Track athletes to seek national slots New York, New England juniors to battle in Region 1 event at UMaine

Last year, the New York City branch of USA Track and Field was charged with finding a suitable site to hold the USATF Junior Olympics Region 1 Track and Field championships.

A Thanksgiving deadline passed and the Metropolitan Athletics Congress couldn’t find a spot for the meet.

But that didn’t bother Region 1 coordinator Bill Mongovan. He called University of Maine assistant track coach Rolland Ranson and solved the problem – UMaine’s Beckett Family Track was wide open.

“It’s such a nice facility,” said Mongovan, who was busy Thursday entering the names of some of the 1,000 athletes expected in Orono this weekend. “It offers us so much. It’s so easy to do this here.”

The championship meet starts at noon today with competition in the decathlon, heptathlon, pentathlon, and triathlon. Saturday’s events begin at 8:30 a.m. and continue Sunday at 8:15 a.m.

The competitors are divided into five age groups, starting with the bantam division for ages 8-10. The midget division is made up of athletes ages 11-12. Other age groups are youth (13-14), intermediate (15-16) and young men and women (17-18).

The bantams, midgets and youth divisions will compete Saturday and the older age groups will compete Sunday.

The athletes represent six associations: Metropolitan (New York City), Long Island, Adirondack (eastern upstate New York), Connecticut, Maine, and New England (which is comprised of Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont).

This meet rotates between the different areas every year. UMaine hosted the meet last year, and this year was to be New York City’s turn.

Athletes earn spots at the regional meet by finishing in the top six in their association. The top three finishers this weekend will go to the national championship in Sacramento, Calif., July 24-29.

Ranson, who is a meet director, said several of Maine’s top track and field athletes are expected to attend, including Winslow High star Katie Souviney, who is competing in the heptathlon; Waterville High’s Troy Irvine (decathlon); and groups and individuals from Old Town, Hampden, Dover-Foxcroft, Ellsworth, East Sullivan and Belfast.

Mongovan said numbers may be a little less this year because many of the top athletes have competed in two events in the past week. And some of the New York athletes have rides of around eight hours to get to Orono.

Still, organizers are expecting the top talent in Region 1.

“The numbers may be down, I must admit,” Mongovan said. “But I’m sure there will be a number of significant athletes.”