Maine Athletes Shine At East Coast Invitational
Maine athletes once again traveled down to the Virginia Beach Sports Arena in Virginia Beach this weekend for the East Coast Invitational.
Bonny Eagle junior Delaney Hesler didn't waste her opportunity as she finished eighth in the two-mile running a personal best 11:08.13. Hesler ran very even throughout the race recording splits of 5:33.6 for the first mile followed by a 5:34.5 doe the second mile. Her performance moves her to the 11th spot on the Maine all-time 2-mile performance list and number two on the Scots list. Also competing in the two-mile in section two was Mia-Claire Kezal of Thornton Academy and Emmaline Pendleton of Bonny Eagle. Kezal clocked a new personal best running to a seventh-place finish with her 11:26.95 effort her time was good for 15th overall while Pendleton was 11th in 11:39.20 good for 21st overall. On Friday, Pendleton ran 5:19.85 finishing second in section three of the mile.
Speaking of Kezal she ran in the 800m early on Friday morning. Mia-Claire finished with a strong kick moving from fifth at the bell all the way to first at the finish as she stopped the clock at 2:20.61. Her time was second fastest overall out of thirty-three girls competing in the unseeded sections. Also competing in the 800m was defending Class B indoor champion, Alexandra Brent of York, in section three. Brent secured a fifth-place finish in the section running a personal best 2:22.18 which was good for eighth overall. Brent returned to the track in the 60m hurdles later in the meet running 9.84.
In the boys' action Scarborough, junior Jayden Flaker got things underway in the 200m preliminaries where he ran 22.94, the time was the second-fastest of his career. He returned to the track in the 60m hurdles later in the day securing a place in the finals with his 8.38 clocking which was seventh fastest overall. He will return to the track this evening for the final hoping to challenge the state record of 8.22. In the final Flaker had a much better start, which resulted in a third place finish overall with a 8.23 clocking. The time just missed the state all-time mark, moving him to number two on the list just .01 behind Devin Belanger's mark.
In the boys' mile, Zach Barry of Scarborough ran a strong race to finish sixth in heat six. Barry clocked a personal best 4:24.49 to place 14th overall out of 93 finishers. Zach ran a very consistent race with splits of 66.5, 65.3, 66.4, and 66.1. With the effort, he moves to fourth-best in Red Storm history in the mile.