Jared Waite used a lesson learned the hard way two years ago to win the boys 100-meter dash at Saturday’s Penobscot Valley Conference small school track and field championships.
The Schenck of East Millinocket senior edged Bucksport standout Vincent Tymoczko by one-thousandth of a second in the 100 final at Oakes Field in Dover-Foxcroft, a victory he attributed to a successful lean into the finish line.
“I knew that he would probably be my best competition [Saturday] so I figured I had to come out on top of my game,” said Waite who, like Tymoczko, was timed in 11.59 seconds. “I started off maybe a stride ahead but he worked his way back and I knew I would have to lean forward because I learned my lesson a couple of years ago about leaning.”
Waite squared off against another Bucksport runner, Nate Warren, at the 2008 Class C state championships, and in that case it was Warren who leaned at the finish line to win the event in 11.29 seconds, two-hundredths of a second faster than Waite.
“It’s not something you really work on,” said Waite, who plans to attend the University of New England this fall. “You just have to do it at the end. It’s got to be an instinct.”
Tymoczko, who specializes in the 400, took the narrow loss in stride, and went on to be named the meet’s outstanding male performer after he won the 200 and 400 and led Bucksport to victory in the 4×400 relay.
“It was a great race, exciting for everybody,” said Tymoczko, a senior who will attend Bowdoin College in the fall. “I like a great race as much as anybody else, and it came down to the end and to the lean and he got me by a thousandth of a second, so I wasn’t disappointed at all. It was a good race.”
Overcoming a hurdle
Holli Kenison’s day at the PVC small school track and field championships began with the ultimate frustration.
Comfortably ahead in the final of the girls 100 hurdles, the Orono standout fell while trying to get over the seventh of 10 hurdles in the race. Instead of being crowned a champion, she struggled to merely finish.
“The 100 hurdles were pretty scary,” she said. “I’m not really sure what happened. I remember the announcer saying I was winning and then I remember trying to get off the ground. I think I clipped the hurdle, but I was just scrambling to get up.”
Despite the fall, Kenison finished in 19.85 seconds, less than two seconds behind event winner Sara Wardell of John Bapst of Bangor, who was timed in 18.08.
“Holli still had a pretty quick time for falling flat and having trouble getting herself to her feet,” said Orono coach Chris Libby. “There were certainly some bad feelings right after that, but she focused really quickly and got herself ready to compete in her last three events.”
Kenison went on to win the 300 hurdles by nearly two seconds with a time of 49.14 seconds, and she also won the triple jump with a best of 32 feet, 2¾ inches before joining with teammates Kate Berry, Kayla Marquis and Alex Crocker to finish second in the 4×400 relay.
“The 300 has been my strong point this year, I’ve PR’d in it by a lot,” said Kenison. “It’s just the kind of event where you can really push it. I told my coach right before the race that even if I fell that I could still make it up and not have to worry about having to jump over another hurdle right away.”
Ode to the assistants
The John Bapst girls track team won its ninth straight PVC small-school championship Saturday thanks to strong individual performances and unmatched depth.
Nowhere was that more in evidence than in the distance races and jumping events, a fact to which head coach Bruce Pratt gave much of the credit to his assistant coaches.
Sophomore Mary Carmack won the 3,200 ahead of her sister, freshman Adrienne Carmack, who finished second, to lead a 2-4-5-6-7-8 Bapst finish in the 1,600, and joined with Kim Spencer, Laura Donovan and Maggie Bryan to win the 4×800 relay.
Bryan and Amanda Lalime finished 2-4 for Bapst in the 800.
As for the jumping events, Jen Daley and Stesha Rudnicki went 1-2 in the high jump, Carolyn Benner led a 1-3-4-5 Bapst finish in the long jump, and Daley, Benner and Wardell placed 2-3-4 in the triple jump.
“Jeff Libby, our distance coach, and Joe Capehart, our jumps coach, deserve a lot of credit,” said Pratt. “You don’t have to look too far into the results to see that.”
Orono’s surge to the boys title similarly included a boost from an assistant, throwing coach Lin White.
The Red Riots were led by junior Nick Peterson and senior Conor O’Donnell. Peterson won the javelin (157-9) and shot put (44-7¾). O’Donnell won the discus (109-7) and placed second in the javelin.
“Conor O’Donnell was our lone senior competing for us today,” said Orono coach Libby. “He was first in the discus and second in the javelin and had a PR in the javelin, so he had a huge day. Nick had a personal best in the shot put, he really put it out there with one of his first throws, and then he pulled it out at the end in the javelin.
“Throws were huge for us today, so coach Lin White gets a lot of credit for that.”