AUGUSTA — The competitors are smaller in stature than the typical athletes competing here. The event itself, though, is not.
From high school track to eight-man football, Cony High School has hosted its share of state championships over the past year. Yet none of those events packed the high school campus the way Saturday’s USA Track and Field 14U state championship meet did.
Tents lining the insides and outsides of the Fuller Field stadium gates; cars parked in nooks and crannies where you couldn’t conceive of a car fitting; athletes years away from high school or set to begin in a matter of weeks. It was a meet the size and the results of which bode will for the future of track and field in the state of Maine.
“Track and field is alive,” said Winslow Rec coach Ken Nadeau. “People are coming out in droves. There’s a team here with 92 kids, and my team’s pretty big, too; I’ve got 50. I think that it just shows people’s commitment to the sport, and it’s great to see.”
The top athletes from four groups of teams across the state qualified for the meet, which brought together 35 track clubs from across the state. Those runners, throwers and jumpers ranged in age groups from 8-and-under, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14 and 15.
It’s a rare meet that sees areas of all sizes across the state compete against one another. In most meets, teams will be divided by classification or conference, prohibiting many potential head-to-head matchups. This meet, though, saw communities such as Portland and Auburn battle it out against Winthrop and Blue Hill.
“You’re talking everybody vs. everybody, which is kind of a neat scenario,” Nadeau said. “The whole state’s here. In a high school meet, you’ll be divided by conferences, and even when you get to states you’re only against teams in your own class, so it’s a nice change.”
New records fell on the day. On the girls side, Hadley Perry of Portland (15 400-meter dash, 1:03.97) and Sarah Brown of Old Town Track Club (15 discus, 26.11 meters) set new marks. For the boys, Aiden Dolley of Panther Track Club set a new 8-and-under 800-meter race walk record of 4:18.27.
For Winthrop Rec head coach Ed Van Tassel, seeing such young athletes put forth such outstanding feats is a sight to behold. Although elementary and middle school-age athletes won’t put up the numbers their high school counterparts do for obvious reasons, Van Tassel believes there’s a mental edge that comes into play.
“I would say with high-schoolers, sometimes they think too much about it and overthink things,” said Van Tassel, who is also the head coach at Winthrop High School. “These kids, they just go out and do it. We keep it simple because we want them to love the sport, not just love the winning.”
Many of the kids running, jumping and throwing Saturday will go on to compete for Van Tassel and Nadeau, the head coach at Winslow High School, in varsity competition in the coming years. What the former saw Saturday has him eagerly anticipating that future.
“The future of Maine track is in really good hands,” Van Tassel said. “What’s so great is seeing the amazing things these kids can do at such a young age. It’s a really fun thing to watch and be a part of.”
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
