Basketball and hockey teams may be a few weeks into their regular season schedules, but indoor track is just gearing up.
More than a dozen schools were represented Friday at USM’s Field House for the annual New Year’s Relays, a pre-season meet that gave the athletes a chance to prepare for the coming season, while providing a look at the competition as well.
At this point, it’s difficult to find anyone who isn’t filled with optimism for their squad.
“The kids are performing well,” said Scarborough girls coach Ron Kelly. “There’s some people who didn’t know what they could do, some freshmen who are showing some talent. It’s a starting point for a lot of them. We’ll get a time for them or a throw for them, and then we’ll work from there.”
The Red Storm, the defending Class A champs, appear to have another well-stocked team. Annie Mills victory in the hurdles was the only individual win on the day for the squad, but Scarborough had a number of athletes among the top finishers and there is, after all, a long way to go this season.
Pole vaulter Karen Smith and hurdler Becky Sither are both back to defend their state titles, while distance runners Erica Jesseman and Kaitlynn Saldanha each finished in the top five in last year’s state meet in both the mile and two-mile.
“We have a lot of sprinters and a lot of distance,” said Scarborough’s Allison Chamberlain, who will be running the 400, 800 and some relays. “And we have a huge group of freshmen.”
The Red Storm senior said that pressure does come with such high expectations.
“We’re expected to repeat,” she said. “It’s hard.”
Scarborough’s boys team is hoping to improve on last season’s seventh-place finish at the states.
“We’re definitely looking strong this year,” said Brian Van Dam. “We have a deeper team, and I think we’ll place higher than we did last year.”
Van Dam scored in three events at last year’s state meet – the 55, 200 and 400 – and on Saturday he was his team’s only individual winner, topping the field in the 60. Teammates Tyler Nelson, Chris Harmon and Brecht Moulin give the Red Storm a strong presence in the distance events as well.
“This meet is kind of a fun format. We’re trying to move people around to different events,” said coach Derek Veilleux. “This year we have a much more balanced team. We’ve had more sprinters come out and, of course, our distance team is just as good as it’s always been. We have a lot of potential if everyone stays healthy.”
Just a few members of the South Portland girls team attended Friday’s meet, including Makayla Macklin, who finished fourth in the 1,600-meter race walk.
Similarly, only a handful Cape Elizabeth athletes were at USM, but one of them was Kevin Harrison. The defending Class B state champ in the long jump and triple jump, the Capers’ senior won both events and, though it is early in the season, he is already jumping farther than he did to win both those titles.
“I think our team is pretty solid,” Harrison said. “We only graduated one senior (Keegan Toot), but he scored a lot of points. I really don’t think that you can predict who is going to win states because of Gorham leaving Class B. That opens up tons of spots, so everything is going to get completely shuffled.”
The regular season starts Friday at USM for the Capers and Saturday at the Portland Expo for Scarborough and South Portland.
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