Orono boys aiming for regional crown

Orono track coach Gerhard Skall was a busy man Friday afternoon.

He was intent on making sure his team would be ready to peak for the Eastern Maine Class C championships Saturday at Hampden and he was concerned he would be late for the team meeting.

“I don’t ever miss the barbecue,” Skall said as he stole time from practice for an interview.

The big question is, were the Red Riots preparing to possibly win their fifth straight EM title or were they still celebrating last weekend’s Penobscot Valley Conference Championship victory over Class A Brewer?

“We’re hoping for a sweep of PVC, EM and states,” senior multi-event man Craig Sidell said. “Beating Brewer last week was a big deal. We’re going for all three.”

The EM Class B Championships will be held with the Class C meet Saturday at Hampden. Field events start at 9:30 a.m. and running events at 10 a.m. The EM Class A championships will be at Cony with events scheduled to start at the same time.

While the Riots have fewer athletes on the boys’ side than they did last year when they captured the EM title – and state title – by more than 50 points, they have all the same top guns back. And they’re all seniors.

Last year, the Riots amassed 162 points, more than any other Eastern Maine team in any class, scoring in every event but the 800 and 400. They should fare just as well this year.

The Riots have reigning hurdle king Jeff Mateja ranked first in the 110 hurdles and the 300 hurdles; Mike Pare seeded first in the pole vault, second in the 110 hurdles and in sixth in the high jump; Matt Pare seeded behind his brother in the pole vault, third in the 110 hurdles and fourth in the triple jump.

Orono also has senior Preston Ringo seeded first in the 1,600 and 3,200 with rival and mile state-record holder Parker Pruett of Sumner concentrating on the 800; and Scott Cunningham (high jump, long jump, 4×400) also in position to add points. And then there’s Sidell.

The Army-bound senior is the top seed in the 100, 200 (where he shares the fastest seeded time with Hampden’s Chris Barry), the javelin (by over 30 feet) and he’s second in the long jump.

So the next question is not how good are the Riots’ chances of winning, but how well will they perform?

Mike Pare has vaulted 13 feet, 3 inches putting him in striking distance of the 1984 state record of 13-8. Mateja has run 40.5 this year in the 300 hurdles and is chasing the 1988 state record of 39.9. And Sidell is close to the state record in the 100 (10.8) at 11.0 and the state record in the 200 (22.3) with a 22.8 seed time.

“PVC’s was the first decent day we had to compete,” Skall said. “Personally, if the day is like today I wouldn’t be surprised if this coming weekend some of the records fell. I told them it’s their last meets as high school athletes. If they want to make something of it, it’s up to them.”