AUGUSTA — A hefty group of Westbrook youth track athletes descended on Cony High School this past Saturday, Aug. 11, for the 2018 15-and-under State Meet. The cadre performed extremely well, taking 11th overall, not just an accomplishment in its own right, but also an improvement over last year.
The future looks promising for the Blazes at all levels. The Westbrook youth program doubled in size from last year to this, and that lengthening of the lineup proved invaluable.
“With 85 athletes on our roster we had high hopes going into the championship season,” said head coach Mark Campbell. “Ultimately we qualified 56 athletes for the State Meet. Going into the meet, our goal was to surpass our point total from last year’s meet. At the end of the day, we scored a combined 116.5 points, placing 11th overall as a team. The girls scored 78.5, placing fifth overall, and the boys scored 38 and placed 18th overall. That’s compared to 58 as a combined team last year, with 26 from the girls and 32 from the boys.”
Westbrook picked up a handful of titles at the meet: Jon Dalessandro won the boys 13-14 Pole Vault with a leap of 7-06.00; Ida Huntley won the girls 8U 400 in 1:23.50; and Huntley, Grace Dube, Greta Krantz and Madison Ross combined to win the girls 8U 4×100.
The squad also turned in a number of other noteworthy performances. Ryan Neault took second in the boys 8U 800 Racewalk (5:39.10) and Ryan Ball third in the boys 15 Discus (77-06). Haley Ball took second in the girls 11-12 400 (1:09.39) and second in the girls 11-12 800 (2:48.88), Madison Boucher third in the girls 13-14 Discus (68-07), Gwen Catalano third in the girls 13-14 1500 (6:14.51) and Ross third in the girls 8U 800 (3:27.90).
Campbell looks forward to developing the youth program further: “Based on our growth from last summer the future for Westbrook Track and Field looks bright. We hope to create a love for this sport at the youth level over the next five to 10 years that will continue to give back to both the middle and high school programs for years to come.”
Meanwhile, Campbell looks forward to seeing his elder statesmen move on to the next level. “We are excited to watch Shurube Stamey, Jon Dalessandro, Camden Bessey, Lily Grant, Ryan Ball, Isabelle Griffith, Ana Napijalo, Brianna Nguyen and Amelia Reed continue their track and field careers beyond the walls of our youth summer program.”
Adam Birt can be reached at abirt@keepmecurrent.com. Follow him on Twitter: @CurrentSportsME.
The boys 8U 4×100 outfit. From left: Eli Merril, Ryan Neault, Jameson Campbell and Penuel Kiza
Photo courtesy of Christine Campbell.
Grace Dube runs a relay for Westbrook.
Photo courtesy of David Colby Young.
Haley Ball (right) poses with a friend from the Cumberland/Yarmouth squad.
Photo courtesy of Kathy Decker.
Jon Dalessandro wont the 13-14 boys Pole Vault title.
Photo courtesy of by Robin Parkhill.
The Westbrook girls 8U 4×100 outfit won this year’s state title. From left: Madison Ross, Ida Huntley, Greta Krantz, Grace Dube.
Photo courtesy of Brian Ross.
Rose Dinh competes in a race for Westbrook.
Photo courtesy of David Colby Young.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
