LEWISTON — On a day when five records were set at the Class B boys indoor track championship, it was little St. Dominic Academy that came out on top Monday at Merrill Gymnasium on the Bates College campus.
“We were the mouse that roared,” said Dan Campbell, the team’s head coach.
St. Dom’s qualified only five runners to compete at the state meet. The Saints didn’t get a single point in the field events. But those five athletes scored 57 points to edge defending champion York (49) and Freeport (48), earning the school’s first indoor track state title.
York won the girls meet with 62.50 points, led by junior Cary Drake’s three wins in the distance events: mile, 800 meters and 2-mile. Bucksport finished second with 47 points, as Natasha Monreal repeated as champion in the long jump and triple jump. Freeport was third with 44 points.
St. Dom’s started the boys meet by winning the 3,200 relay, with Teddy Wagner, Sam Laverdiere, Christopher Pottle and James Cognata.
Cognata could have gone for an individual record in the 400. His seed time was below the Class B record. Instead, he ran the 800 and 200 in addition to the opening relay. He won the 800 and picked up a fifth in the 200.
“To me, this team title meant more than a state record,” said Cognata, the team’s only senior who is a student at Winthrop High School.
St. Dom’s still won the 400, thanks to Emmett Mooney, with a fast 51.67. Mooney also was third in the 200.
In the distance events, Pottle placed third in the mile and fourth in the 2-mile, and Laverdiere was third in the 2-mile.
“The spirit they had was like a baton being passed from one kid to the next,” Campbell said.
Of the five state Class B records set Monday, two were by junior sprinter Miles Burr of Mt. Desert Island. Burr runs with an aggressive, unorthodox style, bobbing his head.
“It’s like a chicken or an ostrich,” Burr said. “It’s mostly my head. I don’t keep it still.”
It works for him, though. He broke the record in the 55 dash with a time of 6.47 seconds in the prelims, then won the final in 6.51. Both were below the record of 6.53 set by Denzel Tomaszewski of Wells in 2013.
Burr smashed the 200 record by clocking 22.34, well under the mark of 22.67 set by Nate Martin of Greely in 2009.
“The goal was to run a sub-22, but it was still a big PR. I’m happy for it,” Burr said.
Maine state records can only be set at state meets. The other records came from York senior Matt Charpentier in the shot put, Freeport junior Reece Perry in the pole vault; and Poland senior Nolan Garey in the 55 hurdles.
For most of the season, Garey had been running better than the hurdles record of 7.68 seconds set by Donald Boyer of Foxcroft Academy in 2013. He nudged under it in Monday’s prelim round, at 7.67, then lowered it in finals with a time of 7.62.
“I wanted that record so bad,” Garey said. “I’ve been wanting it since I was a little freshman.”
Charpentier broke his own record by over a foot with a throw of 57-10 1/2.
“And I fouled on one that was 58, close to 59 feet. I almost held onto it,” said Charpentier, who will play football and compete in field events at Bates College.
Perry had already wrapped up the pole vault when he had the bar moved to 14-1 — a quarter-inch over the 1986 record set by Brian Johnson of Scarborough. On his third attempt, with the crowd rhythmically clapping along the runway, Perry cleared the record height.
“I just trusted what I’ve been doing. Used what I have for skills, I guess. It was fun. The crowd brings so much more energy and I feed off that,” Perry said.
Old Town senior Corbin Flewelling was the king of the jumps, winning the high jump (6-2), long jump (21-8) and triple jump (45-5 1/2).
Drake was a standout on the girls’ side. She and teammate Molly Kenealy went 1-2 in the mile. In the 800, Drake felt a push from Cape Elizabeth’s Emma Young after 400 meters but won with a time of 2:18.03 — faster than her seed time and less than three seconds off the state record. Drake won the 2-mile by 35 seconds in 11:35.06.
“My friend, Molly Kenealy, also did the distance triple today because we were trying to get as many points as possible. And she crushed the mile,” said Drake. Kenealy also was sixth in the 800 and eighth in the 2-mile. “My mindset with her was just one event at a time.”
Emma Burr of MCI, no relation to Miles Burr, set three school records while winning the hurdles and 200 meters and placing second in the dash.
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