PORTLAND – For seven years, Edward Little has owned the SMAA girls’ meet. In fact, since 1999, EL had lost just one meet overall, and that was last season’s state meet at Orono.
In their last year in the SMAA, the Red Eddies would have liked nothing more than to go out on top.
Erin Hatch and her Thornton Academy teammates had other ideas, however. Paced by strong finishes in the hurdle events and in the pole vault, Thornton Academy sped out to an early lead and held off a late Edward Little charge to win the SMAA girls’ meet 124-112.
“We knew they’d make a late charge because of the events we had left to run,” said Thornton Academy coach Tom Langstaff. “We knew from the beginning that those events (the hurdles and the pole vault) were the ones we needed to do well in if we had a chance.”
Langstaff’s team didn’t disappoint the coaching staff. Kat Rice, Natalie Berry and Terg Choroszy took first, second and third respectively in the pole vault, Erin Hatch blew away the field in the 100-meter high hurdles, and Hatch led three other teammates to places in the 300-meter hurdles. Altogether, those three events were worth 60 points to the Trojans compared to just 18 for Edward Little.
“I think for states next week we have to go back and try to figure out where we can gain those points back,” said EL coach Steve Robertson. “Everyone that we had out there today did as well of better than we expected, and that was a good thing, but we got killed in those events.”
Leading the charge for Edward Little was Sarah Crispin, who took first place in the 800- and 1,600-meter runs and finished second in the 3,200-meter run.
“She probably could have taken the 3,200 also,” said Robertson. “She held back to help her teammate and friend Sarah Gardner cut her time down, but that cost her the race and a sweep of the distance events.”
Gardner did run her quickest 3,200-meter race of the year, coming in just over 12 minutes.
Lindsey Visbaras also took an event for the Red Eddies, setting a personal best in the triple jump at 36 feet, 11 1/2 inches.
Alana Van Loenen of Cheverus took athlete of the meet honors thanks to a record jump of 5 -feet-6 1/4 inches in the high jump as well as victories in the long jump and in the 200-meter dash. South Portland, Massabesic and Westbrook rounded out the top five in points. Lewiston’s Kristen Pelletier took second in the racewalk and
Rams right on course
After a slow start to the day, Edward Little came on strong in the sprinting and distance running events, chasing down front-running Deering and making the last two events of the day, the discus and the 4×400-meter relay, critical.
EL took the discus thanks to a 147-foot toss by Jackson Keene, but fell just short in the relay, and Deering moved one step closed to completing a rare trifecta in Maine high school athletics.
On the heels of four first-place finishes and a large number of athletes spread throughout the meet, Deering escaped the SMAA boys’ meet on Saturday with a 118-115 win over Edward Little in the Red Eddies’ final appearance at the meet. A win next Saturday would give the Rams their third running title in one academic year, adding to their cross country running and indoor track titles from earlier this season.
“In that last race, (EL runner Matt) Capone went out way too fast and we knew at that point that we had a good chance at it,” said Deering coach Richard Kress. “We had to overcome their strength in the sprinting events, and we did that well.”
“I just ran out of gas,” said Capone. “I went out way too quick, but that was the only way I had a chance of winning that race.”
Capone and Will Claxton took first and second respectively in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes, giving the Red Eddies 36 points in just two events.
“We came into the meet today looking for a second place finish,” said EL coach Dan Campbell. “That it was so close is surprising, but it looks good for us.”
Part of EL’s strategy, apparently, was to hold Sam Fletcher back a little bit. Fletcher, one of EL’s distance specialists, ran just one solo event on Saturday, the 800-meter run, and finished second.
“He was a bit under the weather, plus we wanted to see what we could do without him,” said Campbell. “I think we answered what we wanted to answer today.”
South Portland, last year’s state champion, came in third place, followed by Portland and Sanford.
Trey Gadbois of Portland garnered athlete of the meet honors thanks to first-place finishes in all four events in which he participated: the high and triple jumps, and the 110- and 300-meter hurdles. Gadbois set a new conference record in the triple jump with a leap of 44 feet, 10 1/4 inches.
Lewiston’s lone point of the day came thanks to a sixth-place finish in the 4×800-meter relay.
jpelletier@sunjournal.com
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