Taye, other athletes beat heat Portland junior runs away with two golds and silver at meet

ORONO – Many of the best performances of the USATF Junior Olympic Region 1 Track and Field Championships were saved for the last day despite some sweltering heat and humid conditions.

Ayalew Taye and the hundreds of other athletes competing in Sunday’s events at the University of Maine’s Beckett Track Comlpex turned in top performances while qualifying for the national meet.

Taye, who will be a junior at Portland High School, qualified for the nationals in three different events (4×800, 1,500, 800), and was Maine’s top performer.

Taye’s middle event, the 1,500, was probably the best of the three. He just missed breaking the four-minute barrier, running a strong race, finishing in 4 minutes, 1 second and outdueling Mike Webley of Brooklyn, N.Y., who was second.

“My goal was to break four minutes,” Taye said. “It was pretty hot on the track.”

Taye was coming off the 4×800, on which his team, the Yes Bounders, finished second.

“I was saving my energy for the 1500,” he said.

Taye used the same mentality as the state Class A champ in the 1,600, even though he had to change his start slightly.

“It’s [the 1,500] a bit faster,” he said, explaining his 4:01 is approximately equivalent to a 4:14 mile.

Taye, who was also the New England High School champ in the 1,600, said the Bounders train together, and they hope to raise money to get to the nationals.

“We’re going to try a car wash and some other things,” he said.

Webley came back later to win the 800 in 1:56 while Taye was second in 1:58.

Though he raced Taye for the first time in the 1,500, Webley knew what to expect the second time around, and went out in a speedy 56-second 400 and held on.

“I normally go out hard and try to hang on, but I just tried to stay relaxed and qualify [for nationals],” he said. “The weather was a factor, and I’ve got to travel nine hours back to New York.”

Notable Mainers who earned bids in nationals are Chris Peverada of Hampden, who took second in the 5,000 (18:14) and first in the 2,000 steeplechase (7:46). Stephanie Dickey of Orrington qualified in the shot put with a heave of 10.37 meters, and also finished fourth in the discus (28.55).

Helen Pottle, who will be a junior at Shead of Eastport this fall, placed second in the 5,000 racewalk in 28:13.

Sisters Kelsey Woodbury and Laura Woodbury of Morrill earned three medals apiece in their fifth regional competition.

In the intermediate division, Laura also took two silvers with a 99-foot discus heave and a throw of 114 feet in the javelin. She was third in the shot put with throw of 30-11.

In the midget division, Kelsey completed the 1,500-meter racewalk in 9:44 and threw the discus 67 feet for two silver medals. She won a bronze in the javelin with a throw of 83 feet.

More than 1,000 athletes from ages 8 to 18 competed in the three-day meet. Region 1 includes New York, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont and Rhode Island.

The top three finishers in each event, in all age divisions, advanced to the USATF National Junior Olympics Track and Field Championships scheduled July 27-Aug. 1 in Eugene, Ore.