Lake Region High School indoor track preview
Coach: Chip Morton (third year)
Last year’s record: Girls were 8-14 in meets; boys were 9-13. Both teams finished 11th at the Western Maine Conference championship meet.
Key athletes: girls – senior Lauren D’Ascanio (shot put); junior Danielle Young (400, 800); sophomore Hannah Flagg (pentathlon); freshman Jacqui Black (distance); boys – senior Matt van Vliet (jumps, sprints); junior Tommy Jamison (distance); freshman Dillon Knudsen (middle distance).
Key meets this season: Jan. 2 with Wells, Fryeburg, Falmouth, NYA and Freeport; Jan. 23 with Poland, Gray-New Gloucester, Cape Elizabeth, Traip, Fryeburg and Wells
Season outlook: “For individuals, our goals are improved strength and conditioning over the course of the season,” Morton said. “We’d like as many athletes as possible to experiment with the pentathlon events (high jump, long jump, hurdles, shot put, and 800/1000) with an eye towards going to the state pentathlon in February. As a team, I’m looking for improvement in our team standing in the conference meet, and placing in the top five at the state pentathlon.”
The Lakers are hoping for a mild winter, as most of their practices are outside. D’Ascanio could break the school record of 35 feet, 7.5 inches in the shot put this season, Morton said. Van Vliet is new to indoor track, but had a good year in outdoor last spring. Jamison, too, is new to indoor, but is a seasoned cross country runner and should be strong in distance events. Young was a top performer on the girls cross country team. Her coaches think she could excel at some of the middle distance events. Flagg was seventh at last year’s state pentathlon and should be stronger this season after running cross country in the fall. Both Knudsen and Black are freshmen with plenty of potential.
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