LEWISTON — Kate Hall of Lake Region set three Class B state-meet records, but the day belonged to Waterville High in the team competition as the Purple Panthers swept the boys’ and girls’ indoor track and field championships Monday at Bates College.
It was the first time Waterville has won both championships indoors. The girls captured their fourth straight state title, while the boys ended York’s two-year reign.
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The Waterville girls scored 90 points to outdistance Greely, which finished with 64.5. York took third with 37 points, followed by Freeport with 33 and Lake Region with 30 – all from Hall.
On the boys’ side, the Panthers won with 60 points. York was second with 41, followed by Mt. Desert Island (37) and Belfast (33). Cape Elizabeth, North Yarmouth Academy and Fryeburg Academy tied for fifth with 29.
Hall, a junior, opened with a meet record of 19-33/4 in the long jump, breaking her own record of 17-111/2 set last year.
“I was happy with my distance,” said Hall, who has a personal best of 19-11. “I had a couple of good jumps in the 19s. I was hoping to be in the 20s. I was on my mark almost every time. I’ve had trouble with that so I was happy.”
In the 55-meter dash, Hall twice broke the state-meet record of 7.13 set by Freeport’s Logan Crane in 2004. Hall ran 7.11 in the prelims, then lowered it to 7.05 in the finals.
“I’m very happy with my dash time because I had no idea what I was going to run,” said Hall, who ran 7.01 in December. “All I knew was that I was pumped and ready to go.
“I knew that I could run faster than I did in the prelim. My start for the finals was a lot better than the prelim. I was able to stay low. I was hoping in the final that I would run seven flat.”
In the 200, Hall broke her own meet record of 25.62 with a time of 25.36.
Hall was the only competitor for the Lakers.
“We couldn’t get our relay team here, but I still have my teammates here supporting me,” she said.
The Waterville girls got double wins from Sarah Shoulta in the 55 hurdles and pole vault. Kellie Bolduc won the triple jump, Rachel Bergeron took the shot put, and the Panthers filled in other positions for valuable points. Lydia Roy and Gabby Bridger placed second in the 400 and in the pole vault, respectively. Bolduc was third in the hurdles, and Waterville was second in the 800 relay with Roy, Jenn Christensen, Shoulta and Bridger.
“The girls keep doing what the girls do,” said Waterville Coach Ian Wilson. “They’re awesome. I’ve been lucky to have some extremely talented kids come through the program.”
Wilson said his boys’ team had jitters and didn’t settle down until the hurdles, where the Panthers went 1-2 with Troy Gurski and Jordhan Levine. The pair also finished in the same order in the triple jump. In the long jump, Gurski and Levine were fourth and fifth.
“I don’t think I did a good enough job preparing the guys before the meet,” said Wilson. “A lot of them were nervous, and I should have done a better job calming them down.
“Once we ran the hurdles and picked up 18 points, we settled down and performed better.”
Wilson noted that the boys’ program has a lot of runner-up plaques for indoor track.
“We’ve been waiting for this one,” he said.
Will Shafer of Gray-New Gloucester won the 800 and mile. There were no meet records in the boys’ meet, though Shafer came close in the mile with his time of 4:20.38, less than a second off Louie Luchini’s 4:19.76, set in 1998.
Michael McIntosh of NYA was a double winner, taking the 55 hurdles and 200.
Sophomore Drew Nealey of Belfast won the pole vault at 13-6, then just missed on three record attempts at 14-1.
Kirstin Sandreuter of Greely won the 2-mile in 11:34.98 and finished second in the mile to Aleta Looker of Ellsworth. Looker also won the 800.
Arguably, the most competitive race of the meet was the boys’ 3,200 relay. Ellsworth, Fryeburg Academy, Cape Elizabeth and York battled for the top spot, but Dan Curts of Ellsworth ran a tremendous anchor leg to give the Eagles first place over Fryeburg.
Tom Chard can be reached at 791-6419 or at:
tchard@pressherald.com
Twitter: TomChardPPH
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