In a very efficient three team meet at Gray-New Gloucester High School seniors for GNG were recognized before the event, and the Patriot's Women's team secured a victory scoring 75 points to 58 for the visiting Greely Rangers. The Freeport Falcons rounded out the scoring with 54 points.
On the men's side fortune smiled on Greely as the Rangers came away with 69 points, Freeport followed with 59 and GNG brought up the rear with 55.
The GNG women, led by Madison Post ruled the sprints and throwing. Greely dominated the jumps and long distances while Freeport controlled the middle distances and collected the race-walk win. The balance among the teams was evident as each of the three squads won one of the relays.
With the race-walk taking the track at the same time as the 4 x 800 organizers made an efficient use of the first fifteen minutes of the event.
Post ran a 12.92 to win the 100 meter run and took just 27.35 seconds to win the 200; her winning discus throw was 96-04. Post's time was no surprise; she was runner-up in the 100 and champion in the 200 at the 2017 State Class B Championship. Meagan Reynolds took the javelin (72-03) and Zoe Barnes the shot put (33-09.5), each setting a new personal best.
Nicole Cobb did wrest one jumping title away from Greely with a triple jump of 29-05, a new personal mark. Cobb also collected points for the Patriots by placing in the 100 and 400.
The remaining jumps went to Greely as Maggie McCormick took the pole vault (9-0) and the long jump (14-07.5). Morgan Selby and Elizabeth Brown both cleared 4-10 at the high jump for the Rangers. Greely's jumping prowess paid off on the track also as they won both hurdle events. Selby took the 300 meter hurdles (49.71) while teammate Leah Walker to the 100MH (20.36). Selby won the Class B State Championship in the 300MH last spring and placed in the 100.
Greely's cross country strength peaked through as Marin Provencher claimed the top spot in 11:53.71
Freeport got wins in the race-walk as Grace Schnyder strode to victory in 9:55.24. The Falcons also claimed the top spot in the 400, 800, and 1600. Tara Migliaccio took the 400 in 106.21, Maya Bradbury won the 800 in 2:39.33, and Lily Horne bolted to victory in the 1600 in just 5:22.85.
Parity was the rule in the boys meet. Grey New Gloucester's athletes collected seven of the fifteen available individual wins, but still collected the fewest points overall. The hosts got wins in the 100, 200, javelin, discus, triple jump, long jump, and high jump.
Andrew Peterson sprinted to a win in the 100 (11.36) and 200 (24.10) while teammate Seth Levier won at both triple (37-09) and long jump (19-04). Peterson's speedy 11.36 in the 100 was a new personal mark and the seventh fastest time in Maine this spring. Levier, basking in the recognition of senior day, added nearly a foot to his prior best long jump and put up a State Meet Class B auto qualifier in the process. Jakob Sanborn cleared 5-6 to take the high jump and Jacob MacCullum won the javelin at 119-06 and discus with a 105-02.
By contrast Greely won the meet with 69 points with wins in four individual events and one relay. Freeport also had four individual wins along with two relays.
So Greely's points were amassed through depth. For instance, Bryan Taylor won the pole vault at 10-6, but all the scoring below him was also done by Rangers. With the 10-6 Taylor qualifies for the State Class B meet; it's his best outdoor mark matching his indoor mark from 2017.
Likewise Luke Marsanskis clocked 10:08.29 to win the 3200 and was followed across the line by three others from Greely. Marsanskis completed the eight laps nearly five seconds faster than he had during his third place finish at the 2017 State Class B meet. Other top finishers for Greely were Adam Bruder in the 800 (2:07.35), Gavin Poperechny in the 110 hurdles (16.56), along with the 4 x 100 relay team.
Not to be outdone by his sister, Freeport's Martin Horne clocked the fastest 1600 meter run at 4:36.86, Falcon Nick Mitch won the 400 (54.62) and also took second in the 100 at 11.81. Horner's times will get him to the state meet but Mitch is tantalizingly outside the auto qualification zone; he needs to do 54.50 in the 400 and 11.80 in the 100 to be certain of a spot on the line in Foxcroft. The 300 meter hurdles also went to the Falcons as Griffin Agnes came around the track at 44.31, faster than the 45.00 needed to get to the State meet. Alex Helie threw the shot put 40-07 to claim the win and the Falcons took both the 4 x 400 and 4 x 800 relays.
Freeport hosts a meet on Friday the 18th, while GNG travels to Poland, and Greely is at York.