NAPLES — Kate Hall knew duplicating last year’s Western Maine Conference meet was going to be a tough act to follow.
But the Lake Region track standout was certainly willing to give it a try.
“Last year, I had probably one of the best days ever at the meet right here, especially in the 100,” said Hall. “It was going to be hard to come back and do that again. I didn’t do as well in the 100 as I did last year, but I think I made up for it in the long jump and triple jump. So I’m really glad about that.”
The Lake Region junior put on a show last year and was back on her home turf Saturday. Hall set Maine records in the 100 and 200 last year, set a school record in the 4×100 relay and won the long jump.
Saturday, she set new Western Maine Conference records in the long jump and triple jump. She also won the 100 and 200.
“I was just hoping that if I got a good 10 days of training in and a good day to run, I thought I could have a really good day,” Hall said. “I was really happy with my performance.”
Greely won the girls’ meet in Division I with 149 points. York (131) and Falmouth (115) followed in second and third, respectively. Lake Region was fourth with 54. Gray New Gloucester was seventh with 34 points. In Division II, Traip edged out Sacopee Valley by a point, 115-114. Poland was seventh with 43.
In the boys’ meet, York won in Division I with 135.50 points. Falmouth was second with 125. Gray-New Gloucester was fourth with 76. Sacopee won the Division II meet with 149.50 points. Freeport was second with 87. Poland finished fifth with 67.
Hall had set a record in the 100 last year with an 11.68 in the prelims and a winning time of 11.82. She won this year in 11.92. In the 200, she won in 25.59. Last year, she won in 24.96.
She set a new WMC record in the long jump with a leap of 19-03.75. That beat her own mark from last year, 18-04.
In the triple, she jumped 36-06.25 to set a new WMC mark. Not bad considering she hadn’t competed in that event since middle school.
“Randomly last week I was like ‘I’m going to try the triple jump. Why not?’ I had one day of practice and it went pretty well,” Hall said. “I wanted it to be my fun extra event. I didn’t want to be all serious. I just wanted to have fun with it and that’s what I did.”
Hall will be competing in the Nationals in mid June in North Carolina. She’s hoping to look at schools down there and gain more national exposure as her college search begins.
“I am looking forward to it, but I’m still nervous about it,” Hall said. “I really have no idea, and its going to be really hard making a choice of where to get next year. Once I start visiting place and talking to coaches more, I’ll know.”
Another record to fall Saturday was the boys’ 800. That was broken by Gray-New Gloucester’s Will Shafer. He ran a 1:56.59, beating the mark of 1:58.56 set by Kevin Floster in 2006.
Shafer just missed out on the record last year when he won the WMC title. So he was gunning for it this time.
“Last year, it was really windy,” said Shafer, who will be running at Dartmouth next year. “So I missed it by a couple of tenths. So this year, I knew that as long as I ran well, I should definitely have the record. I was aiming for like 1:54, but I just couldn’t quite hand on the last 200.”
Shafer made the race look easy and had a lengthy lead. Falmouth’s Spencer Brown finished in 2:02.93.
“It was more or less like a time trial,” Shafer said. “You have to commit to go out fast, which I did. I was through 400 in like 55 seconds. That’s exactly what I wanted to do, but I couldn’t quite hold on the second lap.”
Shafer also ran the first leg of the 4×400 and gave the Patriots a sizable lead. Ben Rogers, Josh Harper and Adam Dumas finished with the win in 3:35.32.
Zack Haskell won a pair of events for Gray-NG. He won the 100 in 11.63 and took the 200 in 23.62. He also placed third in the high jump.
Other finishers for the Gray-NG boys were: Michael Sinclair, who took fourth in the long jump and fourth in the high jump; Andrew Ellingson, who took third in the javelin and sixth in the discus; Scott Espling, who was fifth in the javelin; Ben Garcia, who finished third in the 1,600, and Joshua Moran who was sixth in the race walk. Dumas placed third in the 400.
For the Gray-NG girls’ Kierstin Stritch was second in the javelin while Emily Dawkins took third. Dawkins was also sixth in the discus. Tram Ho finished third in the shot and Alyssa St. Pierre took fourth. Scout Ray placed fourth in the pole vault with teammate Brianna Fortin in fifth. Chloe Hedrich finished sixth in the race walk. The team of Alexandra Landry, Michaela Macdonald, Ray and Fortin finished fifth in the 4×100 relay.
Poland’s Cody Kostro led the boys’ team with a win in the high jump with a leap of 6-0. He also finished third in the long jump and fourth in the shot.
Also for the Knights, Nigel Williams was was third in the pole vault, third in the 100, third in the 200 and second in the 400. Will Bernier was fifth in the 200 and sixth in the 100. Tony Benedict took second in the discus and third in the shot. Alan Young added a sixth in the long jump.
For the Poland girls, Marissa Zink won the WMC title in the pole vault with a height of 8-0.
The Knights’ Hope Kohtala took sixth in the triple jump and second in the high jump. Brooke Yorked placed fourth in the 400 and fifth in the long jump. Beka Stone was sixth in the javelin and sixth in the shot
Also for Poland, Amanda Dube was sixth in the discus. Elisha Pratt was fifth in the 100. Norma Williams was fourth in the race walk with Ainsley Parent behind her in fifth. Cheyenne Bisson finished fifth in the 200
The Knights’ 4×100 relay team of Dube, Zink, Kohtala and Yorkey took fourth. Poland’s 4×400 relay team of Yorkey, Hope Dubois, Elizabeth Champagne and Emma Gaul placed sixth.
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