MDI boys are surprise champions Ellsworth girls dominate 800 to clinch Hancock crown

BUCKSPORT – Pre-meet seedings, coaching scuttlebutt and popular opinion all held that the Ellsworth High School boys track team was an odds-on favorite to win Friday’s Hancock County Championships.

The Eagles are, after all, the defending Class B indoor champs, and were expected to vie for league, regional and state crowns this spring.

Early in Friday’s meet, however, Ellsworth assistant coach Jim Shedeck shook his head and grimly assessed his team’s situation: “We’re just a walking hospital,” he said.

With three stars already sidelined, the Eagles lost another solid scorer to injury early in the meet. Mount Desert Island, which entered the meet with modest goals, ended up with 176.35 points … and the title.

Ellsworth finished with 170.05 while Bucksport (132.15), Sumner (85.25) and Searsport (6) rounded out the field.

In the girls meet, Ellsworth and Bucksport battled back and forth in the early events before the Eagles put the meet away by scoring 30 of a possible 31 points in the 800. Ellsworth runners went 1-2-3-4-5 in the event.

Ellsworth tallied 203 while Bucksport had 173, MDI had 129. Sumner (48.5, George Stevens (12) and Searsport (6) also competed.

In the boys meet, MDI coach Renee Laber said her team wasn’t really concerned with a title.

“We talked about it as our last time [this season] as a whole team, competing as a team. We wanted to come in and have a team effort and just each other,” Laber said.

“We were looking forward to running against Ellsworth, so I was kind of disappointed that they had so many injuries.”

Ellsworth’s injury woes changed the complexion of the meet. The missing: Adam Macbeth, the top hurdler and long jumper in the Penobscot Valley Conference, who injured a hamstring on Tuesday; sprinter Erik Maleck, who has torn abdominal muscles; and distance star Steve DeWitt, who was sick and couldn’t run.

Neither Maleck nor Macbeth are expected to compete in next week’s Penobscot Valley Conference championships. Both are aiming for the Eastern Maine Class B championships on May 25.

The situation got much worse when sophomore hurdler Herbie Ryan took a nasty spill over the final barrier while leading the 110 hurdles race.

Ryan suffered an apparent broken arm and was taken to Midcoast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth by ambulance.

Ellsworth coach Andy Beardsley’s conservative estimate of the points Ellsworth lost to sickness and injury: about 80.

MDI, meanwhile, was piling up points thanks to wins by Ben Hewlett (triple jump, pole vault), Liam McSweeney (long jump) Da Chang (110 hurdles, and throwers Brad Russell (shot) and Brian O’Connell (discus).

Bucksport got three wins from junior speedster Gunner Siverly, including a speedy 11.1 in the 100.

In the girls meet, Ellsworth put things out of reach with its landslide of points in the 800.

Sophomore Jessica Buckingham led the parade of Eagles in 2 minutes, 34.0 seconds. Four teammates broke 2:38.

Buckingham, who also anchored the winning 3,200- and 1,600-meter relay squads, said she and her teammates thought they could score plenty of points in the event.

“We looked at the other girls times, and saw that [one opponent] was right up there with our times,” Buckingham said. “We were like, ‘Wow, we could, ideally, [all] place in this.'”

Ellsworth’s distance strength was evident, as both Jellison and Lacie Dow ran all three distance races.

Jellison won the 1,600 and 3,200, while Dow took three second-place finishes.

The Eagles scored 74 of their 203 points in the distance races.