Like most of the track coaches on hand at Saturday’s SMAA meet, Scarborough girls coach Ron Kelly wanted to see his athletes perform well, but he also viewed the day as a chance to get a better image of how things will look at this Saturday’s state meet.
“I told the kids, ‘Do your best, but this can’t be your best of the year,'” said Kelly.
The Red Storm’s best was good enough to pile up 131 points and win the league meet, well ahead of runner-up and rival Thornton Academy (96.5).
“We knew Thornton would give us a battle and they’ll give us a battle next week,” Kelly said. “I had to pull all the stops out. We beat them this week, but if we don’t perform they’ll be right there next week.”
Scarborough’s Kaitlynn Saldanha had an exceptional day at the meet, winning the 800 and the race walk and running legs on a pair of relay victories, the 4 x 400 and the 4 x 800.
Not only did the junior clock a personal best 2:19.73 in one of her specialties, the 800, but she also trained for the race walk only in the last week and broke the tape in her first attempt.
“I gained a lot of confidence today,” Saldanha said. “This season has been a wash-out with all the rain and we haven’t been able to compete that much, so this is a big confidence booster to get everybody ready for next week.”
Teammate Jess Schoppee was a strong presence in the throwing events, winning the javelin, grabbing third in the discus and fifth in the shot put. Erica Jesseman won the 3,200 and was third in the 1,600. Allison Chamberlain raced to victory in the 400, with sister Whitney close behind in third.
The South Portland girls finished ninth in the 16-team field with 17 points, but the Riots had a noteworthy highlight. Lindsay Soule broke an 11-year old league record in the 300-meter hurdles by nearly a third of a second and won by nearly a full second with a time of 46.56.
Tom McCoubrey won both the shot put and discus for the South Portland boys, who finished in the middle of the pack with 38 points. Teammate Alex Gato topped the field in the pole vault.
McCoubrey tossed the shot 54 feet, 1.5 inches, one of his best throws, to win by nearly six feet. However, the senior would’ve liked to win with the indoor champion, Bonny Eagle’s John Wiechman, who isn’t competing this season, among his opponents.
“I like the competition. You rise to the occasion,” said McCoubrey. “It makes everybody throw better if you have someone who pushes you.”
Scarborough’s boys had a solid third place finish, with 66 points, behind Bonny Eagle (88) and Westbrook (71).
Taylor Burns was the Red Storm’s lone winner, torching the race walk field by more than 45 seconds in the 1,600-meter event. Chris Harmon finished a close second in both the 800 and 1,600 meter runs.
The Class A state meet will take place Saturday at Thornton Academy.
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