Bangor boys, girls face tests, but prevail for wins

BANGOR ? The only bad luck Casey Quaglia seemed to have on this Friday the 13th was the fact the winds were so gusty.

Other than that, things seemed to go just fine for the Bangor High School sophomore runner, who won all three distance events (1600, 800, 3200) in leading the Rams to a Penobscot Valley Conference outdoor track and field victory over Old Town by a score of 127-106 on a cold, blustery day at Cameron Stadium. Crosstown rival John Bapst was third with 39 points and Calvary Chapel Christian of Orrington finished with 10.

The Bangor girls were also victorious, edging the Crusaders by only three points, 105.50-102.50, followed by the Indians (77) and Sabers (1).

In the girls meet, the Class C Crusaders, who have won the last three state championships, went toe-to-toe with their Class A foes throughout the evening with Bangor eventually prevailing.

“This was such an important meet,” said John Bapst coach Bruce Pratt. “This was a meet all three schools [Bangor, John Bapst, Old Town] really needed.”

“We always have a good meet with Bapst, especially the girls,” added Rams coach Joe Quinn.

Paving the way for the Crusaders was senior standout Katie Andrle, who won both hurdle races and anchored the winning 4×400-meter relay team.

“It definitely helped having the wind at my back in the 100 hurdles,” Andrle said. “It enabled me to three-step.”

John Bapst runners also took two of the three distance races with Nicole Lavertu winning the 1600 and Courtney Martin taking the 3200. Evelyn Sharkey was second in both the 1600 and 800 and ran on JB’s winning 4×800 team.

“I’m pleased with our progress and the new kids,” Pratt said. “We’re starting to do much better in the throws.

Bangor was led by freshman sprinter Allie Clukey and junior Jolene Belanger. Belanger captured the triple jump with a mark of 34 feet, 1.50 inches while Clukey took both the 100- and 200-meter races with times of 13.16 and 27.90 seconds, respectively.

“She had a good meet in the 100 and 200,” Quinn said of Clukey, who has excelled in youth track programs over the past few years. “She’s doing very well.

Jennie Lucy captured the 800 for Bangor and the Rams also took the 4×100 relay.

Other Bangor winners included Robin Treadwell in the high jump (4-8), Amber Reed in the discus (86-5) and Sorrell Cardello in the shot put (29-11.50).

Old Town’s Alivia Moore took the 400 in 1:06.64 while Kendra Gould captured the long jump (15-1.50).

In the boys meet, Quaglia put the team first and completed the triple, good for 24 meet points on the afternoon.

His times were: 4 minutes, 49.49 seconds in the 1600, 2:11.56 in the 800 and 10:35.37 in the 3200.

“I wanted to think of the team and see if I could do it [the distance triple]” in PVCs,” Quaglia said. “My times weren’t great but the weather conditions were horrible.”

The 3200 was probably the closest of the three races, as Quaglia was in a three-man duel with Old Town’s Travis Vicary and David McCourt of Bapst. In the final lap, it was Quaglia and Vicary, and as Vicary tried to pass Quaglia on the backstretch, Quaglia shut the door and pulled away for the win.

“I was trailing him [Vicary] and taking the tail wind from him,” said Quaglia. “He tried to pass me on the backstretch, and I wouldn’t let him do it. I just had so much in me.”

Vicary finished in 10:44.56 while McCourt wound up third (11:02.61).

“He is running more consistent,” Quinn said of Quaglia. “Overall, we had some very good performances.”

The Rams’ sprinters and jumpers scored most of the points, with Sidney Melidones taking the 100 (11.37) and 200 (23.72). Bangor also won both the 4×100 and 4×400 relays, with Melidones running second on the 4×100. Allie Clukey’s brother Jimmy was second in both the long and triple jumps and led off the 4×400 relay. Andrew Loring took the javelin with a heave of 159-10.

Other individual winners were Old Town’s Andrew Reinzo in the 400 (56.14), Sam Petrie in the high jump (5-10), Mark Liimakka in the pole vault (10-0), Andy Wood in the long jump (17-11.25), Tim Niles in the triple jump (40-00) and Tyler Eastman in both the shot put and discus (51-0.50, 130-04).