The Gentlemen Red Storm cruised to victory at USM’s Costello Sports Complex in Gorham on Monday, Feb. 15, piling up 74 points to No. 2 Falmouth’s 45.
Sam Rusak spearheaded the effort, taking home two individual titles – in the Pole Vault and High Jump – but teammates Colin Tardiff and Griffin Madden also notched first-place finishes, as did the 4×800 Relay squad.
“I’m pleased overall,” said Rusak modestly of his two-title day. “[It’s been] a great performance out of everybody, really. It’s exciting for me, personally, to win titles, but it’s also exciting to see my friends doing amazing things. Just cheering them on, because I know what they’ve been going through.”
Rusak cleared 15-06.00 in the Pole Vault for the title, a foot better than Sanford’s Pete Hegarty, who took second.
Rusak’s PV has improved by leaps and bounds even since last year, when he topped out at 14-05.00. He explained why: “Just trusting my coaches, and what they know, and trusting myself. I had a mental block halfway through last year, into this year, and I got out of it. I doubted myself a lot. I’d get on the runway and I just didn’t think I could do it. That’s 90 percent of it, right there.”
15-06.00 isn’t Rusak’s PR – that’s 15-09.00 – but since he’s only a junior, he’s still got plenty of time to top himself. Likewise, he’s not far from the current Class A state record, 16-02.50, a fact he acknowledged with a wistful “Yeahhh. It’s awesome.”
Teammate Alex Dionne also pulled down points in the event, finishing fourth at 12-06.00.
Over in the High Jump, Rusak cleared 6-02.00, two inches better than Cheverus’s Trejyh Fletcher. Rusak hashed points in the 400 as well, where he finished sixth, in 52.30.
Tardiff’s W came in the Mile, which he finished in 4:29.16, more than a second in front of Owen Concaugh of Messalonskee, at 4:30.17. Fellow Stormer Andrew Sholl finished sixth in the same event.
Tardiff also scored in the 800, taking fourth in a time of 2:02.18.
Madden’s big victory on the day came as no surprise; he was the heavy favorite to win the 55 Hurdles, and win he did, completing the race in 7.79 seconds, significantly ahead of Messalonskee’s Tanner Burton at 7.93.
The Storm 4×800 outfit – comprised of Tardiff, Sholl, Connor Doherty and Shamus Malia – really lit up the arena as well, setting a new Class A state record of 8:10.32, nearly two seconds better than the previous mark (8:12.25) and more than two seconds better than No. 2 Messalonskee, at 8:12.39.
Doherty grabbed big points for Scarborough by taking second in the Two Mile, at 9:50.92. Paul Casavant of Hampden won the event in 9:34.68.
Finally, the Storm 4×200 team – Madden, Chris Dionne, Matt Blaisdell and Ben Batoosingh – finished fourth, in 1:36.22.
The Lady Storm performed admirably as well, taking sixth as a unit. Ellen Shaw took sixth in the 55 Hurdles, Gaby Panagakos finished fourth in the 400 (1:01.52) and Laura Volan finished fourth in the mile (5:38.92). Extending that distance out still further, Bethany Sholl earned second in the Two Mile (11:29.55).
Panagakos and Sholl were also two members of the second-place (10:01.79) 4×800 outfit. Samantha Saraceno and Marisa Carbone were the others.
Also of note: While neither the South Portland boys nor the South Portland girls placed very high as a team (the Gentlemen Riots finished 14th, the Lady Riots seventh), both posted some strong performances. Jacob Maloney took third in the boys’ Mile (4:31.85), for instance, and Juliana Selser outright won the 800, beating second-place Malaika Pasch of Falmouth by almost three seconds, 2:20.34 vs. 2:23.04.
Fellow Riot Callie O’Brien placed fourth in the 55 Hurdles (8.99), and Lingdong Bol earned fourth in the High Jump (5-00.00).
Red Stormer Colin Tardiff won the Mile over stiff competition.
Sam Rusak of Scarborough vaults over 15-06.00 on Monday, winning the event easily.
Stormer Griffin Madden, top-seed in the Sr. Boys 55 Hurdles, won the event handily.
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