
Competitors clear the final set of hurdles in the girls 55-meter hurdles event at the Fleet Feet Maine Elite Invitational high school indoor track meet Monday. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald
GORHAM — Greely High senior Owen Partridge was excited about waking up a little early on a day off from school Monday so he and several of his indoor track teammates could get to the University of Southern Maine.
Partridge has spent the season dominating his Class B Western Maine Conference foes in the boys 400 meters. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Partridge got a chance to see how he would stack up against some of the best from Class A at the first Fleet Feet Maine Elite Invitational at the University of Southern Maine.
Athletes had to meet at least the Class B provisional qualifying time, so everyone was a state-meet caliber athlete.
“I knew they would push me. I knew it would be close,” Partridge said.
He was pushed. He also proved to be the fastest and set a personal-best time of 51.82 seconds, going under 52 seconds for the first time and holding off a strong challenge from Cameron Harris, a junior at Class A Lewiston, who clocked 52.49 to place second.
“It’s a little bit of bragging rights,” Partridge said. “There’s a lot of competition at the Class A level. It’s good to race them. Especially to beat them.”
Harris, who competes in the KVAC league meets, agreed that the all-star caliber meet was a good midseason test, which included several runners from SMAA schools that Harris would be unlikely to see before the state championships.
“It was good to get out of my own class and race people who might have some fast times,” Harris said. “And because you’re racing different people, it’s a different race dynamic than you’re used to.”
Gaining from competition — particularly against people you would not otherwise face in-state — is the primary idea behind the Fleet Feet meet, which was the brainchild of Freeport coach John Rogers, who also owns two Fleet Feet franchises, one in Portland and the other in Brunswick. This May the third Fleet Feet Maine Elite outdoor meet will be held at St. Joseph’s College. The stores also support the early-season Southern Maine Classic cross country race.

Gorham’s Kuba Kaczmarek clears the bar at 5 feet, 8 inches during the high jump at the Fleet Feet Maine Elite Invitational high school indoor track meet Monday at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald
“We want to support as many quality scholastic events as we can,” Rogers said.
Twenty-seven schools registered for the indoor meet. Some sent only an athlete or two and several of the top local teams did not participate.
But the athletes who did enjoyed the meet and saw positive results. And they liked being able to wear spikes for the first time during the season.
“I love meets like this. You get that nervous feeling. You get to wear spikes and you’re getting to face some good competition,” said Tayla Pelleter, Windham’s senior standout hurdler/triple jumper.
Pelletier said having one meet with spikes is especially important for jumpers and pole vaulters because the extra grip they allow changes the athlete’s starting mark, sometimes significantly. And better to find that out in mid-January than when individual or team state championships are on the line.
Pelletier won the 55-meter hurdles and set a PR — “by one-hundredth of a second, but hey, it’s a PR,” she said — in her preliminary heat.
Four of the other finalists also set a PR, including Scarborough’s Isabella Harmon, who had also won the high jump with a PR of 5 feet, 7.5 inches, which Scarborough coach Denise Curry said ranks in the national high school top 10 this season.

Marshwood’s Andre Clark crosses the finish line first in a time of 6.44 seconds at the Fleet Feet Maine Elite Invitational high school indoor track meet Monday at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham. The meet brings together top athletes from Class A and Class B, with at least 25 schools attending. Athletes must have met at least the Class B state meet provisional qualifying marks to be eligible to compete. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald
Andre Clark of Marshwood, Maine’s fastest sprinter ever, was another person glad to be there. Clark has been bugged by back issues this season but looked plenty fit as he stormed to a time of 6.44 to win the 55-meter dash, and was able to come back later in the meet to catch Falmouth’s Max Shapiro down the stretch and win the 200 meters in 22.91 seconds. Shapiro, who was also second in the 55 dash, finished in 22.98.
Clark holds Maine Class A and all-time best records in the indoor 55 dash (6.38) and outdoor 100 meters (10.59). He said racing Shapiro and third-place Josia Katroli in the 55 dash helped keep him sharp and focused, while Shapiro’s fast start forced him to test both his closing speed and fitness level in the 200.
“I’m just glad I got through the 200, honestly. Max was absolutely destroying me when we came off the turn, but I knew I had more to give,” Clark said.
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