Last year, when Old Town High School’s Andy Sibley competed in the Eastern Maine and state championship track and field meets, he tried to win each event for himself and his state title-winning team.

This year, the junior sprinter-jumper has a higher purpose in mind for winning titles in each of the three events he does – he wants to win for his father.

Sibley, the NEWS Athlete of the Month for January, lost his father Richard to kidney cancer January 9 after a four-year battle with the disease.

“I expected it because he was diagnosed with it four years ago,” said Sibley. “But it was still hard when it happened.”

Sibley decided to dedicate this season – in which he hasn’t been beaten in the 60-yard dash, the 300, or the long jump – to his father.

“He didn’t know a lot about track, but he supported me and came out to see me,” Sibley said.

Sibley has been worth watching this year as he has a 6-0 record in the long jump and 5-0 records in the 60 and 300.

The 5-foot-8, 141-pound junior is also a tenth of a second away from the league record in the 60 (6.4 seconds by Greg Harrison of Bucksport in 1979) and two-tenths away from the 300 record (32.5 by Paul Elkin of Brewer in 1981).

“I think he has a great shot at breaking the mark in the 300,” said Rod White, Old Town’s head coach. “He’s close in the 60, but a tenth in that is almost like a whole second in the longer races.”

Sibley’s still 22 inches away from the league mark in the long jump.

“I’m looking at hopefully breaking that next year,” said Sibley.

Although he’s been doing track since his freshman year, most of his development as a jumper has occurred in the last year.

“I’ve been coming on since spring track last year. Last year I pretty much just hung in the air on my jumps. This year I’m using the hitch kick,” Sibley explained.

The hitch kick is a technique in which the jumper keeps pumping their legs and running in midair after the jump to extend their legs, and the jump distance.

Sibley also credited much of his improvement this season to the offseason weightlifting program he used for the first time.

“I worked out with my friend Mark Rogers and did soccer in the fall, so I was in good shape coming into the season,” he said.

White also pointed to Sibley’s maturity as a major factor in the 18-year-old’s development.

“Pressure doesn’t seem to bother him at all. In fact, he looks forward to going against the best in the east and the western kids,” said White.

“I run better when I’m pushed by somebody, and I know I’ll be pushed at Easterns and states,” Sibley said.

Yet advantage for Sibley is experience. He’s the defending state champion in the 300 and 60.

“I’m having even more fun this year than last year,” said Sibley.

That collective groan you just heard was from his opponents.