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BREWER – Just call Casey Quaglia the Curt Schilling of track and field.
Like the Boston Red Sox pitcher was in the 2004 playoffs, the Bangor High School sophomore distance runner was a true warrior in Friday’s Penobscot Valley Conference Class A-B championship meet at Pendleton Street Field Friday.
Quaglia won all three distance races (1600, 800, 3200) and anchored the second-place 4×800 relay team to lead the Rams to the team title by a whopping 163-79 margin over runner-up Hampden. Caribou was third out of nine teams with 71, Ellsworth was fourth at 60.5, and Mount Desert Island rounded out the top five with 58.
The Bangor girls also were victorious, 155-122 over the second-place Broncos. Rounding out the top five were defending champ Old Town (102), MDI (79), and Caribou (53).
The meet was originally scheduled to be held at Mount Desert Island High School but was moved to Brewer after Thursday’s torrential rains soaked MDI’s facility.
One top performer who didn’t compete was Old Town junior distance state record holder Cassie Hintz. Old Town coach Rod White said Hintz was not competing for the Indians anymore for “various reasons.”
Her father, Ray Hintz, said it was a “mutual decision” between his daughter and White for her not to compete on the team. Cassie Hintz had competed in just one high school meet this spring season.
In the boys meet, Quaglia, who was voted by the coaches as the meet’s most outstanding performer, had yet another clash with Brewer junior Brendan Carr in the 800, running stride-for-stride before Quaglia pulled away to win in 2 minutes, 5.33 seconds while Carr finished in 2:06.71. Quaglia’s 1600 mark was 4:33.17, and he had a personal-best 10:14.36 in the 3200.
And who does he thank for these fine times: sprinting coach Jim Hedges.
“I needed his [Hedges] spikes, because I didn’t have mine; they were locked in my car,” Quaglia said. “He came through in the clutch, went home and got his spikes.”
Quaglia’s last win of the day, in the 3200, was perhaps the most dramatic, as he used the wind to draft off Caribou’s Dimitri Luthi and Sam Sheehan through the first 2,400 meters then pulled away with 600 meters to go.
“Everybody just helped me out,” Quaglia said, referring to the drafting.
“I don’t know where it comes from. It’s just luck I guess,” he added about his kick.
“He’s always been very competitive,” said Bangor coach Joe Quinn. “He wanted to do all the events because it would be a good challenge for him.”
Quaglia’s Rams were in a dogfight with the Broncos and Vikings early in the meet, as Bangor and Hampden were tied after nine events with 49 points. Bangor used its depth to outscore Hampden 114-30 through the meet’s final 10 events.
Among the Rams’ other big point-scorers were Sidney Melidones in the sprints and Ben Weismann in the hurdle races. Melidones took both the 100 and 200 dashes in great races with HA’s Trainor Kapler, with times of 11.41 and 23.22 seconds, respectively. He also ran second leg on the 4×100 relay team, which came in first.
Weismann, who was seeded sixth in the 300 hurdles, came out of that slot to win in 43.18 seconds in addition to earning second in the 110 hurdles in 16.85.
“Lots of kids who didn’t place first moved way up,” Quinn said. “A lot of kids stepped up and did well.”
Other Bangor winners were John Quinn in the discus (133-6) and Nick Buchanan in the high jump (6-0).
Old Town was missing points from standout senior thrower Tyler Eastman who, according to White, was on a senior class trip to Florida along with Adam Avera, Mark Limikka, and Jake Fogarty.
In the girls meet, the Rams and Broncos had a good battle throughout the night, but Bangor used its depth to pull away late.
The Broncos were led by most valuable performer and sophomore sprinter Lauren Maltz, who won the 100 (13.03), 400 (1:01.58), was second in the 200 (27.50) to teammate Emily Chambers (27.25) and anchored the second-place 4×100 relay team.
Maltz locked horns with good friend and Bangor freshman Allie Clukey in the 800, with Maltz prevailing by .6 of a second.
“Allie and I are really close, we play basketball together, so it was pretty cool,” Maltz said.
Maltz also ran a picture-perfect 400, flying through the first 200 meters to put distance on MDI’s Aimee Brooks and Jennie Lucy of Bangor.
“I was really nervous because there was a person seeded ahead of me and I wanted to win, so I pushed it a little bit too quickly and died at the end,” Maltz said. “I still won, so I was happy.”
Leading the Bangor girls was Clukey, who earned second in the 200 and 100 as well as running second on the winning 4×100 relay team, which also included Amanda McGinn, Kelly Schneck, and Kelly Krapf. Kraph also took the long jump with a mark of 16 feet, 1.25 inches.
“Allie did well in the 200,” Quinn said. “It wasn’t her best time, but she did well.”
Jolene Belanger also racked up big points for the Rams, anchoring the winning 4×400 team – which Lucy, Schneck, and Krapf also ran on – took the 300 hurdles (49.00), was second in the long jump, and third in the triple jump.
Shauna Lynch of Ellsworth captured the 1600 in 5:25.76 while MDI’s Emily Farley won the 3200 in 11:58.71.
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