Turn Back The Clock Tuesday: Hoyle vs Steeves 800m Battle



Turn Back The Clock Tuesday: Hoyle vs Steeves 800m Battle

The 800m race at the 2017 Class A indoor state meet was one to remember. Messalonskee junior Zach Hoyle entered as the second seed with a best of 1:58.64 on the season while Bonny Eagle senior Ben Steeves was the top seed with a slightly faster 1:58.56. Both athletes were coming off wins at their respective conference championships.

From the gun Hoyle took the lead and set a blistering pace for the first 100m, he led coming through 200m in 28 flat with Steeves on his shoulder. Hoyle continued to lead through 400m hit in 56.9, but Steeves was chomping at the bit and moved to the outside of Zach on the backstretch and went into the lead with 600m to go. Steeves opened up a 8 meter lead as the hit the back stretch for the last time, Hoyle started to close the gap a bit with 100m to go but Steeves still had five meters on him with 75 meters to go. Hoyle dropped his head coming off the final turn, and came even with Steeves with 30m to go. He was able to pass, and would pump his fist as he crossed the line in a time a personal best 1:56.74, Steeves would run 1:57.08 for second. Those marks were the second and third fastest in Class A state meet history as well as the sixth and seventh fastest in state history.

Hoyle & Steeves both compete in the division three. Hoyle attends the University of Southern Maine, while Steeves attends WPI. Hoyle has a collegiate best of 1:51.17 for 800m, he is a two time NCAA D3 All-American. Steeves personal best is now 1:52.88, he was set to compete in the 2019-2020 indoor national meet in the Distance Medley Relay.




Results

  1 Zach Hoyle                JR Messalonskee           1:56.74   3  10   
  2 Ben Steves                SR Bonny Eagle            1:57.08   3   8   
  3 Joshua Lombardo           SR Westbrook              2:00.94   3   6   
  4 Ethan Orach               12 Gorham                 2:01.44   3   4   
  5 Abbas Muktar              JR Lewiston               2:05.33   3   3   
  6 Aden Mohamed              SR Lewiston               2:06.22   3   2   
  7 Jared Willette            SR Bangor                 2:06.68   3   1   
  8 Daniel Turner             JR Messalonskee           2:06.90   2 
  9 Brandon Whitlock          SR Westbrook              2:07.42   2 
 10 Brian Farino              SO Scarborough            2:07.61   2 
 11 Shamus Malia              SR Scarborough            2:07.72   3 
 12 Noah Drapeau              SO Scarborough            2:07.74   2 
 13 Brody Bate                SR Marshwood              2:07.91   1 
 14 Josh Stanley              SO Hampden                2:08.35   2 
 15 Alex Ousback              11 Gorham                 2:09.15   2 
 16 Logan Pomerleau           SR Noble                  2:09.87   3 
 17 Jordan Fournier           SR Bonny Eagle            2:09.96   2 
 18 Mohamed Abdurahman        SO Deering                2:10.94   1 
 19 Jon Donnelly              JR Brewer                 2:11.13   1 
 20 Andrew Chingos            FR Brunswick              2:12.23   1 
 21 JD Ndayishimye            SR Westbrook              2:14.28   1 
 22 Jacob O'Berry             SR Thornton               2:14.67   1 
 23 Jeremy Bennett            SR Windham                2:14.87   1 
 24 Matt Pritchett            SR Marshwood              2:16.47   1 
 25 Jarrod Hooper             JR Massabesic             2:19.40   2 
 26 Wilder Baldwin            JR Deering                2:19.72   3 
 27 Erik Larkin               JR Scarborough            2:21.30   2 


Interview with Hoyle after victory