Youth Sports

A teenage sprinter from Orrington turned in a strong performance against some top competitors during the Junior Olympics USA Track and Field Region 1 championships on June 28 in Worcester, Mass.

Kyle Allcroft, 14, placed sixth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.94 seconds, and seventh in the 100 in 12.52 seconds. He set personal records in both events.

In a big meet like the Region 1 championships, the pressure was on, but Allcroft persevered and achieved his goal.

Allcroft said he wanted “just to try my hardest and see where I come out.”

The Region 1 meet took place at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s track facility. Competitors from all over New England and northern New York were at the meet.

Allcroft described the meet as, “very big, a lot of people; they were pretty good at organization, and there were a lot of fast kids.”

Allcroft started participating in Orrington’s Center Drive Middle School track program in seventh grade.

“I tried it for the first time last year and I thought it was fun,” Allcroft said. “There’s a lot of events for everyone to try.”

Allcroft qualified for the Region 1 championships at the Maine Association of USA Track and Field Junior Olympic meet in Scarborough. He took first place in both of his events, the 100 and 200.

Allcroft is a graduate of the Center Drive Middle School. He was trained in his track program by Coach Rick Cortis. Allcroft will attend Brewer High School as a freshman this fall and plans on doing indoor and outdoor track for the Witches.

He has built a solid foundation for high school as his times at the Region 1 championship were close to the provisional qualifying times for the state Class A outdoor meet of 12.24 in the 100, and 25.24 in the 200.