LANDOVER, Md. – Eight Maine high school racewalkers competed in the annual Nike Indoor National track and field Championships on Saturday.
Boothbay’s Lauren Forgues and New Sharon’s Carly Lochala finished third and sixth, respectively in a strong field of 24.
Last year’s champion, Katy Hayes of Oconomowoc, Wis., won the one-mile race with a time of seven minutes and 28.84 seconds, far short of her national indoor record of 7:00.94.
Forgues, a junior at Boothbay, raced to a personal best of 7:49.58 to take the bronze medal and Mt. Blue senior Carly Lochala walked a 7:54.71 to capture sixth. Both girls were awarded Nike all-American Track and Field Status. Perry’s Helen Pottle, a junior at Shead High School, just missed capturing an all-American award with her excellent eighth-place finish in 8:11.35. Farmington’s Jessie Smith, a senior at Mt. Blue, finished in a strong 25th position with a time of 8:36.84 after coming off an injury.
In the boys’ event, four of the top six finishers were from the South Texas Track Club, a national powerhouse in high school racewalking.
Christopher Diaz, a senior from McAllen, Texas, won the meet in a time of 6:47.05. The pleasant surprise of the day, however, was Andrew Ciszewski, a Caribou senior who has not competed in the racewalk since last June’s outdoor state meet, captured sixth place with a personal best time of 7:30.37 in his first national competition.
Andrew’s excellent race earned him his first all-American award. Dresden’s Padric Gleason, a junior at Hall-Dale, walked a strong race to finish eighth at 8:18.93, followed by Scarborough sophomore Taylor Burns, who took 10th place in a time of 8:53.03. Ken McCoy, a senior from Lisbon, finished 11th in 9:34.84.
Some 35 racewalkers from 21 high schools across the state have earned 112 All-America Track and Field citations since 1993.
Thanks to a generous travel assistance grant from the North American Racewalk Institute and equally generous housing grant from the National Scholastic Sports Foundation, walkers from Maine, Ohio, and Texas had all of their transportation and housing costs were paid by these organizations.
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