Young leaps to victory> Jumper catapults Witches to title

ORONO – After everything else that had happened over the course of the Penobscot Valley Conference Track Championships on Saturday, you knew Brewer junior Rachel Young was going to be the one to put the exclamation point on a Brewer High win.

Or maybe it was going to be Bangor’s Sara Kates-Chinoy or Kate Comeau who’d provide the Rams a victory in the meet’s final event.

It was that kind of day. Blustery winds and the championship meet atmosphere seemed to combine to make everything a little bit more unpredictable than usual.

As it turned out, it was the diminutive Young who stepped onto the windswept triple jump runway of the University of Maine’s Beckett Family Track and established her fourth personal best of the day, leaping 34 feet, 7 1/4 inches to earn the come-from-behind win.

Entering the event, Brewer led by only six points.

Young’s jump, and a third-place leap by sophomore Jen Corbett, helped the Witches edge Bangor 129 1/2-118. Bangor’s Kates-Chinoy took second and Comeau seventh in the riveting final event.

Hampden finished third with 91 1/2, while Old Town had 64, Mount Desert Island 60 and Foxcroft Academy 39 1/2.

In the boys meet, Brewer got four first-place finishes and two PVC meet records from senior standout Peter Phelan en route to a 131-97 win over runners-up Orono. Sumner had 71, Old Town 63, Bangor 63 and Ellsworth 38.

Though the score of the meet was read over the public address system during the finals of the triple jump, Young said she didn’t know how close the meet was until afterward.

“I didn’t add it up,” she said. “I didn’t really want to. I just ignored it.”

Young’s triple jump heroics were the second, and perhaps more mundane come-from-behind win of the day for her. She stunned her long jump rivals on her sixth and last jump of the competition, vaulting from eighth place to first with a leap of 16-3. Her previous personal best had been 15-4.

“That one jump in the long jump was a huge turnaround,” Brewer coach Dave Jeffey said.

The Witches faced being swamped by the Rams 19-3 in the long jump before Young’s shocker, but came out with a slim 15-12 deficit. Add that to a surprising performance by Carrie Murphy and Amy Allen in the 300 hurdles, who took first and third after being seeded 5-9, and Brewer was on its way.

Still, Jeffrey said the Witches needed to compete with Bangor in their best events: the jumps.

“We did pretty well in some other areas, but that was the key area, because that’s Bangor’s strength,” Jeffrey said. “We had to be strong there to overcome what they were doing.”

Bangor coach Gary Capehart said he was pleased with the performance of his girls, including Hollie Harnish (firsts in the 1,600 and 800), Comeau (first in the discus, fifth in the long jump, seventh in the triple jump) and Jill Svoboda (second in the 800, fifth in the 400).

Lori Hannan of Hermon won the 100 hurdles and 200, while Brewer’s Rachael Bodkin-Rubino topped the field in the 3,200. Meghan Palmer of MDI set a PVC record by clearing 8-0 in the pole vault.

In the boys meet, Phelan took aim at the record books on the first jump of the day, highlighting a sizzling day of horizontal jumps contested with a brisk tailwind. He won the long and triple jumps while setting records, and won the 110- and 300-meter hurdles.

Phelan stretched the PVC mark in the long jump to 21-9 1/2 on his first attempt in an event in which four boys topped 21 feet. Phelan’s third jump was another record of 21-11 1/2.

In the triple jump, Phelan took just four jumps, fouling once and breaking the record of 43-3 held by Ellsworth’s Rob Pendergist on his other three attempts.

Phelan’s best was 45-4 3/4.

Sumner junior Parker Pruett and Ellsworth junior Joey Luchini split in their anticipated duels in the distance races, with Pruett tripling, winning the 800 and 3,200. Luchini ran just two events, nipping Pruett in the 1,600 and finishing sixth in the 800.

Pruett made up most of the 40-meter lead he spotted Luchini in the 1,600, but ran out of track before reeling his speedy rival in. Luchini ran 4:26.19 while Pruett clocked a 4:26.56, running the final 400 in 1:01.

“As soon as I hit the hundred [meters to go] I knew,” Pruett said. “I knew I wasn’t closing on him fast enough.”

Pruett has used the same tactic against Luchini in the past, and ran a 4:22.2 against his rival last week with the same game plan. In that race, he closed with a scorching 59 final 400.

For Orono, Craig Sidell won the 100 in 11.34 before dropping the 200 to Old Town’s Andy Sibley. Sidell also ran a leg on the victorious 400 relay team and took second in the javelin.

Sidell and Hannon each tied the PVC hand-timed records for the 100 and 100 hurdles respectively, and were awarded the PVC automated time records.