A huge snowstorm forced many athletes to make the trip to Boston a day early to be ready to compete in the New England Indoor Track aand Field Championship at the Reggie Lewis Center on Saturday. Despite the weather the Maine athletes came ready to compete against the best in New England as they chased personal bests and All-New England honors.
RESULTS
The two mile the last individual track event of the meet turned out to be one of the most exciting races of the day. In the boys race Class A champion Adam Bendetson was the seventh seed based off his state meet time but figured to be in the mix for a podium spot based of his personal best of 9:19.65. Bendetson ran in the second pack following the fast early pace set by Ryan Sarney of Oliver Ames as the first 800m was covered in 2:14, with Bendetson about four seconds back. At the 800m mark Troy Silvestri of Bishop Hendricken took of the pace of the chase pack and by 1400m had caught up to Sarney with Bendetson on his shoulder. Through the mile in 4:35 Adam sat in third place letting the others do the pace work. At 2100m he moved to the lead after feeling the pace starting to lag, the lead was short lived though as Sarney took back over at 2300m. With 350m to go on the backstretch Adam moved to lead however Sarney wasn't done and eased past with a little less than 200m to go. Bendetson started to move with 140m to go and coming off the final turn increased his turnover as he moved into the lead to secure the victory in 9:13.99 after a closing 400m of sixty five seconds. The time moves him to fifth best in state history for 2 miles, and is the first New England indoor champion in Scarborough history.
Mt Desert Island junior Miles Burr has been the best sprinter in Maine all year long and showed he can compete with the best in New England on Saturday. Burr started off his day advancing to the 55m final as he won heat four in 6.50. In the final Burr was right there at the finish line running 6.48 to finish as the runner-up just .01 behind the winner Noble Gongon of Simsbury, CT. The time was the second best of his season just behind his 6.47 from the prelim of the Class B state meet. Burr returned to track later in the meet for the 300m. Despite having lane two Burr powered his way to the finish line in 34.90 to finish fourth in heat seven to earn his second All-New England honors of the meet. The time broke the five year old record of 34.92 run by Jarett Flaker at New Englands.
Marshwood sophomore and the Class A 55m champion Andre Clark took his speed to the next level as he qualified for the finals with a personal best 6.57 to finish fourth in heat two. In the final Clark dropped another huge effort with a 6.51 to finish fifth overall to earn All-New England honors.
In the shot put Class B champion Matt Charpentier of York couldn't challenge US #1 shot putter Jacob Cookinham who won with a toss of 67-3 but the senior did throw a new personal best 59-8 3/4 to finish as the New England runner-up. Charpentier improved on his sixth place finish from 2022, throwing over 55-11 on each throw and moved to sixth best in state history.
The long jump was one of the best events for Maine athletes as three athletes advanced to the finals. Class A state champion Billy Albertson of Skowhegan was leading competition heading into the finals after his opening jump of 22-4 1/2. Behind him was Jacob Adams of Fryeburg Academy who leaped out to 22-3 on his second jump. Class B state champion Corbin Flewelling joined those two in the finals with a 21-4 jump on his third effort. In the finals Albertson leaped out to a personal best 22-7 1/2 in the fifth round to secure a runner-up finish. The jump was the fifth best in state indoor history. Adams matched his 2022 finish in third, while Flewelling would get out to 21-11 1/4 in fourth round to finish in fifth to earn All-New Englands honors.
In the 55m hurdles Class B state champion Nolan Garey of Poland won heat three in 7.68 to advance to the final. In the final Garey clocked 7.70 to finish third to earn his first All-New England honors. While in the high jump Class A champion Griffin Gammon of Gorham cleared 6-3 on his second attempt which was good enough to finish sixth overall.
On the girls side 2022 mile runner-up Cary Drake of York led the way. Drake who just missed being in the faster section in the mile had to push the pace alone as she aimed to run under five minutes. Through 1200m it looked like Drake might be able to do it by herself but the fast early pace took a little sting out of her legs over the final 400m and she finished with a courageous solo effort of 5:02.01. The time would place Drake third overall once the fast section ran as she earned All-New England honors for second consecutive season. Cary will aim to run under minutes at New Balance Indoor Nationals next week.
In the 300m Anna Connors of Bangor clocked 40.46 as she finished third in heat six to place fifth overall. Connors still recovering from a ankle injury that has slowed her over the last three weeks was pleased with her effort based on where how she was feeling. This is the second consecutive All-New England honors for Connors in the 300m.
Earlier in the meet Connors anchored the Rams in the 4x200 to the a new state leading time of 1:47.06. The time shattered the Bangor school record and equalled the fourth best relay in state history.In the 55m Caroline Fallona of Scarborough the Class A champion qualified for the final running 7.30 to win heat 4, in the final she would run 7.31 to finish eighth.
Julia Pendleton of Bonny Eagle set a new personal best of 17-5 in the long jump to qualify for the finals. Her leap set a new state leading distance in the event.