Novices, experts show off skills at meet

loading...

BREWER – From the more accomplished young enthusiasts like Kurt Prescott of Topsham to more casual participants like Veazie’s Bill Wetherbee, the Maine State Hershey Track and Field Championship offered something for everyone from the ages 9-14 set.

Tuesday’s meet at Pendleton Street Track saw novices and experts alike come away with varying degrees of success as more than 200 children competed in nine different running, throwing, and jumping events.

Skies which alternated between dark and foreboding to bright and sunny never actually followed through on several threats of rain as 328 ribbons were passed out to kids who were there to try something new and/or compete for bragging rights, win some prizes, and possibly secure an invitation to compete in the Hershey National Championship meet Aug. 9-12 in Hershey, Pa.

Certainly one of the participants hoping for an invitation is Prescott, an 11-year-old from Topsham who won both the 200- and 400-meter runs Tuesday with times of 30.24 seconds and 1 minute, 5.48 seconds, respectively.

Not bad for a guy whose usual motto is: The longer the race, the better it is.

“I haven’t done the 200 before. It’s over a little too quick for me compared to my other races,” said Prescott, the Maine State Cross Country champion for 10-year-olds in the 3,000-meter run and the Cumberland regional recreational department champion.

Prescott and his two younger sisters – Logan (9) and Maddison (6) – appear to have inherited good running genes from their mother Kerri, a former University of Maine sprinter, as all three have been instantly successful in their fledgling track careers.

Maddison won four events and beat her nearest competitor by more than a minute in the 800 at last week’s New Balance Children’s Track Festival in Brunswick (Kurt was first in long jump and 400, second in 100 and hurdles). Logan was fourth in the 50 and sixth in the 200 in Tuesday’s meet.

It’s been a great run for Prescott since he began racing in Hershey meets last summer. He won three events in both his regional and state meets last year before going to the national meet as a fourth seed in the 400, finishing third, and bringing home a bronze medal.

“He was the first medalist we’ve had from Maine in a few years and his time today beat his nationals time, although nothing’s a given because you still have to be seeded by the committee,” said Hershey state coordinator and Topsham Parks and Recreation Department director Pam LeDuc.

Prescott won’t be the only young boy or girl anxiously awaiting the posting of the results of that Region 6 (New England and Canadian Atlantic provinces) committee meeting on the Internet (www.Merpt.org) next Tuesday since finishing first or turning in a certain time or distance does not guarantee a spot in nationals.

“I hope I go back. It was really fun because you get to go to Hershey Park and the chocolate factory,” said the elder Prescott sibling, who wants to run at Villanova University.

“My dad said it’s a good track school,” explained Prescott, who started running three years ago at his parents’ urging.

“I pushed him,” Kerri Prescott said with a laugh. “When he started playing soccer, we noticed he was pretty fast.”

Her son just took it from there. His affinity for running is obvious.

“He’s out there in the front yard with a stopwatch timing everybody. It doesn’t matter if they’re on a bike, on foot, whatever,” explained Kerri Prescott, who takes pains to make sure Kurt doesn’t run a lot of miles every week for fear of stress fractures or simply burning out. “The stopwatch was the best gift we could have ever given him. He times everything.”

Prescott wasn’t the only multiple winner Tuesday. Others included Easton’s Chris Dayringer (100, long jump), Bangor’s Maureen Capehart (100, 200), and Yarmouth’s Steve Barbour (200, softball throw) in the 13-14 age group; Lyndsey Soule of South Portland (200 and 400) in 11-12; and Yarmouth’s Maddie Shelgren (800 and 1,600); and Mackenzie DeGraff of Brewer (100, long jump) in 9-10.

It was the first state meet for 9-year-old Hershey rookie DeGraff, the sole long jumper to clear six feet with a 6-1/2.

“I’m kind of fast and my cousin said I should try it. My three cousins all do it,” she said. “I just have a lot of fun and it’s even nicer when they give you a ribbon, too.”

Hilary McNamee of Fort Fairfield wasn’t a multiple winner, but she had a great day with one first (long jump) and two seconds (100 and 400).

“This is more of a fun thing for me to do. I don’t worry about getting a certain time or place,” said the 11-year-old. “I like that it’s an individual sport and you’re basically racing against yourself and the clock and I like that it’s not always competitive.”

Competitive or not, McNamee is successful. She was fifth in the long jump at Nationals last year.

Bill Wetherbee hasn’t yet had the same success of McNamee and Prescott, but he was no less dissatisfied with a third-place finish in the 50, a fifth in the 100, and sixth in the long jump.

“I like to run my fastest and see how other people do, to see if they’re faster or slower than me,” said the 9-year-old, a self-professed baseball and football fan.

It was the first meet ever for Wetherbee.

“My dad heard about this from one of his friends at work so I decided to try it,” he said. “It’s fun, but I like my other sports better.”

Tuesday’s meet drew participants from all over the state, from Madawaska to Saco.

Auburn Recreation Department program leader Meg Wallace, a New Jersey native whose family has a camp in Turner, accompanied 16 kids in a yellow bus for the drive to Brewer.

“We had a two-hour bus ride, so I heard ‘When are we gonna get there?’ a lot, but they’re quite excited about it all,” said the Notre Dame psychology student. “They’re learning a lot from the kids from other recreation departments. Some of them didn’t even know what heats were before they came here.”