Cassie Hintz’s consistency on the track is producing some one-of-a-kind results.

Hintz, an Old Town High School sophomore, recently placed second in the 3,200-meter run at the 37th Loucks Games held at White Plains, N.Y.

That she placed second was an oddity in itself for Hintz, who as a freshman won the 3,200 at the Class B state outdoor track championships and then set a state record by winning the 3,200 at the Class B indoor championships last winter, lapping the entire field to finish in 10 minutes, 48.49 seconds.

But what was remarkable about Hintz’s performance at the Loucks Games was her time – 10:36.54, which not only stands as a personal best but is better than the Maine outdoor record for the distance in any class.

“I was surprised,” said Hintz, who had run a 10:51 in her first meet of the outdoor season two weeks earlier. “I was just hoping to run a fast race against good competition.”

Hintz actually fell back to last place at the start of the race, but gradually made her way through the field and took the lead before being caught on the final lap by winner Laura Cummings of Bay Shore, N.Y.

Cummings, the reigning national 3,200 indoor champion, was clocked in 10:35.16.

“It was the first big meet I’d gone to,” said Hintz. “I’d seen the results from last year on the Internet and thought it would be a good race to go to.”

Old Town coach Rod White, who has coached Hintz in youth programs since she turned 10, also was a little surprised at her performance – not that she ran a 10:36, but that she did so this early in the season.

“I thought she probably could run around 10:50 there,” said White, “but 10:36 was a time I thought she might come down to eventually, I just didn’t expect it quite so soon.”

Hintz’s success is based not on setting a blistering pace, but on remarkable steadiness of performance. As an example, her personal best for 1,600 meters is 5:16; and her 1,600 split in the 3,200 meters at the Loucks Games was 5:16 – with her final 1,600 of that race just four seconds slower.

“She’s better the longer she runs,” said White. “She doesn’t have incredible natural speed, but she can click off the same time every lap. She can run 80-second lap after 80-second lap.”

The current Class B and overall state schoolgirl record for 3,200 meters outdoors is 10:42.8 set in 1986 by Laura Duffy of Kennebunk. Hintz shattered Duffy’s 3,200 indoor mark by more than five seconds last winter, and hopes to erase Duffy’s name from the record book again when the Class B outdoor championships are held in Windham on June 5.

“I’d like to run the time I had in New York again,” Hintz said. “The state record is 10:42, and I’d like to go for that.”

White, for one, sees even greater possibilities.

“I don’t think 10:20 is out of the question,” he said. “She’s the best distance runner I’ve ever coached in 20 years. To be the best female two-miler in state is something very special.

“I coached Dereck Treadwell when he was here, and he went on to compete in the Olympic Trials (1,500 meters in 1996). He was my best runner until now, but Cassie is where she is and she’s just a sophomore.”