Thornton Academy athletics director Dick Agreste knows his fields. Last Friday, the day before the Class A state track meet was to be held at TA, the rain was steady, but Dr. Paul S. Hill, Jr. Stadium was holding up okay.

Saturday morning, when Agreste, the site director, reassessed the situation, he remained confident that the meet could go on. It was still raining, but schools from as far away as Bangor were already on their way south – if not already in town – so Agreste and the rest of the outdoor track committee were in a tight spot.

When the wind started to gust at around 10 a.m., just when the meet was getting started, the situation worsened.

“As the site director, I know my facility, and I know when that wind starts going from east to west it’s just going to gust all day long,” said Agreste.

The pole vault was the first thing to go. Then Agreste, along with MPA track chair and Windham AD Steve Merrill and meet director Diane Fournier, agreed to cancel the high jump.

But the rest of the meet went on. The Scarborough girls and Lewiston boys each won 4 x 800 titles during the first track event of the day.

“It’s something that the outdoor track committee had faced in previous years – that being uncertain weather,” said Merrill. “A decision had been made in the past, barring thunder and lightning, to go ahead with it, just because of a number of variables that enter into it: the time of the year, all of the other end-of-the-year activities going on in schools and communities, graduation and the New England track meet the following weekend.”

With the 3,200 relays completed, the girls 100 hurdles and boys 110 hurdles were the next scheduled events.

“All us hurdlers, we all got together and we were sitting at the starting line warming up and everybody was like, ‘We don’t want to go through with this. I hope the camera faults or something,'” said Gorham junior Josh Maxwell. “I was just like, ‘I would rather get it over and done with. It’s a state meet. I’m excited for this.'”

The other hurdlers got their wish.

The camera didn’t fault, but the plug was pulled on the meet – reluctantly – at around 11:15 a.m. Though, it wasn’t made official until Monday, the meet tentatively was rescheduled for Saturday, June 10, the same day of the New England meet.

“If you look at the whole set up, kids are competing in the state meet and those that qualify for the New Englands can then go on to the New Englands,” said Agreste, whose school likely would’ve sent all-state senior sprinter Jenny Pierpont to the New Englands. “So there was an awful lot involved in that whole thinking process (of canceling it).”

Another factor that went into the thinking process had to do with the location. It’s now been made official that the meet will be held at Bowdoin College, beginning at 10 a.m., but until later in the afternoon Monday that was still up in the air.

Because of work being done to the TA athletic fields – work that started Monday and couldn’t be rescheduled – Agreste told the MPA track committee that, if there was a rainout, a new location would need to be found. Monday morning, a conference call determined that Bowdoin would be the spot.

The 45-minute ride to and from Brunswick is going to make an already hectic day even more hectic for the Westbrook High athletes who are going to prom Saturday night.

“Prom’s supposed to start at 6:30, so we’re definitely kind of (bummed),” said senior Aaron Tanguay, a long-distance runner. “Hopefully I can get all my stuff taken care of Friday, so it’s going to be straight from the meet to home to jump in my tux, then to prom.”

Still, though, Tanguay was glad the meet was called off.

“After running the 800, I really did not want to run the mile in that,” he said. “It was everything, the coldness, the rain, the wind right in your face. You couldn’t get loose, very tight.”

Maxwell came around, too.

“We actually celebrated by running over all the girls hurdles that were set up,” he said. “We figured it would be a good show to put on for the parents who came and saw nothing happen.”

According to a press release on the MPA web site, the only event which will be counted when the meet resumes Saturday is the 4 x 800 relay. Other field events that had begun preliminaries will start from scratch.

The Class C meet, which was also canceled after the 4 x 800 and four field events, will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. at Foxcroft Academy.

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