GORHAM — York High’s boys’ indoor track team won with a deep roster. The Greely girls won despite bringing just seven competitors to the Class B state championship meet Monday at the University of Southern Maine.
Greely Coach David Dowling said despite the differences in team size, the formula for success wasn’t different. Both victories came down to having athletes who met or exceeded expectations.
“That’s how we live and die in track and field. Can you do it on the day it counts?” Dowling said.
The York boys won their third straight title and seventh in the last 10 seasons of competition with 64.5 points to beat Bucksport (54) and Old Town (45), with Poland (33) and Yarmouth (32) rounding out the top five.
“The boys, we just chipped away, chipped away, and my kids understand that they all have a part in this,” said York Coach Ted Hutch.
Indoor track did not hold full meets or championships in 2020-21 because of the pandemic.
The Wildcats had some top-tier efforts, led by Matt Charpentier record-setting shot put of 56 feet, 6 1/4 inch, which broke one of the oldest records in Maine indoor track history. The old mark of 55-11 was set in 1979 by Jim Dawson of Lawrence.
York also opened the meet with a win in the 3,200-meter relay as the fifth seed.
Charpentier had already clinched first place and had thrown over 50 feet on his first five throws. With one throw left, he revved up his rotational speed.
“That’s been my goal all season, to beat that record. Knowing I had won helped,” said Charpentier, a junior. “I knew I needed to let it go. If I fouled, so what. It was my last chance and I wasn’t going to let it slip away.”
Greely’s girls won despite being disqualified from the 800 relay after posting the fastest time. Greely’s final handoff was outside the exchange zone. Even with that snafu, which cost the Rangers 10 points, they scored 70 points to edge York (67). Cony and Bucksport tied for third with 37, and Old Town and Mt. Desert Island tied for fifth with 33.
It was Greely’s first title since winning back-to-back in 2017-18.
Greely junior Elle Jowett swept the three sprint events. In the 55 meters and 200, Jowett’s sophomore teammate, Abigail Jacobson, was second – meaning Greely earned 36 points in those two events. Jowett won the 400 by more than a second.
“I feel like this year has been hard for all of us, and to be able to come here and to be able to show all the work I’ve put in, it just feels amazing,” Jowett said.
The York girls applied pressure with wins from Lexi Brent, who defended her 2020 title in the 55-meter hurdles, and from sophomore Cary Drake, who won both the mile and 2 mile with convincing final lap surges to overtake and run away from George Stevens Academy’s Thea Crowley.
“I’ve been watching Thea as a runner and she has some really fast times, so I was thinking tuck and kick, because I have some experience doing some kicking,” Drake said.
In the boys’ meet, Miles Burr, a sophomore from MDI, won both the 55 and 200 in tight finishes. Burr held off Old Town senior Carvil Turner by .02 seconds in the 55 and beat Yarmouth’s Frazier Dougherty in the 200 by a tenth of a second. Dougherty earlier won the 400 and came back to anchor the Clippers’ winning 800 relay team.
As Dougherty completed the final turn of the relay, he ran past dozens of athletes from multiple schools lined along the outside of USM’s track screaming encouragement.
“The energy was great,” Dougherty said.
Bucksport, which drew praise from rival coaches for its overall improvement, had a trio of double winners. Sophomore William Hileman controlled the mile and 2 mile, both times running comfortably near the front and then pulling away at the end. Natasha Monreal, a sophomore, won the girls’ long and triple jump, while senior Colin Simpson, who also plays basketball, did the same on the boys’ side.
Belfast senior Lia Frazee won the girls’ high jump and pole vault.
Throughout the meet, which started at 5 p.m. and didn’t conclude until 10:20, athletes such as Poland Regional hurdler Nolan Carey gave their all. Carey, a junior, won the 55-meter hurdles with a final lunge that sent him tumbling to a personal-best time of 8.24 seconds.
“The finish was kind of a dive and a fall at the same time. I didn’t want to go down completely,” Carey said. “I did what I had to do to win.”
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