Brewer girls, boys cruise to victories> Puiia and Goodness spark Witches

BREWER – When the April wind whips up off the Penobscot River across the south side of the city, some call it football weather. Some just stay inside.

But in Maine, that steady 20-mph wind and temperatures in the 40s just means it’s spring track season again. Teams bundle up, fight the elements, and run. Jump … shiver … Throw.

That’s what four teams did on Tuesday at the Pendleton Street track complex, with the Brewer High boys and girls earning victories.

The Brewer girls were nothing short of dominant, winning 16 of 17 events en route to a 179-45 win over runner-up Mount Desert Island. Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln scored 29, while Hermon tallied 7.

In the boys meet, the Witches survived a scare from upstart Hermon, turning a 70-66 edge after 12 events into a 110-70 win. MDI scored 48 and Mattanawcook Academy had 35.

On a day when blankets and winter hats were as prevalent as sunscreen and shade umbrellas will be a few weeks from now, Brewer coach Dave Jeffrey was pleased with the performance of his teams.

“It was a really hard day to run a track meet because it was so cold,” he said. “I thought our effort was very good.”

The Witches got three wins from sophomore Jen Puiia (long jump, 400, 200) and a pair of victories from classmate Rachael Bodkin-Rubino (1600, 800) in the lopsided victory.

“I think our girls team is in terrific shape,” Jeffrey said.

But on the boys side, the Witches are a lot closer to the pack than they’ve been in recent years.

“Our boys team, we’re just relying on a few kids, and how those kids fare is how we fare,” Jeffrey said. “Reality set in today. [Dominance] is not the way things are going to be this spring. We’re going to have to fight for every point.”

Bodkin-Rubino ran from the front to her wins, and admitted that she was eager to compete against talented Mattanawcook freshman Mary Lebrun, who defeated her in their last meeting indoors.

“I was waiting to see how I could do and see what would happen since it kind of ended on a bad note. I just wanted to do something different. I think I did.”

The Witches earned the win despite the efforts of Hermon seniors Aaron Clark, who posted wins in the 100 and 200, and distance ace Jay Moor, who won the 1600 and 800 and finished second in the 3200.

Moor said the strong Hermon effort was a big change from past years, when the Hawks didn’t expect to compete with Brewer.

“These kids last year were psyched out, and it’s just a matter of working hard and getting the confidence to come out and race these guys,” Moor said.

The Witches got a pair of wins from hurdler Brian Goodness and outscored the Hawks 40-4 in the final five events to earn the win. Senior Dan Coffin capped the win with a win in the meet’s final event, the javelin.

Goodness said the key to success on the raw day was keeping as active as possible between events.

“I just never stop moving,” he said. “It’s just who can tough it out the best in this weather.”

Hermon coach Natalie Fournier said she was surprised that her Hawks were as close as they were.

“I knew we had a couple of really good events, but I didn’t realize a lot of our field events did real well,” Fournier said.