Class C Boys State Meet Preview
(A Special to MaineTrackXC from Matt McClintock)
Josef Holt-Andrews will look to begin his own legacy of dominance in Class C track. The Telstar Regional High School Junior, who ran behind Madison Grad Matt McClintock, and Boothbay native Chase Brown the last two seasons has emerged as Class C’s top distance star. Holt-Andrews will be attempting the 1600m, 3200m double at the state meet, as well as a leg on the #2 seeded team in the 4x800m relay. With that, as one great career is beginning, one great career is coming to a close. Donald Boyer of Foxcroft Academy has emerged this season as one of the state’s top hurdlers. Boyer comes into the meet as Class C’s number one seed in the Long Jump and 110m Hurdles, number two seed in the 300m Hurdles and number 6 seed (and defending state champion) in the high jump. Less than a week after leading the Foxcroft Ponies to victory in the PVC Small School Championship, could Boyer have another big day and lead the Ponies to the State Crown?
In distance races Josef Holt-Andrews will look to steal the show. The junior is the top seed in both the 1600m (4:26.64) and the 3200m (9:16.42). Others to watch include newly burst onto the scene, Bangor Christian runner Dylan Merchant who comes into the meet as the number two seed in the 1600m (4:31.20) and the number one seed in the 800m (2:02.37). As an interesting side note, Merchant is also slated to lead off the Bangor Christian 4x100m relay. Also don’t count out Tyler White of Orono, the number three seed in the 1600m, Ben Kates and Harrison Stivers of Lisbon and Freeport respectively, and Marc Hachey and Josh Ringer of Winthrop and Hall-Dale all who are poised to have big days at the state meet.
In sprints the field is wide open with the graduation of Orono’s Miguel Caballaro. Tyler Fitzgerald of Hall-Dale will look to regain his state crown in the 100m. The Hall-Dale senior comes in with the number one seed and a state title from 2 years ago in the event. Fitzgerald’s name pops up several more times across the performance list as he is the number 4 seed in the 400m and Long Jump, and number 7 seed in the 200m.
Other athletes to watch include Marques Houston of Monmouth who is the number one seed in the 400m and Ryan Wang of Foxcroft who is the number three seed in the 400m, number 5 seed in the 100m, number nine seed in the 200m, and will run a leg on the Foxcroft Academy 4x100m Relay.
The hurdles and Jumps will feature Foxcroft Academy star Donald Boyer who will look to help carry the ponies to a very high place in the team standings. The senior is the number one seed in the 110m hurdles with a state leading time of 14.84 seconds. Boyer is also the number one seed in the Long Jump with a mark of 21-00.25. As well as the defending champ in the High Jump. Jake Burns of NYA enters the meet as the number one seed in the 300m hurdles with a best of 41.01 seconds. The Triple Jump is led by Atencio Martin of Traip with a leap 45-07.25. The top 9 seeds in the event have all jumped over the 40-00.00 mark. Pole Vault appears to be a one man show with David Fredrick of Orono having the top seed (14-00.00) by a foot and a half over number two seed Ron Helderman of Madison (12-06.00). The battle for spots 3 through 7 look to be hotly contested as jumpers three through nice all have season bests within a foot of eachother.
In the Shot Put Foxcroft Academy has two performers at the top of the pack. Cody Levensalor and Corey Bjornson are seed one and two for the Ponies and both are nearly two feet ahead of third seed Andrew Lewis of Ft. Fairfield. In the Discus the aforementioned Lewis is the number one seed by over 15ft with a best of 146-10. The next closest seed is Eric Hathaway of MCI at 131-08. Rounding out the throws is the Javelin where David Fredrick of Orono (also the top seed in the Pole Vault) has the best toss so far on the year with a throw of 167-01. However, don’t count out Robbie Pallozzi of St. Dominic’s Academy and Norton Revell of also of Orono. Both have bests of over 160ft on the year.
In the always interesting relay races the day is led off by the 4x800m Monmouth Academy comes into the meet as the top seed by only 0.54 seconds over Mountain Valley Conference rival Telstar. Central, Maranacook, and Orono will all look to keep it interesting as they all have season bests under 9 minutes. In the 4x100m NYA enters as the top seed over MVC Champs Madison. This race as a whole should be very interesting as seeds 1-8 all have season best marks between 46.01 and 46.99 seconds. In the final event of the day, the 4x400m relay is led by number one seed Monmouth (3:37.78). However don’t count out Orono High School who enters the meet less than half a second behind the Monmouth Mustangs.
What else do you need to know?
Class C performance list
Time Schedule