YARMOUTH — The Greely High girls’ outdoor track team completed a running title trifecta Saturday, winning the Class B state outdoor title.
The Rangers also won Class B championships in cross country and indoor track this school year.
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“We’ve worked together so well as a team and to get this third championship of the year is just so special,” said Greely senior Katherine Leggat-Barr who won the 3,200 meters. “I’m graduating (Sunday). I couldn’t have gone out on a better note.”
It was Greely’s first girls’ outdoor title since 2005.
The Rangers surged ahead of defending champion York when Leggat-Barr and Carolyn Todd finished first and third in the 3,200 meters while almost simultaneously, Maggie McCormick placed third in the pole vault. Those 22 points (against just two for York) shifted a five-point deficit into an insurmountable 15-point lead.
“I just knew that I had to beat Katherine Miller, who is an amazing athlete,” said Todd, who surged to the finish to hang on to third. “I just knew I had to take it out as easy as I could to have plenty of time to kick in the end and help our team win the state meet.”
Greely finished with 67 points. York, which came back to win the meet-ending 1,600 relay, was second with 59 points.
Mt. Desert Island, led by 800- and 1,600-meter winner Tia Tardy, was third with 48 points.
A pivotal race for Greely was Morgan Selby’s win in the 300-meter hurdles. Selby nipped Cape Elizabeth freshman Darcy Cochran, who dominated the 100-meter hurdle race, by .07 seconds.
It was the second straight week the two had come to the final hurdle together. The previous week at the Western Maine Conference championships, Selby hit the hurdle and fell hard, injuring her shoulder.
“We really weren’t sure in the middle of the week if she would be able to run,” said Greely Coach John Folan.
At states, Selby stayed upright through the finish, then tumbled, with a personal-best time of 45.96 seconds, just .6 off the state record.
“I held it just three more meters,” Selby said. “Darcy’s a great runner and she runs very hard at the beginning. Strategically, you’ve just got to go and not let up on the curve. She’s a great competitor and I don’t think I would have run that fast without her.”
The Winslow boys, led by 100- and 200-meter champ Ben Smith and triple jump winner Jake Warn, edged Mount Desert Island 98-95 to win the boys’ meet. Smith was also second in the 400 meters and Warn picked up key points by finishing second in both dashes. Winslow’s previous state track title was in 1966.
Smith was a baseball center fielder for three years and switched to outdoor track this season after committing to join the Colby College track team.
Tardy set a Class B record in the girls’ 800 meters with a time of 2:14.76. The old record was 2:16.50 set by Bethanie Brown of Waterville in 2013. Second-place finisher Kaylee Porter finished in 2:16.55.
“Being able to break her record is so amazing to me because she has always been like an idol,” Tardy said.
Tardy, who transferred to MDI prior to her senior year, owns the state and Class C 800-meter record of 2:13.03 set in 2016 when she attended Orono.
Tardy also used a finishing kick over the final 150 meters to pull away from Leggat-Barr to win the 1,600 meters, and was a pivotal part of MDI’s winning 3,200 and second-place 1,600 relay teams. Tardy will be running at Bucknell next season.
Luke Laverdiere of Yarmouth swept the boys’ 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs, winning by margins of 3.45 seconds, 12.28 seconds and 13.45 seconds. Laverdiere won the 800 and 1,600 as a sophomore.
Tahj Garvey of Yarmouth, defended his 400-meter title with a personal-best time of 49.94 seconds.
Garvey’s run denied Smith of the chance at a sprint sweep, was within distance of Eric Nadeau’s 1989 hand-held meet record of 49.2 seconds, and was much faster than his season best of 52.08.
“I missed the first two meets. I hurt my hip flexor. I just worked a lot during training so I could make it here,” Garvey said. “I hadn’t been really running against people who were testing me until I got here, where I knew I had to run my hardest.”
Steve Craig can be reached at 791-6413 or:
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