With Christmas drawing closer, the University of Maine track and field teams had plenty to be cheerful about last weekend.
The Black Bears opened their respective seasons with a home dual meet against the University of New Hampshire Saturday, and coach Mark Lech’s teams garnered a split, with the women earning a victory.
While Lech has plenty of reasons to be smiling heading into the holiday break, these figures ought to boost his spirits even more: His teams field 33 freshmen, 19 women and 14 men, most of whom performed well in their collegiate debuts.
“Sometimes, when they get to college their whole mindset changes,” Lech said. “It kind of bodes well for the rest of the year because they competed well. It wasn’t like they got lucky, because New Hampshire has some good people.”
Three of Lech’s biggest in-state recruits earned their stripes on the women’s side. Shelby Tuttle of Waterville, Danielle Hutchins of Lamoine and Whitney Chamberlain of Scarborough all recorded individual victories.
Tuttle, who specializes in the jumping events and hurdles, outdistanced her competition in the triple jump with a mark of 35 feet, 6.75 inches.
She was also third in the 55-meter hurdles, which sophomore Jesse Labreck of Oakland won, and Tuttle also anchored Maine’s winning 4×400-meter relay.
Hutchins, who anchored the Black Bears’ “B” 4×400 team, won the 55-meter dash (7.31 seconds) while Chamberlain took first place in the 1,000 meters (3:03.89).
Those three, coupled with established athletes such as Labreck, Corey Conner, Jordan Daniel, Hilary Maxim, Vanessa Letourneau and Jennie Lucy in the distance and middle distances and Jillian O’Brien, Tanya Simard and Cearha Miller in the sprints and jumps, should give the Black Bears plenty of balance this winter.
“I think we’re good across the board,” Lech said. “Obviously Labreck is going to score well in anything she does, and Simard had a little bit of a rough year [last year] in the jumps and multi events [but] she’s going to score well, too.”
Sophomore Conner, the Bears’ distance ace, picked up where she left off in an outstanding cross-country season in which she qualified for the NCAA Championships.
Conner, singling in the 3,000 meters, won that race in 9 minutes, 54.35 seconds.
The Black Bears showed that the distance races will be one of their strong suits this winter, as Maine runners won every race of more than 800 meters Saturday. Lech has big expectations for his 3,200-meter relay, in which Chamberlain, Letourneau, Conner and Lucy collaborated to run a 9:43.98.
Another first-year athlete who could make an impact is Bangor’s Deanna Wilbur in the hurdles and jumps. She also excelled in the 400 meters for Bangor during her senior year.
Sophomore Rylee Rawcliffe of Hampden will look for a strong season in the throwing events, along with junior Jasmine Clark of Lisbon and senior Daniel of Farmington in the distance races.
Daniel and Maxim went 1-2 in the mile Saturday.
The Maine men have plenty of young talent and depth to go around as well, along with some key veterans, especially in the sprints.
Among them are senior Skip Edwards of Portland, classmate Carson Harmon of Fort Kent and former football standouts Landis Williams of New Jersey and Jhamal Fluellen of New York, who won the 55-meter dash against New Hampshire.
Maine also welcomes back junior Mark Liimakka of Old Town, the school-record holder in the pole vault, and classmate James Berry of Orono while freshman Jamie Ruginski of Buxton will figure prominently into the Black Bears’ hurdling and jumping plans.
“[Our strengths are] probably in the sprints, jumps and hurdles, especially with the football guys,” Lech said.
Fluellen and junior Andrew Horner of Kennebunk give Maine a solid punch in the sprints while Ruginski showed his stuff by winning the long jump with a mark of 22-1.75.
And if that’s not enough, sophomore distance ace Riley Masters showed that his injury-plagued cross country season is far behind him, as he convincingly won the 3,000. The Veazie native posted a 8:20.87 and bested his nearest competitor by 31 seconds.
“He was champing at the bit for a while there,” Lech said.
Other key athletes on the men’s side include junior Dom Cusano of Connecticut, the brother of assistant coach Dave Cusano, freshmen Jadrien Cousens and Matt Toothaker of Hampden in the jumps, freshman James Reed in the hurdles, classmate Dan Roukey in the sprints and senior Miles Bartlett in the distance events.
Cousens cleared 6-5.50 to win the high jump against UNH.
The Albany, Binghamton and New Hampshire men, along with the Albany, New Hampshire and Boston University women, are among the teams to beat in America East, Lech said.
Solid performances at nationals
The weather outside may have been frightful in Reno, Nev., Saturday, but a few Maine runners performed delightfully on a snowy day at the USA Track and Field Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships.
One earned All-America status.
Melissa Dellatore, a senior at Scarborough High, representing the Lakers’ Track Club, finished 18th in the Young Women’s 5K race, traversing the snowy 3.1-mile course in 20 minutes, 12 seconds.
Her teammates fared well too, with Melody Lam finishing 38th, Lauren Fecteau 39th and Brenda McCarthy 65th among 84 runners.
In the Intermediate class, Lakers’ runner Addie Cullenberg came in 85th out of 134 competitors.
Also Saturday, Abbey Leonardi of Kennebunk finished 21st and Emily Durgin of Cheverus 37th at the Footlocker National Championships in San Diego.
rmclaughlin@bangordailynews.net
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