WATERVILLE — Georgia Bolduc, the defending Class B state champion in the 100-meter dash, was poised for a great race against Winslow’s Alliyah Veilleux and Lawrence’s Sasha Letourneau at the Community Cup track and field meet Friday.

But Bolduc is also a wonderful violinist, and the Maine Music Educators Association’s all-state concerts were scheduled for that weekend at the University of Maine.

Which one did Bolduc choose?

Neither. She’s also a member of Waterville Senior High School’s state champion Science Olympiad team, and the nationals were Saturday in Orlando, Fla. Bolduc went there because she had played in the all-state concerts the year before, and, well, she’s a high school junior and it was a chance to go to Orlando.

“I like to think — I don’t know if I thrive, but I enjoy myself when I’m the busiest,” Bolduc said. “I don’t like not doing stuff, and not having sort of a purpose.

“Sometimes I get stressed, but I don’t ever feel so overwhelmed that I’m lost. My mom kind of helps rein me in a little bit. I like doing a lot of things, and she lays it out for me and she’ll say that I can’t always do exactly everything that I want to do.”

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“She falls into that upper 2 percent of that bell curve of those kids who are pretty extraordinary,” said Dan Keller, the department chair for visual and performing arts, and strings specialist for Waterville public schools. “She possesses some amazing skills, both physically and mentally.”

Bolduc started playing the violin when she was 3 — she has wondered what her mother could have had her do with a violin at that age — but didn’t take up track and field until much later. She is also a superb gymnast, and wanted to take on another sport.

“My life had been basically gymnastics and violin, but mostly gymnastics,” she said. “I went like five times a week.”

So Bolduc took up soccer, and while she downplays her abilities in that sport, she did especially enjoy one aspect of the game.

“What I liked about soccer was the running part, like running to get a ball,” Bolduc said. “I wasn’t very good at ball skills. I’d just kick it and run.”

The quick sprints translated to track, and at last year’s Class B outdoor state championship meet, Bolduc won the 100, finished second in the 200 and third in the pole vault. She followed that up by finishing second in the 55 at the indoor state meet and third in the 200 and pole vault.

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Waterville coach Ian Wilson said some of the skills from gymnastics translate to track and field, especially the mental ones.

“I have to tell you, her gymnastics background has developed, I think, a strong, deep core of strength and willpower and courage,” Wilson said. “When you have to have the courage to perform a routine on a balance beam — you couldn’t pay me enough to do that, but these kids do it for fun. So lining up in the blocks in the state finals of the 100-meter dash — what pressure?”

Bolduc’s nature is to be self-deprecating about all of this. She often implies she’s not anything special at what she does. When interviewed after winning the 100 as the fifth seed at last year’s Community Cup, Bolduc made a point to remark on her bad form.

“Georgia’s a perfectionist,” Wilson said, “so what most people would perceive as pretty darn good form, she sees the slightest flaw in what she’s doing, and she really works hard to correct it. A lot of kids aren’t willing to do that.”

There is one part of Bolduc’s 100 that Wilson is trying to change. Late in a race, Bolduc has a tendency to strain for a last push, to dig deep and go a fraction of a second faster. But like a baseball pitcher who throws one pitch 95 mph and tries to throw the next one 110, that intensity is counter-productive.

“For sprinters, tension, tightness in the race, is just the death kiss,” Wilson said. “The minute you go tight, you drop back like there’s an anchor tied to you.

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“She’s a fighter, she’s a competitor and what she has to do is learn to relax and let the race come to her. She’s an impatient person, and it’s served her very well in the world, and she has to learn to be more patient in the 100 and just relax into it.”

So Wilson is trying to get a perfectionist to relax. He likens it to changing a leopard’s spots, but is adamant that sprinters can be taught relaxation. It’s just a little harder for Bolduc, because it’s against her nature.

“In gymnastics, you have to squeeze every muscle in your body. In track, that’s one thing that has not translated over well,” Bolduc said. “You have to be relaxed, and I’m still working on that, because it’s just been ingrained in me. I’m competitive, so I tighten up and try to work harder and I end up going slower.

“Last year, at the very end of the year, I was just on the brink of getting it. Unfortunately, this year, I’ve sort of lost it and I’m trying to remember exactly what to do.”

Bolduc says the last part with a smile and a laugh, an artist aware of her weaknesses but not tortured by them. Still, with the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference and state championship meets coming up, she can’t help envisioning the perfect race, one in which she focuses only on herself and relaxes the way she did last spring.

“I’m trying to have very good mechanics and my biggest goal is to remain relaxed, and be focused while I run and be focused only on what I’m doing and my mechanics,” Bolduc said. “I want to have good mechanics and that’s all I can hope for, I guess.”

Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243

mdifilippo@centralmaine.com


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