Old Town outdistances foes in prep for PVC meet

ORONO – Saturday’s Penobscot Valley Conference track and field meet at Orono High School gave athletes who were “on the bubble” a last chance to qualify for next week’s conference championship meets and athletes who already have sewed up a spot in the championship meets an opportunity to improve times and distances.

Both team titles went to Old Town on a cold, blustery day. The Indian girls outdistanced archrival Orono 219.50-138. Central of Corinth was third in the six-team field with 89.50 points, followed by the Elan School of Poland Spring with 57, Bangor Christian with 25 and Penquis of Milo with 20.

The Old Town boys dominated, winning all but three of the events contested on the track to pile up 271 points to second-place Elan’s 103. Orono was third with 90, followed by Central (84), Bangor Christian (14), and Penquis (10).

In the girls meet, Indians freshman middle-distance runner Ashleigh Madden put herself in good position for the PVC title meet in the 800 by winning that event in a time of 2 minutes, 27.61 seconds after locking horns with Caitlin Minutolo of Orono in a good race.

Madden also ran a 1:05 split on Old Town’s winning 4×400 relay team.

Madden said being pushed by Minutolo really helped her, especially on a windy day when runners tend to use the wind to draft off one another in distance races.

“I really need Caitlin to push myself,” Madden said. “She was great to work off and stuff.”

Madden, who ran third on the 4×400 team, chased down Riots third leg Lauren Wheeler, passed her about 50 meters from the handoff zone, and teammate Alivia Moore sealed the win.

“My main focus was to get my team to the top,” Madden said of the 4×400.

Amanda Ewing and Lauren Keane ran the first and second legs for Old Town.

“The 2:27 [in the 800] was pretty impressive for her [Madden],” said Old Town coach Rod White.

White said Madden’s performance in the 800 is a 10-second personal best for her.

White also was concerned about injuries.

“Overall, the best thing was getting through the meet with a minimal amount of injuries,” he said. “The weather didn’t help out; it wasn’t a good day for hamstrings.”

Old Town spread its points out well throughout the meet with Hilary Maxim taking first in the 1600 and Eliza Tibbetts winning the 3200. Chelsea Nye placed second in both of those races. The Indians also swept the long jump, with Michelle Goulette taking first while Bianca Moore, Amy McLaughlin, Kendra Gould, Courtney Soule, and Jenna King rounded out places 2-6.

Penquis sprinter Erin Beasley and Orono sensation Emily Artesani gave Class C fans something to look forward to in next week’s championships as they dueled in both the 100 and 200 dashes. Beasley ended up taking both races with times of 13.37 and 27.12, while Artesani was second (13.58, 27.17).

Artesani won the 400 in 1:02.47 and was second in the triple jump.

In the boys meet, the Indians spread out their points just as the girls did, racking up 43 points in the first four events on the track to pull away early.

White said most of his athletes were trying to get into better positions for the PVC championship.

“Most of the kids have already qualified,” he said. “We were just trying to improve on it. Plus, when you get a day when it feels like March 21st as opposed to May 21st, you can’t really get a lot done.”

Among the big point-scorers were Andy Wood, who won both the 100 and 200 dashes (12.02, 24.75) and led off the winning 4×100 team, which included Erlend Rismyhr, Brian Wilbur and Brent Wilbur.

Tim Niles took first in both the long and triple jumps with marks of 18 feet, 8.50 inches and 37-7 and was third in the high jump and 200. Throwing sensation Tyler Eastman racked up 30 points in taking the javelin (150-2), discus (132-6), and shot put (49-5).

White likes his team’s chances to repeat as PVC champs, but he said the Indians will face a stiff challenge from Bangor.

“Bangor should be considered the favorites in both boys and girls,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of talented kids. We’re just gonna go down to MDI, do our best, and see what happens.”

Other individual winners were OT’s Sam Petrie in the high jump and Elan’s Dan Seltzer in the 3200.