For the girls, it was all about Thornton Academy, as the Trojans walked away with their third state championship since winning back-to-back titles in 2003 and 2004, scoring 80 points. South Portland and Lewiston finished out second and third, respectively. The Red Riots tallied 62 points, while the Blue Devils collected 59. Gorham (39) and Falmouth (35) finished out the top five.
For Brunswick and Mt. Ararat it was a day that seemingly focused heavy on individual performances. The Dragon girls locked in 13th out of 27 schools with 20 points, while the boys slipped just out of the top 10 in 11th with 25. For the host Mt. Ararat Eagles, the boys picked up 10 points, while the girls notched four.
Perhaps the biggest highlights for the local athletes came at the two o’clock hour when the boys pole vaulting awards were handed out and Mt. Ararat’s Andrew McCracken stood atop the podium and was crowned the state champion in the event. McCracken cleared 14 feet to take home the gold, and nearly missed an even higher mark of 14-06.
“That was iffy,” McCracken said with a laugh in regard to his 14-06 attempt. “I almost had too much energy going and then I ended up over striding. In terms of winning, I can’t really describe it right now though. I wouldn’t say I’m in shock, but I really don’t even know what to say. I’ve been working for it for a while. I’ve had a couple of silver medals in the past, but gold has always alluded me until today, so it feels good.”
Moments later Brunswick’s Tessa Cassidy earned a thirdplace finish in the girls 1,600 meter run, crossing the finish line in 5:23.85. This coming just three hours before coming in first in the 3,200 and taking home the gold in a time of 11:35.45, nine seconds faster than second-place finisher Anna Slager of Gorham (11:43.74).
“I felt pretty good. I wanted to go out a little reserved and save it up for the later laps,” Cassidy said about her 1,600 performance.
However, it was her 3,200 performance that had the Dragons’ senior on cloud nine.
“I’m very happy, I wasn’t expecting it going in,” she said. “Stuff just started to line up so I’m very happy. I think I had a really good day, I was able to move up in the ranks and get some good PRs (personal records) in both events. Overall I had a good day.”
For Brunswick coach Dave DeLois and Mt. Ararat coach Diane Fournier, the day came down to having their individual performers, as well as their relay teams, hit personal records and give their team as much of a push as possible.
“I think some kids got PRs and that’s what we were looking for,” Fournier said. “We obviously knew we weren’t going to win this meet, so on a day like today you just want them to do their best and do it on statemeet day. You can incorporate that into the relays too because we had some good relays today. When you’re not going for a state title it has to be more individual. It’s more intrinsic and I think the kids did a great job in doing that.”
“Everybody had some pretty good times,” DeLois said of his runners. “Both of Tessa’s times were her best of the year. She was third and first, and that was pretty good. (Keenan) Welzel and (Christopher) Tanner in the 400 were both great times. They were seeded third and fourth and they finished third and fourth. Welzel did the 800 (2:02.10) and he ended up third there after running the 400 (51.37) a half an hour before. All in all we did pretty well.
“I think we were hoping for a little bit better (overall). Our jumpers did OK, but not where they probably should have been.”
Tanner completed the 400 just .27 behind Welzel for a time of 51.64.
Other standout performances on the day came from Penn State-bound Harris on the boys’ side, taking home three individual state titles in the 200 dash, 800 run and 1,600, while adding the 4 x 400 relay first-place finish to his total.
Thornton Academy received 28 of its 80 points from Alexandra Hart, taking home gold medals in the 200 and 400, while receiving eight points on a secondplace finish in the 100. Her time of 56.87 in the 400 was enough to give her ownership of the state’s best, beating out Brewer’s Teal Jackson’s time of 57 seconds set two years ago.
Cheverus’ Jake Dixon set a state record in the 400, crossing the finish line in 48.45 seconds, just .13 seconds faster than former Messalonskee runner Chris Downe’s time set in 1996. South Portland thrower Daniel Guiliani completed a distance of 62-08.25 in the boys shot put, defending his 2014 title and topping a record set by Thornton Academy’s Dan Smith 38 years ago.
The Brunswick girls also hadtopfinishesin4x800 relay, with the team consisting of Brooke Escoe, Adrianna White, Isabella Pols and Cassidy finishing in fourth with a time of 10:18.03. The boys4x800relayalso placed, coming in third behind Scarborough (second) and Messalonskee (first). Jason Higginbotham, John Murphy, Tanner and Welzel crossed the finish line in 8:19.71.
Rounding out the Dragons’ top finishers was junior Shane Lyons and Reed Foster. Lyons, who jumped 40- 05.25 in the triple jump, gave him a seventh place finish, with his jump coming under two inches shy of Edward Little’s Bradley Morissette (40-07). For Foster, the junior jumper propelled to 19-11 in the long jump and earned himself a sixth-place finish.
On the Mt. Ararat side, girls’ distance runner Katherine Leckbee finished in third in the 3,200 run, collecting a time of 12:01.49.
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