Cory Gallant swept third through fifth place. Gallant and Seaward placed third and fourth in the junior boys' high jump at 5 feet, 4 inches. Dan Herbein chipped in and tied for sixth at 5 feet, 2 inches.
In the junior girls' high jump, Kaitlin Carson placed third with a leap of 4 feet, 4 inches. Dean and Kaitlyn Dow jumped 4 feet, 2 inches, earning fourth and sixth place, respectively.
Kiera Pressey and Hillary Christopher placed fifth and sixth in the junior girls' shot-put.
Winona Hapgood, Kelly Silin, Kylie Vallee and Monique Boutin placed sixth in the girls' 4x800 relay.
The boys' 4x800 team of Alex Moser, Higgins, Ryan Means and McMahon placed third. The charging guys cleared the nine-minute mark and just missed catching the North Yarmouth Academy team.
For the 4x200 meter relays at the end of the meet, all the York athletes not running lined up along the final corner of the track. Their cheering provided the extra adrenaline rush the relay runners need to race their fastest.
The junior girls' team of Marina Swietek, Emily Marshall, Carl and Tewell started things off with a solid second-place finish. Their senior teammates Blum, Hosmer, Kristina Clements and Cartier kept the speed going with a third-place finish. The junior boys ran next. Gallant, Herbein, Mike Cline and Ryan Kelly placed fourth. The senior boys finished things fast, placing second. The team of Cook, Hirst, Cory Borgel and Vogel came within a 10th of a second of the school record.
This coming Monday, Feb. 19, there will be 18 individual York athletes competing at the state meet, having bested the qualifying standards. York will also send boys' and girls' 4x800 and 4x200 relay teams. York will be competitive, with the girls in the thick of the mix in competing for the state title.
