The couple spent all day at Mount Desert Island High School, where they combined for four individual titles while competing in the Class B track and field state championship meet. Once they finished, they made a hasty departure so they could attend their respective senior proms at Belfast and Camden Hills high schools.
Nealey captured his third consecutive pole vault title with a record-setting effort of 14 feet, 7 inches, and won the 300-meter intermediate hurdles in 41.81 seconds. He also was the runner-up in the 110 hurdles and the javelin to help Belfast place fourth in the team scoring.
Kessel took home her first two individual state championships, speeding to wins in the 100 hurdles (15.56) and the 300 hurdles (37.66). The Windjammers wound up eighth.
The Foxcroft Academy boys won the school’s first state outdoor title since 2013 and only its second in school history behind a productive performance from Hunter Smith. The senior won the 110 hurdles (15.35) and the high jump (6-2) and was the runner-up in the long and triple jumps.
Coach Rob Weber’s Ponies tallied 71 points, finally edging York (64) by simply finishing the 4×400 relay. Waterville took third placed with 58 points, followed by Belfast (44) and Leavitt (40).
In the girls meet, York capped the meet with a victory in the 4×400 relay to score 68 points and hold off Belfast (60). Greely of Cumberland Center was third (57 points), followed by Yarmouth and Gray-New Gloucester.
The Wildcats placed 14 athletes in the scoring column, receiving only a single individual first from Katherine Bullock in the long jump (17-2). York also earned “gold” in the 4×100 relay.
The Foxcroft boys needed contributions from eight athletes to win the championship. Smith set the tone, but fellow senior Zach Caron placed third in the triple jump and the pole vault and was seventh in the high jump.
Senior Nate Church was third in the 100 and 200 and was part of a fifth-place 4×100 relay, while classmate Cooper Nelson took fourth in the 1,600 and sixth in the 800.
The Ponies also received points from Evan Chadbourne, Blaine Robinson, Paul Birtwistle and Brandon Brock.
Joining Smith and Nealey as double-event winners were senior Trever Gray of Waterville, sophomore Luke Laverdiere of Yarmouth and senior Zachery Haskell of Gray-New Gloucester.
Smith successfully defended his titles in the discus (163-8) and the shot put (49-6¾) and Laverdiere won the 800 (2:01.34) and the 1,600 (4:21.94). Haskell led the field in the 100 (11.25) and the 200 (22.60).
The other event winners were: Winslow’s Jake Warn (triple jump, 41-3½), Leavitt’s Billy Bedard, who claimed his second straight long jump crown (20-11¼), Trevor Judd of Spruce Mountain in Jay (1,600 racewalk, 7:07.74), York’s Caileb Stanley (javelin, 161-10), Yarmouth’s Tahj Garvey (400, 50.64) and Chandler Vincent of Freeport (3,200, 9:36.98).
Gardiner’s Robert Sullivan won the wheelchair shot put (12-3¾) and the wheelchair 100 (33.68).
The York girls thwarted Belfast’s bid for a state championship with a well-balanced effort. The Wildcats put it away in the 4×400 behind the team of senior Charlotte Reilly, freshman Audrey Grimes, sophomore Laura Kenealy and sophomore Morgan Smith, who won the final heat in a season-best 4:11.70.
Bullock, a senior, added a fourth in the triple jump, while junior Reilly Smedley placed second in the javelin. Kenealy, who was fourth in the 800, also teamed up with Smith, junior Malia Cryan and sophomore Kathryn Miller to win the 4×800 relay in 9:51.62.
York also benefitted from freshman Mary Freeman’s third place in the shot put. Also scoring were Grimes (4th, 300 hurdles), Kenealy (4th, 800), Cryan (5th, 3,200), and junior Maddie Amidon (5th, triple jump).
Belfast made a strong push to win it all, but came up just short. Coach Dale Nealey’s Lions’ suffered a blow when senior sprinter and jumper Cassidy Hill tweaked her right hamstring while running the 200.
Hill took the 100 in 12.56 seconds and anchored Belfast’s victorious 4×100 relay (50.78) that also included Faith Beaulieu, Kylie Nelson and Kelsey Mehuren. Hill was fourth in the 200 but finished 13th in her final event, the triple jump, in which she was the No. 1 seed).
Nelson, a junior, soared to a win in the pole vault (9-6) and was the runner-up in the long jump.
Double winners included sophomore Tahlia Mullin of Lincoln Academy in Newcastle, the champion in the 200 (26.11) and the 400 (58.94),
Sophomore Oliviah Damboise of Old Town won the triple jump (3-48¼) and was second in the pole vault.
Other girls who won events were: Jenni Nadeau of Mount View in Thorndike (javelin, 113-3), Foxcroft Academy’s Emily Mikoud (discus, 118-9), Kaylee Porter of Erskine Academy in South China (800, 2:18.11) and Siana Emery of Greely (1,600 racewalk, 7:59.80).
Also, Annika Murrin of Yarmouth (1,600, 5:12.59) who also was second in the 800, Emma Egan of Yarmouth (high jump, 5-4), Clara Phillips of Gray-New Gloucester (shot put, 36-11½) and Abby Hamilton of Yarmouth (3,200, 11:12.14).
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