Track
Strong start for track teams
By Kevin Higgins
Senior Brent Johnson gets ready to throw the javelin for the York High School track team.
Photo by Steve Rasche
Andrew Hirst, pictured here, had strong showings in the York High School track meet on Friday, winning the javelin and the shot put events and taking second in the discus.
Photos by Steve Rasche
YORK - The boys' and girls' outdoor track teams are starting the season out strong.
On Tuesday, May 1, both teams solidly defeated Greely and Poland at home. The meet was scheduled for the previous Friday, April 27; however, the cold, rainy weather forced a rescheduling.
The girls scored 103 points and the boys scored 91 points.
On Friday, May 4, both teams again secured wins, this time in Cape Elizabeth.
The girls scored 162.5 points, overwhelming Falmouth (65), Cape Elizabeth (60.5), and Greater Portland Christian (4).
The boys were told as they were leaving the track that they had tied Falmouth for first. However, Coach Matt Convery, whose day job is teaching calculus, spotted a couple of math errors in the scoring, giving York 107.5 and a slight edge over Falmouth with 102.5. Cape Elizabeth (73) placed third and Greater Portland Christian came in fourth.
At the May 1 meet, the team unveiled the new records board, freshly printed for the new season. Chelsey Tewell quickly made it obsolete, setting a new school record in the 100 dash with a time of 12.3 seconds. She also won the 100 hurdles, triple jump and anchored the winning 4x100 relay. Just for kicks, she ran the same combination of races on Friday, winning all of them again.
On Friday, Regan Cleminson made the records board even more outdated, setting a new girls' high jump record at 5 feet, 2 inches. Six girls' school records are now held by a current member of the team.
Lacey Cartier chipped in to making the board outdated, setting a school record in the 200 dash with a time of 27.2 seconds. This is all the more amazing since the second half of this event went straight into a headwind! She, too, totaled four wins, in the 200 and 400, and the 4x800 and 4x400 relays, which she anchored to victory.
While any member of the guys' team has yet to win four events, Rob Cook came close on Friday, winning three and taking third in a fourth. He won the 200, the 300 hurdles and started on the winning 4x100 relay. He took third in the 100.
Andrew Hirst also came quite close. He won the javelin and the shot put, and took second in the discus. Hirst ran the second leg of the winning 4x100 relay.
York now has almost 30 athletes qualified for the state meet in almost 40 different spots. Three more qualified for the first time on Friday. Michelle Gearin won the javelin, making her the first girl in several years to qualify. Brooke Simpson qualified in the race-walk by a mere .1 seconds. Emma Clark qualified in the 400.
With scores as high as York achieves, it should be obvious that more than just the handful of multi-event winning athletes score points. Other girls' scorers include Kristen Gearin (race-walk), Jamie Mercurio (race-walk), Katie Rasche (100 hurdles, long jump), Danielle Clements (100, 200), Marina Swietek (100,200), Rachel Lee (shot put, discus), Patricia Sanchez (discus, javelin), Anna Pierce (discus), Lindsey Weigel (1600), Reaha Goyetche (1600), Morgan Taylor (400, shot put, triple jump), Molly Carl (high jump, 300 hurdles), Sibley Blum (pole vault), Melissa Hanley (pole vault), Kirsten Dean (pole vault), Jillian Means (pole vault), Ally Johnson (javelin), Jess Calnan (javelin), Hana Carey (high jump), Annie Boardman (3200) and Monique Boutin (3200).
It took plenty of talented guys to overtake Falmouth, the defending indoor track state champion, including Tom Ciampa (race-walk, pole vault), Mark Vogel (110 hurdles, 400), Carlos Sanchez (110 hurdles), Tim Gelinas (110 hurdles), Zach Prugar (100), Evan Wallace (100), Andrew Potter (long jump, triple jump, high jump), Dan Herbein (high jump), Matt Maertens (400, high jump), Jared Prugar (400), Tim Jones (shot put, discus), Pete Betts (javelin), Jake Young (javelin), Jayce Insko (triple jump, javelin), Kevin Higgins (800), Nick McMahon (800) and Dave Canatta (triple jump).
The track teams run two meets again this week as well. On Friday, May 11, they travel up north to run against Lake Region, and again, Cape Elizabeth. The very next day, Saturday, May 12, they head on down to Winnacunnet High School for the annual co-ed classic, against teams from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts.
Keep cheering for the Wildcat track teams, which are quickly living up to their reputations as some of the most competitive in the state.
