Rachel Bergeron’s record-setting performance in the women’s hammer throw was one of three individual titles captured by the University of Maine during the America East outdoor track and field championships held over the weekend at UMBC Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland.
Jacob Jones and Adam Lufkin of the Black Bear men’s team also were crowned AE champions, Jones in the 1,500-meter run and Lufkin in the discus.
The UMaine men placed sixth at the conference meet with 53 points while the Black Bear women finished eighth with 49 points.
Bergeron, a senior from Waterville, had a best effort of 61.07 meters (200 feet, 4 inches) to not only earn the victory in the hammer throw but shatter the previous America East championship meet record of 59.89 meters (196-6) set by Natalie Grant of Boston University in 2003.
The throw also is a new personal best for Bergeron and came within 2 centimeters of matching the UMaine program record.
Bergeron’s winning throw was 16 feet farther than one by UMaine freshman Alice Barnsdale of Market Rasen, England, who placed second at the conference meet with a best of 56.19 meters (184-4).
Johns, a UMaine graduate student from North Andover, Massachusetts, edged Eric Holt of Binghamton by less than one-tenth of a second to win the men’s 1,500 in 3 minutes, 50.92 seconds. That mark was a personal best for Johns and ranks fifth all-time in school history.
Lufkin, a senior from Clifton, used a personal-best heave of 52.28 meters — also the second-best discus throw in university history — to win the America East championship in that event. The Brewer High School graduate also placed eighth in the shot put with a best of 14.67 meters.
Albany swept both America East team championships, winning the men’s competition with 219 points followed by UMass Lowell (165.5), Maryland Baltimore County (125), New Hampshire (97) and Binghamton (77.5).
Albany scored 228 points to win the women’s title, with New Hampshire (130), Stony Brook (107), UMass Lowell (107) and Binghamton (75) rounding out the top five.
Tardy, Bucknell second at Patriot League meet
Tia Tardy of Bar Harbor, a freshman on the Bucknell University women’s track and field team, anchored her team’s 4-by-400-meter relay team to a third-place finish that enabled the Bison to hold off Lehigh for second place at the recent Patriot League championships at Easton, Pennsylvania.
Tardy, a former standout at Orono and Mount Desert Island high schools, helped that relay team finish in a time of 3:50.67.
Tardy also ran the third leg of Bucknell’s 4-by-800-meter relay team that finished fourth in 9:03.56 and placed seventh in the 800 (2:13.64).
Navy won the Patriot League women’s outdoor track crown with 178.5 points, followed by Bucknell (141) and Lehigh (134).
Tardy previously was named Patriot League Rookie of the Week for the week ending April 24 after recording a time of Tardy’s time of 2:10.84 in the 800 — the fifth-fastest in Bucknell history.
Follow BDN Maine Sports on Facebook for the latest in Maine high school and college sports.
