Winslow, Belfast champs Horne lifts titlists

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CARIBOU – Of the 367 student-athletes assembled on a beautiful, balmy Saturday at Caribou High School’s athletic complex, only two left as four-event winners at the end of the Eastern Maine Class B Regional track and field championship meet.

Not so coincidentally, those two individuals’ respective teams also boarded their buses carrying team championship trophies.

So it was that juniors Katie Souviney of Winslow and Colby Horne of Belfast carried the banners for both their teams and the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference.

The Black Raider girls scored 90 points to outdistance defending champ Hampden Academy (78) while the Belfast boys seized control three-quarters of the way through the meet and held it en route to 1001/2 points and their fourth straight regional title. Ellsworth was runner-up with 75.

“We were hoping to come in first, but some of the girls didn’t run as well as they expected, so this was great,” Souviney said. “I knew it was a great day and I just wanted to come out and run good times. Last week, it was pouring rain in Augusta for KVACs and it was cold, so this was a lot of fun.”

Souviney was as hot as the temperature outside as she led Winslow’s nine-woman charge. She broke her own state record in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.83 seconds and went on to win the 300 hurdles (46.49), javelin (123 feet, 1 inch) and 200 dash (27.28).

Souviney, who accounted for 40 of Winslow’s 90 points, was helped out by Brittany Maclean, who won the triple jump. Despite only nine qualifiers, the Raiders won with quality depth as they had only seven top-three finishes on the day.

Horne won the 100 (11.35) and 200 (23.28) and ran the anchor leg of Belfast’s winning 400 (4-by100) and 1600 relay teams, which topped the rest of the field with times of 45.32 and 3:37.41, respectively.

“I was just hoping to get firsts,” said Horne with a wide grin. “I like this warm weather. I get up for days like today because your muscles stay loose.”

As did Horne and his teammates, who proved you don’t have to win a lot of events to win a title. The Lions’ only first-place finish not involving Horne was in the 400 by senior captain Neil Pendleton, who was involved in a car accident two weeks ago which caused him to miss a week of practice plus his conference (KVAC) meet.

“The 400 with Neil winning was big for us,” said Belfast coach Dale Nealey. “He’s such a tough kid to overcome injuries – he broke his nose and hurt his knee – and come back strong today. Those are the kind of leaders you need.”

Belfast didn’t just nickel-and-dime foes to death, it quarter-and-dimed them. The Lions’ key event was the javelin, where Reid Woodbury, Barry Hesseltine, and Andy Riposta took the 2-3-4 spots.

“That was big for us, but there were so many performances that were key, it’s hard to pick out even a couple,” said senior captain Ben Morley. “In Belfast, there’s a lot of pride in our track team and a lot of fun, too. They go hand in hand.

“It’s part of what makes track fun. We have a large group of guys and we’re all tight-knit. Even though I may not be one of the top contributors in terms of points, everyone on the team has the ambition to win.”

Certainly, that ambition wasn’t strictly limited to Belfast athletes as a couple other individuals enjoyed superlative days. Presque Isle’s Melissa Blackstone set a state record in the 1,600 (5:01.10) and won the 800 despite suffering a painful blister on her left foot. Ellsworth’s Adam MacBeth won the 110 hurdles, the 300 hurdles and the long jump while teammate Ben Shorey broke his own state mark in the 1,600 racewalk by almost five seconds in 6:28.32.

Blackstone, who has been wearing the same pair of comfortable running shoes since cross country began last fall, couldn’t explain how she got the blister.

“I don’t know if it was the heat or what, but I felt it the whole last two laps,” said the senior bound for a Division I track career at Liberty University. “Then I wasn’t sure I could do the 800. I was sprinting over because I heard the final call.”

She not only did it, she finished just .78 seconds off the 17-year-old B state record of 2:18.50.

“I think her college career will be great because she’s just getting faster and faster,” said Presque Isle coach David Maxcy. “She hadn’t even run the 1,600 before this year.”

Next week, Blackstone’s taking firm aim at Jen Moreau’s overall (Class A) state mark of 4:57.27.

Macbeth was also part of Ellsworth’s third-place 1600 relay team.

“I was just basically hoping to win all my events. I’ve never run a 400 before, so I just wanted to do that the best I can,” Macbeth said. “It’s a good day because we’re a pretty young team. Ben’ll be tough to replace, but we’ve got almost everyone else back.”

Speaking of Shorey, it’s tough to be disappointed after shaving almost five seconds off your own state record, but the fact he was shows why he’s the top-ranked high school racewalker in the country.

“The time I did today is the time I do in practice on some of my repeats,” said Shorey, who is attending the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in the fall. “I think right from the start I was going way too slow.”

Shorey was limited to just the one event Saturday for a couple of reasons.

“I’ve given up on running the rest of this season because it hurts. Until about three weeks ago, I was going to run the 4-by-4 and 4-by-8, but now I’m in a lot of pain right around my Achilles’ tendon,” he explained. “It doesn’t hurt that much. I can walk, but it really hurts when I run.”

If that wasn’t enough, Shorey compounded his condition with a pickup soccer injury.

“I did something really stupid yesterday,” Shorey said. “I was playing some pickup soccer barefoot and I think I sprained my foot. It’s just my toe that hurts.”