The 2008 edition of the Bowdoin Relays was missing some familiar teams but that didn't stop the meet from turning out some tremendous performances. This year the schedule flip flopped from past years with the boys starting before the girls. In this relay style meet, 3 athletes depending on the relay teamed up for cumulative distances in the field events. The field events got underway first, and there were several state qualifying performances. In the long jump, defending class B state champion Tommy Winger (Falmouth) leaped out to a distance of 20-9 which was the top individual mark of the day, while Nate Martin, who was runner-up to Winger last winter, jumped 20-7 ½ to lead his Greely Relay team to victory. In the shot put, Dan Gilboy (TA) opened his senior season with an indoor PR of 48-7, other fine throws came from Kris Floridino (Falmouth) 47-6 ½ & Sam Fear (NYA) 46-0, Scarborough was victorious in the team relay with a distance of 125-6 /12, led by state qualifiers Brian Woodbury (44-3) & Billy Gorman (43-7). In the Pole vault, Brad Nakanishi (Scarborough) opened up his season with a 13-6 clearance to lead his Scarborough team to victory with a total of 33ft. Mike Slovenski (Brunswick) also started off his season with a fine 12-6 performance. In the high jump, Alex Dulac(Scarborough) got his season off on the right foot with a jump of 6-1, he was the only jumper over 6-0, in the process Dulac led his team to victory with a total height cleared of 16'7.
The track events got underway with the 3 x mile relay. The relay was split into three sections, with the faster section being last; it was well worth the wait. Right from the gun, Will Geoghegan (Brunswick) running on his home track took the lead with Lewiston's Matt Driscoll running on his heels. The cruised through the first 400 in 64 and passed through 800 in 2:11. Geoghegan continued to maintain the pace while Driscoll was content to stalk him from behind. Heading into the last lap, Driscoll pulled up on Geoghegan's shoulder but couldn't get by; they battled down the home stretch with Geoghegan holding on for the victory in 4:28.22 while Driscoll notched a lifetime best in 4:28.74. There were also many state qualifying times from the rest of the racers, in total 10 athletes from the race would hit the state qualifying standard. After the times were combined, Brunswick came away with the team title (14:00.22), and in the process broke the meet record by 12 seconds, formerly held by Scarborough. Lewiston was 2nd also was under the old record (14:06.66).
The sprint medley (400-200-300-300) saw Matt Hatke of Brunswick lead his Brunswick team to victory (2:38.58) with the Gorham Rams (2:38.88) close behind. In the 3x Shuttle Hurdle David O'Sullivan-Frost (Scarborough) held off a hard charging Kenzell Crawford of Brunswick to capture the victory for the Red Storm. Poland captured the 4x100 Throwers relay in a come from behind victory over Mt. Ararat. Confusion was the best way to describe the distance medley, with Lewiston leading on the 1200, they passed the baton a lap early unfortunately which resulted in a DQ. Brunswick benefitted as 3x mile winner, Will Geoghegan took the baton and raced his team to an easy victory, Geoghegan's split was around a 4:28. Scarborough reigned supreme in the 4x shuttle hurdle race (35.1) as well; they were led by Sam Chick and Brad Nakanishi. The 4x200 saw sophomore sprinting star Matt Hatke chase down everyone to give the Dragons a victory (1:38.83) The 4x800 saw Lewiston avenge their DQ in the DMR, as the Blue Devils held off a late charging Greely team for an 8:43.23 to 8:45.18 victory. The 4x400 concluded the boys races for the day, It was Greely who ran out to an early lead behind a fine split from James LePage, Scarborough rallied with Nate Hathaway pulling up alongside Peter Colesworthy from Greely, with a fresh Sam Chick on anchor, Scarborough pulled away for the victory in a fine 3:42.23 clocking.
Girls Recap
Bowdoin Relays 2008 was a strong season opening meet for may teams around the state, despite it being the first meet there were several strong marks posted on the day. In the Individual events, defending Class A shot put champion Catie Funk (Scarborough) opened with a lifetime best 36-9, Hannah Werneth (Greely) opened with a strong 35-1 to lead her Greely team to victory. In total 5 girl threw over 33', just an indication of how competitive the girls shot put has become in the past few years. On the day 11 girls qualified for states in the shot put. In the long jump, Kristin Slotnick the defending Class A champion got off to a strong start, leaping out to 16-5. This event had great depth as 6 girls jumped over 15'. Edward Little took the team championship, behind a 15-7 effort by Emily Dodge. In the triple jump, Emily Dodge put up an impressive 32-7 mark to take first and lead her EL team to victory, in fact EL's B team was 2nd. 8 girls met the state standards in this event. In the high jump it was Colby Gail (Mt. Ararat) winning with a clearance of 4-11, with this jump Gail led the Eagles to the team title. In the pole vault, Emily Hartzell (Brunswick) opened the season up with a string jump of 8-6 to win the vault. York the only school with three girls over the opening height of 6' took the team title.
On the track the girls got under way with the sprint medleys, in heat 1 it was a close battle between Brunswick and Scarborough, Kristin Slotnick held off a strong challenge from Rachelle Greene to led the Dragons to victory, 3:05.11 to 3:06.03. York in heat 2 behind a great lead off 400 from Molly Carl was good enough for 3rd. In the Throwers 4x100, Mt. Ararat was the only school to break a minute, running 58.36. In the girls distance medley, Gorham ran to a 6 second victory behind a strong 1600 leg from outdoor 1600m champion Rachel Wilkinson, crossing the line in a time of 13:28.56. In the 4x50 shuttle hurdle race, York with state champion Chelsey Tewell leading the way won in 39.0 to capture the team title. In the 4x200, Greely behind a strong anchor leg of Hillary Cederna rolled to victory, clocking a fast early season 1:53.81; Brunswick was 2nd with Kristin Slotnick leading the way.
The 4x800 was an intense race between two of the top 4x800 squads in recent memory, with Brunswick & Scarborough squaring off in an early season matchup. The race was close throughout with Scarborough's anchor Whitney Chamberlain getting the baton a step in front of Brunswick anchor, outdoor state champion Kyia Jensen. Jensen was content to let Chamberlain set the pace for the first 400, Jensen made her move with 100m to go to get by Chamberlain, as it was a tight finish, with Jensen holing on for a 10:37.4 to 10:37.74 victory. The 4x400 was up next; Scarborough battled with Lewiston the entire race as both teams were well under 4:30. Freshman Nicole Kirk led off for Scarborough, clocking a strong 65-second leg, but it was Lewiston's Lea Morin playing catch making up the gap to give Lewiston the lead. It came down to the anchor leg with last season's mile champion Toby Crispin anchoring against Jenna Van Dam a state meet scorer in the 400m last season, Crispin held the lead during lap one, and as the runner hit the back stretch for the final time, Van Dam pulled up besides and passed Crispin as they hit the final turn. Scarborough would clock a strong 4:27.46 with Lewiston in 4:28.3 for 2nd.
The final event of the day was the 3x mile and the wait didn't disappoint. Lauren Fecteau (McAuley) running in her 2nd race of the day, led from start to finish, clocking a strong 5:24.11. Fecteau hit the 800 in 2:46 and picked the pace up over the last 800 and kicked strongly over the last 200 to pull away for the 2-second victory. Vickie Hewey (Sanford) 5:26.24, Michaela Swiatek (York) 5:27.38 & Hannah Pierce (Massabesic) 5:28.2 all ran very strong races too. For Pierce this was the first indoor race of her high school career.