Track
York track keeps breaking those records
By Kevin Higgins
Lacey Cartier is seen here starting the 200 meter dash, which she later won for the York track team at Saturday’s meet at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton, N.H.
Courtesy photo
Matt Day in the shot-put at Lake Region.Courtesy photo
Jared Prugar starts the 100 meter dash at Friday’s tack meet at Lake Region.Courtesy photo
York is becoming a race-walk powerhouse among track teams. Pictured here at the recent Lake Region meet are members of the York race-walk division, which is coached by Candace Jaffe.Courtesy photo
YORK - The York High School track team ran a strong double-header last weekend.
On Friday, May 11, the Wildcats traveled up to Lake Region High School. The girls won with 98.5 points, defeating Cape Elizabeth (52) and Lake Region (44.5). The boys (91.5) also won, and Cape Elizabeth (66.5) finished second with Lake Region (40) in third.
On Saturday, May 12, York traveled down to Winnacunnet High School in Hampton, N.H., to compete in the annual Warrior Co-ed Classic. At this meet, instead of scoring boys' and girls' teams separately, each school receives a single score.
York finished second in the seven-team meet, a mere four-tenths of a point ahead of Mohawk Trails High School of Vermont. Triton Regional High School of Massachusetts won the meet.
Over the course of the two meets, York set several records.
On Friday, Lacey Cartier set facility records in the 200 and 800, with times of 27.3 seconds and 2:27 minutes, respectively. Chelsey Tewell also set two facility records, in the 100 hurdles (15.8 seconds) and the 100 dash (12.6 seconds).
Tom Ciampa set the facility record in the race-walk with a time of 7:39 minutes. Regan Cleminson tied the facility high jump record of 5 feet.
Sibley Blum set a facility record at 9 feet, 6 inches at Lake Region. Then, on Saturday at Winnacunnet, she set a new meet record, with a vault of 10 feet.
York also set the meet co-ed 4x800 relay record. In the very first running of this relay, featuring two girls and two boys, York was the undisputed winner, outdistancing the competition by over eight seconds and almost 100 meters. When Molly Carl, Kevin Higgins, Lacey Cartier and Nick McMahon went up to receive their medals, they were informed that there were no medals for this relay and that they would have to settle for a sheet cake instead.
York's other relays were by no means any less successful.
In the girls' 4x100, Kristina Clements, Danielle Clements, Carl and Tewell placed second. The night before, this very same group of girls set the school record with a time of 51.7 seconds.
The boys' team of Rob Cook, Andrew Hirst, Mark Vogel and Zach Prugar also placed second, just barely being out-leaned at the finish line.
Both boys' and girls' 4x400 relays were victorious. Danielle Clements, Carl, Katie Rasche and Cartier quickly opened a large lead to win by four seconds. In the boys' race, Vogel was slightly behind after the first lap, but Prugar proceeded to open a lead for Higgins and McMahon to capitalize on, securing a three-second victory.
York had a quite a few noteworthy performances over the weekend. On Saturday, Lindsay Weigel ran a come-from-behind victory in the girls 800. In the 1600, she finished second, with her teammates Annie Boardman, Reaha Goyetche and Monique Boutin finishing fourth through sixth, respectively. Kelsey St. Germain, running in a non-seeded heat of the 400, ran a 65.3 second race, finishing second overall. Rasche finished fourth in both the 100 and 300 meter hurdles, running the 300 for the first time ever.
Andrew Potter won the triple jump by a three-inch margin. He also took sixth in the long jump. In the boys' high jump, Matt Maertens cleared 6 feet, winning by four inches. Dan Herbein jumped 5 feet, 3 inches, and got caught in a five-way tie for fourth place.
Cook placed third in the 100 and sixth in the 200. Hirst placed fourth in the shot-put and fifth in the javelin. Morgan Taylor placed sixth in the 400 and fifth in the triple jump.
On Friday, in the boys' 4x800 relay, senior Matt Wagner ran a 2:20 split, his fastest ever. Then, on Saturday, he ran a 5:12 mile, over a minute improvement on his times from freshman year.
Also on Friday, Nate Hirst dipped under nine minutes for the first time in the race-walk. He is now a mere eight seconds away from qualifying for the state meet. Ciampa, Hirst, and Hayden Brown swept the race-walk. Zach Prugar, Higgins, Jared Prugar and Hirst combined to sweep all four places in the 400. Jared Prugar, a freshman, is now within .9 seconds of qualifying for the state meet. Alex Moser, another freshman, took second in the 1600 with a time of 4:55.3 minutes, bringing him within .3 seconds of qualifying for the state meet. Mark Vogel won both hurdle races. Rachel Lee won the discus.
York stays close to home this week, traveling to Wells this Friday, May 18, to compete against Wells and Traip in the annual Governor's Cup Meet.
