BREWER, Maine — Breezy and cool conditions that at times felt more like late April than late May couldn’t prevent the records from falling at Friday’s Penobscot Valley Conference large-school track and field championships.
Bangor dominated the girls competition, winning eight of the 19 events and scoring 164.3 points, well ahead of runner-up Caribou (89.3). Old Town (87), Brewer (70) and Mount Desert Island of Bar Harbor (61) rounded out the top five teams in the nine-school field.
The Bangor boys gradually pulled away to a 134-113 victory over second-place Hampden Academy, followed by Brewer (89), Caribou (67) and fifth-place Presque Isle (48).
The girls meet featured five record-setting performances, three involving Bangor junior Denae Johnson.
Johnson set new individual marks in both the 100 and 300 hurdles, teaming with Grace MacLean for a 1-2 finish in the 100 hurdles with a winning time of 15.26 seconds — one one-hundredth of a second faster than the mark she previously set as a freshman in 2010.
“In the 100 hurdles, Grace is always right there with me,” said Johnson. “She motivates me a lot, and we push each other.”
Johnson then smashed the 300 hurdles mark by 1.04 seconds with a winning time of 45.81 and also teamed with Ally Vanidestine, Mary Butler and Tiffany Gray to set a conference record of 51.36 in the 4×100 relay.
“I’ve never been so nervous in my entire life,” said Johnson. “Running against more competition makes me want to work harder, and I just tried my best.
“I really wanted to break the 300 hurdles record.”
Teal Jackson of Brewer set a conference record in the 400 with a time of 57.39 seconds, and also won the 100 (12.90) and 200 (26.06) dashes while placing third in the long jump.
“I feel like I did what I wanted to do,” said Jackson, named the outstanding performer of the girls meet. “I was nervous about the 400. I had more competition than usual and I think that pushed me a lot.
“I was pretty close to 58 seconds in my last meet, and today I just went out harder.”
MacLean set a new conference standard in the long jump, achieving 17 feet, 7 3/4 inches on her final attempt to edge Gray, a sophomore who also broke the old mark of 17-2 1/4 on her final jump with a leap of 17-6 1/2 to capture second place.
“We just work really hard on getting better each week, getting more height off the board,” said MacLean.
MacLean also won the high jump (5-0), while Gray won the triple jump (36-2), Vanidestine led a 1-2-3-5 Bangor finish in the pole vault with a best of 10 feet and Ashley Flint took the discus with a best of 84-9.
Aleta Looker of Ellsworth was another double-event winner, taking the 1600 in 5:19.84 and the 800 in 2:18.38.
MDI’s Maggie Painter won the 3200 in 11:55.89 and teamed with Olivia Erickson, Malia Demers and Isabel Erickson to win the 4×800 in 9:52.72. Paige Small of Caribou won the 1600 race walk (8:30.87), while other winners were Hampden’s Erin Jeter in the javelin (104-4), Caribou’s Morgan Swan in the shot put (33-9) and the Old Town 4×400 relay team of Tia Jackson, Alexa Dufour, Riley Marquis and Kelsey Maxim in 4:18.69.
Bangor’s winning effort in the boys meet was led by senior David Correale, who clipped more than a second off his previous best in winning the 400 in 51.50 seconds. Correale also won the 800 (2:02.19) and anchored the Rams’ victorious 4×800 (8:20.82) and 4×400 (3:33.94) relay teams.
“Today went a lot better than I thought it would,” said Correale. “I haven’t been having a good season this year, but I think it helped that I’ve tapered, I haven’t been doing as much running lately.”
Bangor also got an individual victory from sophomore Jonathan Stanhope in the 1600 (4:33.15).
Hampden was led by junior Andrew Toothaker, who won the 110 hurdles in 15.88 and the 200 dash in 24.70. Toothaker, named outstanding performer in the boys meet, also finished second in the 300 hurdles — two one-hundredths of a second behind Brewer’s Spencer Valley — and anchored the Broncos’ fourth-place 4×400 relay team.
Other winners for the Broncos were Cam Blood in the triple jump (39-2), Jeremy Kelsey in the javelin (148-11) and Jefferson Adams in the high jump (5-8).
Also winning events in the boys meet were Brewer’s Valley in the 300 hurdles (42.03), Joseph Hayden in the pole vault (12-6) and Anthony Jackson in the long jump (19-7) as well as the Witches’ 4×100 relay team of Valley, Jackson, Brody Valley and Trey Williams (45.40), Presque Isle’s Logan Good in the 100 (11.85), Caribou’s Josh Kovach in the 1600 race walk (7:53.09), Ellsworth’s Dan Curts in the 3200 (9:38.6), MDI’s Jayson Burke in the shot put (48-6 1/2), and Old Town’s Peter Wilcox in the discus (118-11).
Dave King of Hampden was named the PVC large-school boys track coach of the year, while Old Town’s Rod White received girls track coach of the year honors.
Go Rams!!
The article could have mentioned that Hampden’s best sprinter, Roy Donnelly, did not participate due to an injury, and this probably tipped what was a very close meet into a Bangor victory.
coulda, shoulda, woulda…
My comment was about the article not mentioning the injury, not about the Bangor athletes. So if I take you reply literally, the article could have mentioned it, the article should have mentioned it, and the article would have mentioned it (but maybe Ernie Clark didn’t know?). I don’t think this at all diminishes from the Bangor victory, and my comment only reiterates the tone from the BDN preview article for the meet.
I think it’s good journalism to explain why an athlete who was prominently mentioned in the preview article for the meet is not listed in the results. After all, the journalist is to write not just about what happened (a bunch of people ran, jumped, and threw), but to investigate the reasons why it happened (certain athletes won events, some athletes who would have scored points did not). Do you disagree?
I was being sarcastic, but I do disagree with your point. Many athletes have things going on behind the scenes that are not and should not be mentioned in a news article. Some are dealing with depression, some with family issues, some with physical injuries, etc. These ailments can prevent or hamper athletes from competing to the best of their abilities or at all (e.g. the Hampden student you mentioned). But, I don’t think it’s the BDN’s responsibility to report on all of these issues, nor solely the issues of a few top performers. The news should report what actually happened at the event and not what could have, should have, or would have happened if one or more individuals were to have competed. Make sense?
No, it doesn’t really make sense, especially since one of the top athletes at the event did not participate – that is news in and of itself. I guarantee you if one of Bangor’s or Hampden’s top basketball players were to not play in the Eastern Maine Championship, that would be reported in the report on the game. I think you’re mixing up the hypothetical (had Donnelly participated, Hampden would have fared better) with the reality (Donnelly did not participate in certain events, and so Hampden did not have the luxury of the points he likely would have won for them). The latter is news, the former speculation.
The sports reporter’s job is to do more than just put the meet results found on Sub5.com in prose. I guarantee we will be hearing about the Bosh injury during the Heat-Celtics series (especially since that was half of the story during the Heat-Pacers series), even though he may not play a single minute. Does that mean the national sports media are less professional than the Bangor Daily News?
Ok, this is my last reply.
First of all, the NBA is very, very different than central/eastern Maine high school track. They make millions of dollars and have fan bases that number in the tens of millions. The media covering the NBA is also very, very different than the media covering central/eastern Maine high school track. So, your second point has no foundation.
As for your first point, I will agree that the mention of an athlete’s absence due to injury is noteworthy (newsworthy); however, to take away at all from a winning team due to the absence of an opponent’s star is not. Bangor won, not because a certain Hampden athlete was injured and absent, but because they were the better team. There are way too many could of, should of, and would of’s in high school sports, so let’s just let the final score dictate what team deserves the trophy and praise in the local newspaper.
We’ll just agree to disagree, then. I disagree with your conclusion about the lack of comparison between sports media on a national and local level. Nor do I think anyone but the self-conscious would feel that mentioning the absence of a top athlete would diminish from the victory – especially since I’m sure the Bangor track team knew of this already.
But as you said, enough of this discussion.
Go Rams!!!!!
There are a lot of very talented athletes, in the Bangor area that never get recognition, even on the Bangor team. While it is great to have the article showing the results of the meet, there are kids out there who get overlooked because they only compete one event or two, and they may not win every time. While the athletes in this article are quite often the focus, the sheer depth of the talent on the team is what brings the win.
I know that my daughter, who is a Pole Vaulter and was seeded first, took second to her teammate this week. Yes, she was disappointed but two weeks ago she was barely able to move due to a muscle pull in her upper back. I’m incredibly proud of her, as she should be. This is her first year doing outdoor track but she has done indoor track and has been a competitive gymnast from the Y for almost ten years and is the highest level in the state. Splitting the workout time has been a challenge for her but she manages to do incredibly well in sports and in school. All of that while fighting recurring back and shoulder injury. It never ceases to amaze me what kids are capable of.