LEWISTON — Shortly after Cary Drake broke the Class B state meet record in the girls’ indoor mile, she accepted congratulations from the father of the previous owner of the record. Ted Brown, father of Waterville’s Bethanie Brown, told Drake she earned it after the York senior ran 4:59.07 to best Brown’s 10-year old mark of 5:00.31 by just over a second.
“That was so sweet,” Drake said. “Bethanie Brown’s been a huge name.”
Led by Drake and her fellow distance runners, York repeated as Class B girls’ state champion Monday at Bates College. With 63 points, the Wildcats continued their strong run of cross country and track and field dominance. Greely was second with 53 points, while Bucksport was third with 47.
York won the Class B outdoor track title in 2022, swept the championships in cross country, indoor and outdoor track in 2022-23, and added another cross country title in November.
The Greely boys won their first team title since 2018 with 72 points, edging York (64). Leavitt placed third with 46 points. The Rangers did most of their damage in the jumps, where Alexander Mendoza took third in the high jump and long jump. Greely also earned 18 points in the relays, winning the 800-meter relay in 1:35.25, and placing second in the 3,200 relay to start the meet.
Three girls’ records changed hands. Along with Drake’s record in the mile, Sarah Ouellette of Morse went 11 feet, 1 inch in the pole vault, besting the record set by Hermon’s Chantelle Haggerty in 2002 by one inch. Amelia Vandongen of Mt. Desert Island set a new mark of 2:14.83 in the 800, besting the 10-year-old mark set by Greely’s Abby Chapman (2:15.28).
MDI’s Miles Burr entered the state meet already holding Class B meet records in the 55 and 200. While Burr didn’t break those marks on Monday, he added the 400 to his collection of records with a time of 49.49 seconds. Winslow’s Joseph Richards (49.67) also bested the previous record, 50.65, set by Gorham’s James Sawyer in 2005. While Burr repeated as champ in the 55 in 6.55 seconds, he placed fifth in the 200.
Drake’s win in the mile was the only first-place finish for York. In second place most of the race behind Houlton’s Teanne Ewings, Drake took off on the last lap, passing Ewings with 100 meters to go.
“Teanne’s a crazy impressive runner, and I was so scared coming into this race. My plan was to cut behind her and outkick. She probably had a similar plan, which is why we went slow through the opening lap, because we were both trying to get behind each other,” Drake said.
The Wildcats earned the team crown with the depth, particularly in the distance events. Molly Kenealy and Madelyn Hutchins finished third and fourth in the mile, and the York trio went 2-3-4 in the 2-mile. The Wildcats were third in the 800 relay.
Ouellette thought she could have gone higher than 11-1. With no other vaulters coming close to her heights, Ouellette competed alone.
“It does make it hard. I’m psyched for next year when I’ll have some competition at college,” Ouellette said.
In the boys’ pole vault, Freeport’s Reece Perry won for the second straight year with a vault of 13-6. Perry tried for 14-3, two inches above the record he set last year and one inch below his personal best.
“I didn’t want to waste any attempts on a jump that would have been an inch below at 14 (feet). I was like, go an inch below my PR, go to 14-3, and give it a shot. I wasn’t expecting to make it, I wasn’t not expecting to make it. I was just trying for it,” Perry said.
Sumner’s Kaleb Colson took wins in the boys’ mile (4:33.82) and 800 (2:01.61). He needed a strong kick to pass Bucksport’s Gage Burns on the final lap.
“It was about everything I had just to get past Gage. The York kid, Sam Hunter, almost passed me,” Colson said, “I was a lot more tired than I thought after running a pretty chill mile.”
The surprise of the meet came in the girls’ 55 hurdles. Leavitt’s Serae Fish squeaked into the finals in the eighth lane, then eked out the win in 9.08 seconds, one-hundredth of a second ahead of favorite Sydney Legasse of John Bapst and Maine Central Institute’s Gabrielle Finelli.
“I thought I was close. I figured maybe second or third because I could feel the other girls right next to me. I knew I had to lean in and hope I got it,” Fish said.
Old Town’s Lucy Veilleux earned a pair of victories, in the long jump (17-1 1/2) and triple jump (34-3).
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