Vikings senior Ciszewski hits racewalk stride

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Caribou High racewalker Andrew Ciszewski had just about everything working against him in Saturday’s Nike Indoor National Track and Field Championships at Landover, Md.

But instead of letting it get to him, Ciszweski put everything aside – he had just three weeks to prepare for the meet, had never racewalked on an indoor track, let alone a national meet, and hadn’t racewalked in competition since last June – and had a personal best in the 1-mile event en route to a sixth-place finish and an All-America honor.

Ciszewski, a senior at Caribou High, walked the mile in a time of 7 minutes, 30.37 seconds.

“It was quite interesting,” Ciszewski said Monday evening after returning from a 3-mile run in preparation for the high school spring track season. “I have a lot to look forward to for the outdoor season.”

Ciszewski is a known commodity in Maine, having finished second in the racewalk at last year’s Class B state championship meet and qualifying for junior nationals in the 3-kilometer event (he decided not to go because he wasn’t sure he could raise the money for the trip to California in time).

He’s also a swimmer – Caribou High’s first male competitor in that sport – and was All-Aroostook County in cross country and outdoor track and field.

But he had neither competed nor trained in the racewalk since last June. When Ciszewski got a phone call inviting him to the Nike meet, he had just three weeks to train.

“I began to train like a madman,” he said.

Ciszewski took to the halls at Caribou High. His first week of training was February vacation, so he had the school and all week to himself. After that, he did work in the school halls and on treadmills.

He wasn’t worried about speed so much as form. Racewalkers can be disqualified for having incorrect motions, and Ciszewski was concerned his long layoff from racewalking had affected his form.

There was also some concern that he would go out too fast on the indoor surface, on which he had never competed.

“I wanted to make sure I could go eight times around a 200-meter track without DQ’ing,” he said. “… It was fun. It never even occurred to me that I was on an indoor track.”

Ciszewski was in a competitive field with four of the top six finishers from the South Texas Track Club, a national powerhouse, and all three competitors who walked under 7 minutes in the mile were from Texas. He was outkicked in the final lap by a Texas competitor.

So how was it that Ciszewski had just three weeks to train for the Nike meet? He kind of ignored some emails, he admitted, but one day he was in Massachusetts on a trip to visit Gordon College and his parents got a phone call with an invitation to attend the Nike trip.

“I guess it’s a good thing someone else answered the phone. I was worried I would make a fool out of myself [because of his long break from training,” he said. “I still was worried I would make a fool out of myself [once he got to Maryland].”

But he didn’t.

The next day Ciszewski competed in the National Scholastic Indoor Championships in New York was clocked a 7:33.

“I went out too fast,” he said. “I died after three laps and I kind of started to fall behind.”

The trip to Maryland was paid for by travel grants from the North American Racewalk Institute and a housing grant from the National Scholastic Sports Foundation. Walkers from Maine, Ohio and Texas had their transportation and housing covered.

Nokomis girls show promise

In the moments after the Nokomis girls lost their Eastern Maine Class A semifinal to Skowhegan, it was probably hard for the Warriors of Newport to understand what they’ve accomplished this season.

But coach Earl Anderson hopes his young squad will eventually be excited about its season and encouraged for the future.

Nokomis, which has just one senior graduating, returns six players who had significant court time this season.

The Warriors will lose guard Michelle Barden, who has been a mainstay for the team since providing a spark off the bench her sophomore year. Returning players include junior twin forward Alyssa Bragdon and Ashley Bragdon and junior guard Rozlyn Peterson, sophomore guard Teresa Cooper and sophomore forward Tatum Welch, and freshman guard Kelley Paradis.

Alyssa Bragdon, Peterson, Welch and Paradis all started with Barden in the tournament.

Anderson said experience is important, but he expecting the group to work hard in the offseason, too.

“It depends on what they do between now and next November,” he said after the 48-33 loss to the Indians. “Just being a year older or coming back after a year doesn’t automatically make you any better. But I’m confident. They’re a good group and I know we’ll be hopefully a better team next year.”

The Warriors gained the No. 6 seed for the tourney after going 14-4 in the regular season, with just two losses in Big East Conference play and a 3-2 mark in regular-season crossover games against the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Those two Big East losses were both to Bangor, but Nokomis got a 28-27 win over the Rams on Feb. 2 and again beat Bangor in the biggest win of the Warriors’ season – a 33-31 upset of No. 3 Bangor in the Eastern Maine Class A quarterfinals.

Nokomis also edged No. 11 Waterville 40-36 in the preliminary round.

“In a few days they’ll be able to look back on the season and think positively,” Anderson said. “… Pretty soon they’ll be able to see all 21 games and feel a little bit better and be excited about the potential for next year.”

Jessica Bloch can be reached at 990-8193, 1-800-310-8600 or jbloch@bangordailynews.net.