Speed key to success of Rams Bangor girls dominate

ORONO – In a sport that uses speed as its primary form of currency, Maynard Walton has a unique – and enviable – problem.

Every time he takes inventory of his boys track team, the longtime Bangor High coach sees another sprinter.

“I have too many,” Walton said with a wry chuckle on Thursday evening as his Rams put the finishing touches on a boys-girls sweep of a five-team Eastern Maine Indoor Track League regular-season meet.

While plenty of speed is a good thing, Walton isn’t exaggerating much. His Ram boys earned a 1-3-4 finish in the 60-yard dash, followed that with a 1-2-3 effort in the 200, then capped the meet with a collective first place in the 880 relay.

Bangor posted a 102-79 win over runner-up Mount Desert Island, but Walton was already thinking about using some of his sprinters in events other than the 60 and 200.

“Somebody’s gonna go in the 400,” Walton said. “They just don’t know it yet.”

Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln was third with 43 points, Old Town scored 30, and George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill had 18.

While the Bangor boys rode their sprint strength and the double-win effort of distance ace Ben Allen to defeat a solid MDI squad, the Bangor girls dominated the field in their own victory.

Bangor girls captured wins in 11 of the 12 individual events and teamed up to win the relay in their 141-67 win over Old Town. Mattanawcook Academy and MDI scored 26 each while George Stevens scored 3.

In the boys meet, the Rams got a breakthrough effort from senior speedster Nick Raymond, who entered the meet with a seasonal best of 6.97 seconds in the 60. Raymond, who got time off from his job at Dunkin’ Donuts to compete in the meet, burned his way to a sizzling 6.71 clocking and a comfortable win.

“I’m feeling really tired and I didn’t think I was gonna do anything,” Raymond said. “I wanted to break 6.8 the last two seasons, and I finally did it. It’s a pretty good feeling.”

Teammate Mike Quirk took third in the 60, then led a parade of Rams across the finish line in the 200 with his winning time of 24.09.

Quirk said having a solid sprint corps is a boon for Bangor.

“There’s definitely a load of us,” he said. “It’s different from past years. Usually we have one or two [sprinters], but we have five to choose from. That’s good, because we can spread ’em out.”

First-year MDI coach Ivey Menzietti-Ellis left the meet pleased about the performance of her boys team, which picked up a two-win performance from Liam McSweeney (long jump, triple jump), a pole vault win from standout Robin Fernald (12-6), and a win in the 400 from Craig Johnson.

“I was fortunate to inherit all this talent,” Menzietti-Ellis said.

Menzietti-Ellis, who coached standout throwers Nate Dutile and Katie Page at Nokomis last year, said she’s still learning a lot about her new team after moving back to her native Mount Desert Island.

“I’m excited,” she said. “I could tell you more after the next couple meets, but these kids are still all new to me.”

In the girls meet, Bangor received two wins each from Jana Savage (60, 200), Lindsey Bigda (long jump, triple jump), Abby Buchanan (high jump, hurdles), and Emily Smith (mile, two mile) while dominating the field.

Still, Walton said the Rams will have to find out if they have enough scoring athletes to contend for a title.

“We don’t have the depth,” Walton said. “We have some good individuals, but when we go to a big meet, Hampden is good and Brewer is good.”

Savage, who finished third in the state last winter with a 7.74 clocking in the 60, ran a league-leading 7.76 while edging teammate Lauren Quaglia (7.80).

Savage, who swam for two years before switching to indoor track, is upbeat about her Bangor team.

“We’re doing really well,” she said. “We have a lot of girls in a lot of different areas.”

The only athlete to break up Bangor’s run of first-place finishes in the girls meet was Old Town’s Amanda Nadeau, who won the 400.