Helen Shearer won the 1600 & 3200m runs (Photo above from 2017 Class A States)
Results
Ties are rare in track and field, but in a Penobscot Valley Conference season-opening meet Friday, the Bangor and Hampden Academy girls ran, jumped and threw into rarified air.
The Broncos and Rams, two perennial PVC large-school contenders, both compiled 158 points on a Friday afternoon that saw both sunshine and wind at times at Hampden Academy.
Presque Isle finished third in the seven-school field with 116 points, followed by Ellsworth (68), Fort Fairfield (53), Greenville (3) and Searsport (2).
Broncos' sophomore distance runner Helen Shearer, coming off a strong indoor campaign, got her spring season off to a solid start with victories in the 1600 and 3200 runs.
Shearer clocked in at 11 minutes, 35.71 seconds in the 3200 and 5:41.93 in the 1600, both decent clockings given the weather conditions and the infancy of the season.
Mykayla Hoggard of Bangor was equally dominant in the sprints, sweeping the 100 and 200 dashes while anchoring the Rams' winning 400-meter relay team.
Hoggard clocked in at 13.67 in the 100 and 28.36 in the 200.
Other individual girls winners included Bailee Mallett of Fort Fairfield in the shot put, Madelyn Wing of Presque Isle in the javelin, Zara Misler of Hampden in the triple jump and Ellsworth's Emma McKechnie in the high jump.
The boys' competition ended with Hampden dominating the rest of the field, as the Broncos compiled 137.50 points while Bangor finished with 97.
Ellsworth's 82.50 was good for third, with Fort Fairfield (68), Presque Isle (66), Greenville (37), Searsport (27) and Calais (24) rounding out the field.
Hampden's dominance was illustrated in the distance races, as the Broncos corralled 67 points between the 1600, 800 and 3200, with Wyatt Lord winning the 800 and 3200 and Grahme Sokoloski the 1600.
Sokoloski clocked in at 4:48.42 to win the 1600 while Lord posted winning efforts of 2:06.13 and 10:29.16.
In the sprints, Greenville's Ben Baldwin had himself a fine season-opener, breaking the tape first in the 100 (12.05) and the 200 (24.32).
The meet's other double winner was Fort Fairfield junior Jonah Daigle, who claimed the 110 hurdles (16.22) and the 300 hurdles (45.71).
Action in the PVC continues Saturday with multi-team meets at MDI and Foxcroft Academy.
