Track
Track team shines as season ends
By Kevin Higgins
YORK - On Monday night, June 11, the York High School outdoor track team gathered to celebrate yet another outstanding season.
Both the boys' and the girls' teams ended the regular season undefeated and took second at the Western Maine Conference championships.
The girls went on to place second at the state meet while the boys took 14th place.
No one expected much out of the boys' team this year, with last year's graduating class claiming all the previous year's point-scorers from the state meet, but the Wildcats have a rich tradition of talent and dedication, and surprised everyone, coaches and teammates included, with their stellar year.
The girls have established what Coach Matt Convery has labeled a "dynasty" over the past four years. Sadly, the odd years both featured second-place finishes, but the even year victories make up for that. For the members of this year's girls' team to be able to claim that they have never taken less than second place at the state championship meet is very impressive.
The Coach's Award in track goes to athletes who are "special" in the coaches' eyes. These athletes have an enormous dedication for the sport. They eat, sleep and breathe track. Their enthusiasm is apparent when the coaches pass them in the halls or see them at practice, and knows no bounds. These are the sort of people who make coaches of the team love their job. They draw more than 120 athletes to a team and inspire all of them. This year, Zach Prugar earned the boys' Coach's Award. On the girls' team, the co-honor goes to Sibley Blum and Morgan Taylor, who has been recruiting for the team since last fall.
The Maddog Award goes to the athlete who toughs things out and always comes through. This athlete may not look pretty in competition, but does an outstanding job anyway. Sometimes earning this award involves fighting through the pain. Other times, it involves battling through faults and saving the best jump for last. Regan Cleminson pulled a leg muscle at the Western Maine Championship meet. She fought through the pain, placed second, recovered slightly and went on to place third at the state meet. For Andrew Potter, the WMC meet did not start well. He fouled his first two triple jumps and barely made it to the finals on his third. His next two jumps were not that special either. His last jump, though, was something else. He soared to second place, setting his personal record by over a foot.
The Most Improved Award should be self explanatory. However, sometimes it goes to unlikely athletes. For sophomores Molly Carl and Danielle Clements, it was pretty hard to get any better. They both did very well their freshman year. They came back this year and clearly improved, though, an impressive feat. Carl now runs three very competitive relays, an almost unheard of capability. She also took second at states in an individual event. Clements has established herself as a very versatile sprinter, running and dominating in everything from a 100 to a 400.
On the boys' side of the coin, two very different sorts of improvements occurred. Senior Nate Hirst began race-walking only this year. He was decent at the beginning of the season, but he began taking less and less time to walk the 1600, finally placing third at the WMC meet and sixth at the state meet. Fellow senior Matt Wagner, on the other hand, has been running the 800 and 1600 since his freshman year. He took over a minute off his 1600 time, which is commendable, but not all that unheard of. In the 800, though, he did the same, a remarkable feat. In fact, he took off so much time that he ran a very solid leg on this year's fifth place 4x800 relay at the state meet.
What awards night is complete without an MVP award? In looking over the season, coaches had a tough time picking just one MVP for the boys and girls, so they picked two for each. In track, the MVP is the high point scorer for the season. Chelsey Tewell and Lacey Cartier are the overall top point-scorers for York this year, and share the girls' MVP honors.
Tewell runs the incredible 100 dash/100 hurdles combination. This involves running back from the finish line of one race to the starting line of the other. She set school records in both these events this year, and won the WMC and state championship titles in both as well.
Cartier runs what truly is the most brutal event combination in track. She started off the state meet with an incredible 4x800 split. She came back a few hours later to place fourth in the 400 dash. After only enough time to stop feeling sick and dizzy, she ran a come from behind victory in the 800, to be followed shortly with a win anchoring the 4x400 relay. She currently owns over a quarter of the outdoor girls' track records.
Andrew Hirst is the boys' high point-scorer, closely followed by Mark Vogel. Hirst primarily throws things at meets. He is very good at doing this. Vogel hurdles excellently, and can use his speed to dominate any race from 100 to 400 meters. One might think these two athletes would never compete in the same race, but Hirst has a secret: he's fast too. He hands off to Vogel on York's blazing-fast 4x100 team. This duo can cover most of the events on the track single-handedly, and do very well in their respective fortes. These two gentlemen are a significant part of York's continued power as a boys' team.
If at this point the YHS outdoor track team still does not seem that impressive, let me highlight some more statistics. To make the Western Maine Conference All-Star First Team, an athlete must win an event. To make the Second Team, an athlete must take second in an event. For York, Tewell, Cartier, Carl, Lindsay Weigel, Blum, Taylor, Clements, Boardman, Emily Goering, Tom Ciampa and Jenna Hosmer all earned first-team status. Prugar, Andrew Hirst, Vogel, Potter, Robert Cook and Cleminson all earned second-team status.
York qualified 40 athletes to compete in the state championship. Six event wins at the state meet were recorded by York and 12 more York athletes competed at the New England Championship meet.
The girls' team smashed seven school records this year. Two Western Maine Records now belong to York, courtesy of Blum and Ciampa.
The York track team has over 120 athletes and requires three busses to get to meets. It is statistics like these that strike fear in the hearts of the competition when they look at their schedules or look at meet seeds; that make them quake at the mention of the might that is York track and field.
