FARMINGTON — Stronger competition raised Jillian Schmelzer’s game at the Class C track and field championships, and Schmelzer raised the bar for herself and others to come after her.
The Winthrop junior won the 100 and 400 meters, set school records in three events and tied a Class C record in the 400 on Saturday at Mt. Blue High School.
Schmelzer equaled the 15-year-old record of 58.47 seconds set by Orono’s Olivia Alford and edged Maranacook’s Molly McGrail by .32.
“My own record before that was 59.0, and I knew today there was going to be some tough competition,” Schmelzer said. “Molly McGrail is a great runner and she was on my tail, and she really pushes me to chase my own record. I’m happy to have that experience.”
Schmelzer won the 100 in 12.50 seconds to beat Cymeria Robshaw of Penquis (12.64). Schmelzer set her third school mark in the 200 (26.28), as the runner-up to defending champion Camille Kohtala of Orono (26.13).
Orono, which had a string of six consecutive girls’ state titles snapped by Maranacook last year, easily reclaimed the crown with 112 points, followed by Maranacook (67), Caribou (57), Winthrop (52) and Wells (46).
Sacopee Valley (69) won its first boys’ state title since 2010 by holding off Hall-Dale (56.75). Orono (51.75), Mt. Abram (50) and Caribou (47) rounded out the top five.
“This is an incredible team in that they really improve every week of the season, and that’s really tough to do in track,” Sacopee Valley Coach Ben Murphy said. “You want to be peaking at the end, and we really were. Every single guy we brought who was supposed to score points either scored as much or more than they were supposed to. We just had an unbelievable day. The pole vault was amazing.”
Sacopee was led by Aidan Foley, who won the pole vault (11-6), finished third in the 100 (11.55) and fifth in the 200 (24.04), and anchored the winning 400 relay team (45.04).
Foley switched the pole he was using to match his personal best in the vault and plans to continue using it next week at the New England championships.
Sean Wedgewood matched Foley by clearing 11-6 in the pole vault but finished second to his teammate, who had fewer misses.
“He’s been vaulting for (only) three weeks and he had the same height,” Foley said of Wedgewood. “I taught him how to vault three weeks ago and I created a monster.”
“After I cleared 5-8 in the high jump (earlier in the season), Aidan said, ‘Dude, you should come vault,” said Wedgewood. “I was like, ‘Sure, I’ll try it.’ I just fell in love with it.”
Michael Murphy, who led off Sacopee’s 400 relay, placed second in the 200 (23.42), third in the 400 (53.60) and fifth in the 100 (11.73).
Connor Meggison took fourth in both the 110 hurdles (16.17) and long jump 19-8 1/4 and was seventh in the 300 (44.31). Teagan Meggison placed third in the javelin (148-7),
Cayden Spencer-Thompson of Mattanawcook Academy was the star of the meet, setting Class C records in the boys’ triple jump (48-3 3/4), long jump (23-2 3/4) and high jump (6-11). In the high jump he beat the all-time Maine best of 6-10 1/4 set by Anthony Stanton of Noble in 2008.
Traip Academy got individual victories from Seth Simonds in the 110 hurdles (15.49) and Liam Reeve in the 800 (1:59.97). Both were also on the winning 1,600 relay team (3:40.78).
Kohtala, in addition to her victory in the 200, set a Class C record in the long jump (18-0 3/4) and finished third in the 400 (1:01.72).
The Wells girls won three events, including the 1,600 relay (4:17.76). Kate Pinette (2:24.98) and Mallory Aromando (2:28.11) went 1-2 in the 800 and Heidi Fortin was victorious in the 3,200 (12:10.99).
Jon Jordan led Mt. Abram into the top five in the boys’ meet as he won the 400 (53.19) by passing Boothbay’s Blake Erhard (53.43) in the final 20 meters.
At last week’s Mountain Valley Conference championships, Jordan kept pace with Erhard before pulling away late to win by more than a second.
“This time,” Jordan said, “he was a good 25 meters ahead of me, which has never really happened. So I really had to push and start running quicker than I usually do. Toward the last 50 meters, I started feeling like I could reel him in.”
Other boys winners were: Hall-Dale’s Zander Bourne (1,600 racewalk), Dirigo’s Cam Kidder (300 hurdles), Bucksport’s Carter Tolmasoff (100 and 200), Griffin Allaire of Wells (1,600 and 3,200) and Maranacook’s Ryan Worster (discus and shot put).
Girls’ winners included Traip Academy’s Sophie Santamaria (100 hurdles), Monmouth Academy’s Libby Clement (300 hurdles), and Mt. View’s Sage Pound (1,600) and Shala Davis (discus).
Send questions/comments to the editors.
