Maine athletes off-stride during New England meet Traditional distances problematic for EM standouts

BOSTON – With the New England Track and Field Championships just an hour old Friday night, Ellsworth’s Adam Macbeth decided a hamstring injury he’d been nursing for weeks deserved a break.

“I can’t run,” the good-natured Macbeth said after two attempts in the long jump fell short of expectations. Then he pointed at an area about 20 yards from the takeoff board. “I get about there, and it hurts like hell.”

Then Macbeth watched runners speed by and made a decision.

“I think I’ll just watch.”

For the record, Macbeth didn’t fare too poorly in the one event he competed in: He came in eighth in the long jump, then scratched out of the hurdles.

But with New England’s best high school track athletes gathered around the track at Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center at Roxbury Community College, and with more than 3,000 eager fans awaiting every race, one thing was certain: Macbeth’s idea wasn’t a bad alternative to actually running, throwing or jumping.

Macbeth’s Ellsworth teammate Steve DeWitt posted the top finish among Eastern Maine athletes, as he finished second in the 1,600-meter run in 4 minutes, 19.18 seconds.

The New England championships are staged at traditional indoor distances, and due to a 6 p.m. start, certain events – like the triple jump and pole vault – aren’t contested. The absence of the 800, 200 and 400 (which Maine athletes compete in) led to some interesting scenes.

Just ask Hampden star Oriana Farley, who was running an unfamiliar distance – 1,000 meters – because the event she won at the Class B state championships was actually the 800 … an orphan event.

“I’m seeded third,” Farley said with a chuckle before her race, pointing at the corresponding hip number that proved it. “What is this?”

What it was this: The Maine athletes were seeded on “conversion” times, whether they’d ever run the actual event or not.

Farley ran in the fast heat and finished 10th in 3 minutes, 5.49 seconds.

Hermon’s Chantelle Haggerty had to deal with two problems: She ran the 600 instead of the 400, in which she set a state record two weeks ago … and she didn’t get to pole vault (she also holds the state mark in that).

Haggerty admitted she didn’t know what to expect in the 600, but she finished fifth. She also pointed out that she wished she’d gotten the chance to vault again.

“I miss it. I feel like I’m going through withdrawal. I wanted to be able to pole vault again, but it’s all right,” Haggerty said.

Brewer’s Heather Clark turned in a speedy 1,600 time of 5:10.16, but finished ninth in an amazing field: The top six girls broke the old meet record of 5:02.56.

Clark said she was determined to do things differently than she has in past New England competitions.

“In the end my time turned out pretty well,” Clark said. “It seems like a common thread, that every time I come to New Englands, I always seem to run slower than I have. It was nice to come here and run equally as good, if not a little better.”

Other Maine highlights: Morse of Bath’s Aaron Norton went into the 3,200 seeded 20th, but wound up fifth in 9:25.37; Jesse Ludwig of South Portland leaped 22-0 to take third – 3.25 inches out of first – in the long jump; Matt Fortin of North Yarmouth Academy took second in the 1,000-meter run in 2:34.33.