Victoria Bossong of Cheverus crosses the finish line in the 400 meters – one of three events she won – to help Cheverus win the Class A track and field state championship for the third year in a row. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer
Cheverus High sophomore Victoria Bossong competed at the Class A track and field state championships with an injured hip.
Not that you’d be able to tell.
She won the 100 meters and set meet records in the 200 (24.80 seconds) and 400 (55.54) while leading Cheverus to a third consecutive state championship.
“I was kind of just going through the motions,” Bossong said of the state meet. “I was trying to win, but not run a crazy time.”
The crazy times would come two weekends later.
After sitting out the New England Championships to rest her hip, Bossong placed eighth in the 400 meters at the New Balance Nationals in Greensboro, North Carolina. Her time of 53.81 seconds eclipsed her own all-time best state mark by almost 1.5 seconds. No other girl from Maine has ever come within 2.5 seconds of Bossong’s time. She also established a personal best in a wind-aided preliminary heat of the 200 (24.54) as part of the Emerging Elites competition at nationals.
For these accomplishments, Bossong is the Varsity Maine Girls’ Athlete of the Year in outdoor track.
“One of the unique things (about Victoria), of all my years coaching, is that she’s a year-round track and field athlete,” said Cheverus Coach John Wilkinson, who joined the Stags’ staff in 2018 after 27 years as the head coach at Gorham. “She prepares herself (during the fall) through keeping fit, doing various weight room and agility (exercises).”
With the team’s primary sprinting coach, Andrew Rose, battling cancer throughout the spring, Bossong had to take charge of her own training.
“This year was kind of harder,” said Bossong, who lives in Cumberland. “Sometimes I’d go in and coach myself.”
Bossong was able to build on her success from the indoor season, during which she broke Class A records in the 55 (7.20 seconds), 200 (25.43) and 400 (57.13). She set all-time Maine records in the 400 (55.28) and 300 (39.68).
“I’ve never seem somebody compete (who) has achieved these type of times (across events),” said Wilkinson.
As a student, she is at the top of her class with a 4.17 GPA. She serves as the vice president of the Key Club and competes on the school’s state championship math team. Outside of school, she plays violin in the Southern Maine and Portland Youth Symphony Orchestras, serves as a Eucharistic minister at her church, and volunteers at local food kitchens.
“There are a lot of features about her that you see in other kids, but you usually don’t see the full package of all those things, especially (in) just a sophomore,” said Wilkinson.
Despite holding a handful of state records after only two years of competition, Bossong shows no sign of slowing down. In her remaining two years at Cheverus, she hopes to beat the all-time Maine best in the 100 – which was set in 2014 by two-time NCAA long jump champion Kate Hall of Lake Region – and earn All-America honors in the 200 and 400 by finishing among the top six at New Balance Nationals.
With the collegiate recruiting process getting underway, Bossong is making plans for beyond Cheverus. She plans to run in college while working toward a career in dentistry, like both of her parents. At her dream school, Harvard University, her best time in the 400 would make her the second fastest runner in Crimson history.
“She’s an impressive young lady,” said Wilkinson.
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