Herasymchuck leads Broncos to EMITL title Hampden crown is first since 1988

ORONO – For the past 15 years, David King has taken a variety of talented boys track and field teams to the University of Maine field house in February with a singular quest: the Eastern Maine Indoor Track League Championship.

And for the past 15 years – ever since a talented distance runner named Brent Leighton won three events and paved the way to the Broncos third straight team title in 1988, King’s teams have come up just a bit short.

On Saturday, King returned to UMaine for the February classic that serves as the defining moment for many of Eastern Maine’s best. He did so with another standout distance runner, senior Brian Herasymchuck.

And late Saturday night, after 14 events and all the ebbs and flows that make up a championship meet, King was able to smile … at long last … and explain another winning recipe.

“I think that we’ve got a number of quality, top people,” King said after the Broncos had knocked off previously undefeated Brewer 100-76.5 to win the 11-team meet. “We don’t have huge depth, but we’ve got several people who can score big points, and do so very consistently. They’re tough.”

Old Town wound up third with 74 points while Bangor (62) and Bucksport (28) rounded out the top five.

Herasymchuck was the catalyst for the Broncos, winning the meet’s Outstanding Performer award by completing a grueling distance triple. Herasymchuck won the mile in 4 minutes, 30.42 seconds, took the 800 in 2:00.98, and capped his evening with a 10:10.92 victory in the two-mile.

Herasymchuck said this season’s Hampden roster was more complete than some of those in the years he has competed.

“This year we had more depth than we did in other years,” Herasymchuck said. “Last year it was mostly focused on some very good individuals. This year we had more people come out for the team. It’s been a goal every year to place as well as we could in the EMITL, and this year it was a better chance than we had in the past, and we went for it.”

Hampden also received winning performances from Eric Libby (60) and Brad Simms (pole vault). Simms’ win was particularly impressive, as he battled illness and misfortune en route to his title. Simms was one miss away from elimination on his opening height before clearing the crossbar, then missed twice at the eventual winning height before ending the competition with a successful try.

Libby led a 1-2 finish in the 60 with runner-up Trainer Kapler, and finished second in both the 200 and 400 to Bucksport’s Gunner Siverly. Those finishes accounted for 26 more Bronco points.

Siverly provided three of the meet’s more stirring moments, as he held off a challenge from Libby to narrowly win the 400 (51.24), repeated the feat in the 200 (23.47), then capped his night by erasing a 25-yard deficit during his 220-yard leg of a 880 relay heat.

Brewer coach Dave Jeffrey, who has coached the Witches to 10 of their 13 EMITL championships, said he knew the Broncos would be tough to top after estimating the scores before the meet.

“They had too many horses. We had to have a perfect meet, and we came close, but it wasn’t quite close enough,” Jeffrey said. “We definitely needed help. We needed something to happen to them, to their big guns, and they came through and ran tough. Herasymchuck was awesome.”

Jeffrey was right: Herasymchuck didn’t merely win. He dominated his distance specialties against runners who were typically running just two, not three, individual races. He won the mile by 4.67 seconds, the 800 by 3.65 seconds, and the two-mile by 4.99.

Libby said some teammates became concerned early in the meet, as Brewer built up a lead with strong efforts in the 3,200 relay, shot put, and high jump.

“We saw the sheets and we were behind by a lot,” Libby said. “They were getting discouraged. We explained that we had a lot of later events [that we’re strong in], and if we win all of those, we get 10 points [per event].”