He owns a state shot put record and a pair of New England championships, but Brewer High senior Austin Lufkin still calls himself a football player first, and a thrower second.
“I am a football player who does track,” Lufkin said. “That’s what I ended up choosing for college and that’s what I’m pursuing.”
Despite Lufkin’s opinion on the matter, it was his entire athletic career for which he was honored as the Male Athlete of the Year at the Varsity Maine Awards on May 2.
Upon winning the Varsity Maine Award, Lufkin was surprised.
“I guess people just like me. I didn’t think I was that good, but I appreciate it,” he said.
As a junior, Lufkin was the Class A outdoor track and field champion in the discus, throwing 168 feet, 4 inches. He followed that with a New England title in the shot put, throwing 58-51/4.
This past indoor track and field season, Lufkin shattered the 50-year old shot put record, throwing 61 feet, 2 inches to win the Class A state title. Lufkin’s throw bested the old record, 59-10, set in 1977 by Portland’s Ed Bogdanovich.
As a defensive lineman, Lufkin led the Witches to back-to-back trips to the Pine Tree Conference Class B championship game. Lufkin won the Gaziano Defensive Lineman Award as the top senior defensive lineman in the state last season.
The award season started early for Brewer’s Austin Lufkin, who holds the trophy as the 2016 Defensive Lineman of the Year he won at the Frank Gaziano Lineman Awards ceremony on Jan. 28.
“He played really well against us as a junior, so going into both games we played against him this year, we schemed to double-team on every passing play,” Lippert said. “We had a tackle and either the tight end or running back there to help. Even still, he had a handful of sacks against us over the course of two games.”
When Cony played Brewer in the regular season, the Witches flipped Lufkin from left defensive end to the right side in the third quarter, in an effort to keep him from being double-teamed.
“I looked out at our left tackle and said, ‘Was Lufkin on your side on the play?’ And Lufkin himself looked at me and said, ‘Yeah, I’m sick of getting double-teamed Coach,’ ” Lippert said. “I said, ‘I don’t care where you line up, our kids have been told to find you and double-team you. I’m surprised they weren’t waiting for you when you got off the bus.’ ”
Lufkin will attend Wofford College in Spartansburg, South Carolina on a full football scholarship. He also plans to continue his track and field career.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
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