State titles up for grabs

Class A

Defending champion Thornton Academy is the favorite to repeat as the team champion. The Trojans are coming off a dominating win at the Southwestern championships. They are lead by freshman sensation Alexandra Hart the top seed in the 200m & 400m as well as the #2 seed in the 100m dash. Senior Tori Daigle is the top seed in both the long & triple jump, she is the defending state champion in the long jump and her best jump this season 18-0 1/2 is just 1/2" of the state meet record. Senior thrower Victoria Lux is the top seed in the shot put.

South Portland & Lewiston figure to be the teams with a chance to challenge for a podium spot. Senior sprinter Lauren Magnuson & freshman mid-distance star Julian Selser will pace the Red Riots, while the Blue Devils will rely on senior sprinter Heather Kendall & sprinter/jumper Adela Kalilwa.

Watch for the Lewiston girls 4x100m relay who comes in with the top seed of 50.54, with the right passes the state meet record of 50.41 could be in danger.

Defending champions who will be looking to defend their titles are Adelaide Cooke of Falmouth in the discus who is the top seed with a throw of 119-1, Kayla Allen of Lewiston who is the top seed in the 1600m racewalk with a best effort of 7:23.85. Also Madeline Price of Skowhegan in the 100m is back, she has the 4th best time this spring, along with Kialeigh Marston of Bonny Eagle who won the 1600m a year ago, she enters with the 5th best time.

Freshman distance ace Anna Slager of Gorham is the top seed in both the 1600 & 3200. While Nina Tasker of Noble another freshman leads the way in the 100m hurdles. Lawrence senior Abby Weigang a two time Class C 300m hurdles champion will look to add another state title in the event where she's the top seed.

On the boys side the Lewiston Blue Devils hope to move up one spot from their runner-up finish in 2014. They will be pushed by defending champion Cheverus & Scarborough.

Lewiston will be counting on superstar Isaiah Harris to do the heavy lifting, the senior is running the 1600m, 800m, 200m plus anchoring the 4x400m relay. Harris is the state meet record holder in the 800m, and defending champion in his specialty as well as the 200m. Senior sprinter Hassan "Speedy" Mohamed is the top seed in both the 100 & 200m races, he is the defending 100m champion.

Cheverus will be paced by defending 400m champion Jake Dixon, he is the top seed in the one lapper along with being the #3 seed in the 200m. Nick White is the #2 seed in the shot & discus, while fellow classmate Jacob Schott is the top ranked high jumper. White is defending champion in the discus.

Scarborough will be counting on big points from the 110m hurdles were Griffin Madden & Maxim Doiron are the #2 & #3 seeds. Doiron is also the #2 seed in the 300m hurdles. Senior thrower Hugh McSorley will look to add big points in the throws where he's the #3 seed in both the discus & shot put.

Madden & Biddeford's Justin Gagnon figure to have one of the best races of the day in the 110m hurdles, the two clocked 14.62 & 14.60 respectively last weekend.

The state meet record of 60-3 3/4 in the shot put doesn't stand much chance when defending champion Daniel Guiliani steps into the circle, the junior ranks #4 in the country with his state all-time best mark of 66-5. Guiliani is also the top seed in the discus.

South Portland's Michael Cuesta is the top seed in the long & triple jumps. Cuesta is coming off his personal best of 22-5, and has a mark of 45-0 in the triple.

Mt Blue's Nate Pratt-Holt is the defending triple jump champion, he is the 4th seed entering the competition.