Racewalker Shorey sets mile record Several Mainers earn All-American honors

Ben Shorey of Ellsworth established a national and meet record at the Adidas National Scholastic Track and Field Championships in Raleigh, N.C., Friday.

Shorey, who will attend the University of Wisconsin-Parkside this fall, finished the one-mile racewalk with a time of 6 minutes, 11.05 seconds.

Two days later, Shorey also won the junior national 10,000-meter racewalk at the Adidas Junior National Track and Field Championships in Richmond, Va. His time of 45:18.01 beat collegiate racewalker Matt Boyles of the University of Rio Grande by .03 seconds.

Shorey added two more All-American awards to the ones he won last winter at the indoor nationals and is now the top walker on the U.S. Junior National Track and Field team. He has qualified to represent the United States in Argentina at the 2001 Junior Pan American Games. He also qualifies to compete for the U.S. in Ireland and Scotland for the international junior team competition.

Other Maine racewalkers also did well in the two weekend meets.

Mt. Blue of Farmington junior Adam Staier was second in the one-mile race in Raleigh and third in the 10,000 at Richmond to also earn two All-American awards and a spot on the U.S. Junior team. He’ll represent the U.S. at the Canadian-American dual meet in Pennsylvania in August.

Maranacook junior John Chasse was third in the one-mile race and fifth in the 10,000 while Winthrop sophomore Mark Dennett was sixth in the one-mile and Medomak Valley’s Jeff Sprague was sixth in the 10,000.

In girls competition, Anne Favolise of Columbia won the one-mile at Raleigh and was third in the 10,000 in Richmond. Amanda Bergeron of Poland was second in the mile and fourth in the 10,000 while Hillary Easter of Jay was fourth in the mile and ninth in the 10,000.

All racers finishing sixth or higher earned All-American status.

Mr. Baseball finalists on deck

Fifty-two players will assemble at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor Friday night for the final game of their high school baseball careers as the East squares off against the West in the 10th annual Maine High School Senior All-Star Game.

Four of those 52 will have a little bit more on the line than just regional pride and bragging rights as they await the announcement of the winner of the Dr. John Winkin Maine Mr. Baseball Award. The finalists for the award are Presque Isle shortstop-pitcher Marcus Nadeau, Waterville third baseman-shortstop Chris Hart, Maranacook of Readfield pitcher-second baseman Greg Creek, and Portland second baseman-third baseman Luc Walker.

“Marcus is a very, very good shortstop, but he turned out to be my top starting pitcher as well,” said 17-year Presque Isle coach Tim Olore. “I don’t think we’ve had a finalist for this before. He’s a player and a person other coaches and players really like and I think him being a finalist for this shows how much respect he has in the Eastern Maine baseball community.”

Nadeau, who is bound for the University of Maine-Presque Isle, went 3-3 with one save and a 1.41 ERA. Offensively, he sacrificed his run-production after Olore was forced to move him up in the order, but still managed to hit .386 with 14 runs and seven RBIs. His on-base percentage was a solid .470.

“He can do it all. He’s a complete player,” Olore said. “About the only thing he doesn’t do is hit home runs, but he can do everything else.”

Hart has been a key cog in Waterville’s drive to baseball prominence as a four-year varsity player and one of the leaders in the Purple Panthers’ charge to their first Eastern Maine baseball title.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a finalist for this award, so I feel great, not only for our program, but for him personally because I’ve been close to his family for awhile,” said Waterville coach Dick Whitten. “I coached his older brother Chad and my nephew is in his class and is going to the same college as Chris next fall.”

The New Hampshire College-bound Hart batted .566 with three home runs, 24 runs, and 23 RBIs in 16 games this season. Hart, who broke his collarbone twice in his last two seasons (hockey and football), was also unanimously voted as the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference’s Player of the Year.

Creek, who was named Gatorade’s Circle of Champions Player of the Year for Maine earlier this month, led the Black Bears to their first Class B state championship last year and back-to-back Western Maine regional titles in 2000 and 2001. This season, he went 4-1 with one save and 61 strikeouts in 381/3 innings.

The all-star game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.