Track
York track takes second at Western Maine Conference Championship
By Kevin Higgins
YORK - The York High School track teams competed at the Western Maine Conference Championships this past Saturday, May 26, in Yarmouth.
Both the boys and girls took second, scoring many more points than they were seeded to. The girls scored 137 points, narrowly missing Greely (141.5). Falmouth took third with 100 points, while Fryeburg (70) was fourth. Falmouth won the boys' meet with 106 points. York (84) took second in the 14-team field, followed closely by North Yarmouth Academy (68) and Wells (67).
Four Western Maine Conference records were broken on Saturday, two of them by York athletes. Sibley Blum broke her own pole vault record with a vault of 10 feet, 1 inch. On the track, Tom Ciampa broke the race-walk record with a time of 7:36.85.
Chelsey Tewell won the Hannah Jackson Award, which is given to the girls' most valuable track athlete of the meet. She won both the 100 dash and the 100 hurdles. Her time in the hurdles broke the school record she tied at the last meet, setting the new mark at 15.56 seconds. She also anchored the winning 4x100 relay team.
Molly Carl can run any race her coaches ask of her. In this spirit, she went out and ran on all three of York's winning relay teams. Of course, she can clear hurdles as well, placing second in the 300 hurdles. Lacey Cartier ran on two of these relays. She also took second in the 400 dash and third in the 200 dash.
Mark Vogel enjoys sprinting more than hurdles, but his coaches recognize talent when they see it, and Vogel certainly has it in the hurdles. The junior took third in the 110 hurdles and fifth in the 300 hurdles. He got his share of sprinting though, running on two relays.
Rob Cook is the boys' team's best short-distance sprinter. He made the finals of the 100 dash, taking fifth. He also took seventh in the 200 dash.
Zach Prugar was not happy with his 11th place 100 race. He returned to the track and started turning the heat up, anchoring the second place 4x100 relay, with Vogel, Cook and Andrew Hirst. Coaches have called this York's most talented 4x100 in many years, taking second to the team that broke the conference record. In the very next race of the day, the 400, Prugar ran a 54.88, his fastest time to that point, taking seventh. In his final race of the day, the 4x400 relay, he ran a 53.8 second split.
Danielle Clements is another outstanding sprinter for York. This sophomore took fourth in both the 100 and 200, and ran on the winning 4x100 and 4x400 relays.
Nick McMahon and Kevin Higgins are almost twins out on the track. The senior duo started and finished York's fourth place 4x800 relay, running with Alex Moser and Matt Wagner. Next up, they ran a 9th/10th-place finish in the 800. Finally, along with Vogel and Prugar, they ran on the fourth place 4x400 relay team.
Andrew Potter always has his best triple jumps in the big meets, usually jumping some astonishing new distance well beyond his previous personal best. This championship was no exception. After fouling his first two jumps, and barely making it to the finals on his third, Potter came out with an astonishing jump of 43 feet, 3.25 inches, earning himself second place, and putting him less than an inch and a half from first place.
York's other Andrew - Hirst - aside from running on the 4x100 relay, is an excellent thrower. He placed sixth in the javelin and fourth in the shot put.
Emily Goering only does one race, but she does it well. The senior earned a commanding win in a multiple heat race-walk field.
Matt Day was the only new York qualification for the state meet, but he did it commandingly. This is the senior's first time doing track, but he has progressed rapidly. His shot-put throw of 40 feet, 10.5 inches qualified him for the state meet and earned him fifth place overall.
York features many more talented athletes who score points, including Annie Boardman (3200), Regan Cleminson (high jump), Kirsten Dean (100 hurdles), Brian Farrell (race-walk), Michelle Gearin (javelin), Nate Hirst (race-walk), Rachel Lee (discus, shot-put), Matt Maertens (high jump), Jillian Means (pole-vault), Kelsey St. Germain (400), Alison Swietek (long jump), Marina Swietek (200), Morgan Taylor (triple jump), Evan Wallace (discus) and Lindsay Weigel (800, 1600).
A total of 23 girls' and 12 boys' team individual athletes from York will compete in the state meet this Saturday, June 2, at Windham High School. The boys are already exceeding expectations for this year, while the girls are one of the major contenders for the title, which they won last year.
Keep cheering for those hardworking Wildcat track athletes as the battle the best athletes in the state!
