Brewer girls, boys go the distance for victories

ORONO – While Eastern Maine Indoor Track League meet officials at the scorer’s table were busily informing athletes, coaches, and fans what was going on at the UMaine-Boston University hockey game and in NFL playoff action, two of Eastern Maine’s youngest, scrappiest girls teams, Brewer and Mount Desert Island, were engaging in a playoff-like battle of their own at the UM field house Saturday.

With three events remaining, the Witches and Trojans were separated by a half-point. Twenty minutes later, Brewer was up by 17.5 points, thanks in large part to a 1-3-5 finish in the 2-mile run by Katie Snow, Whitney Gould, and Jennie D’Amico.

In the end, first-year head coach Jamie Crowley’s Witches came out on top, 84-68.5, a score that doesn’t indicate how close the meet actually was. Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln finished third with 60 points, followed by John Bapst of Bangor with 50 and Ellsworth at 27.5.

The Brewer boys team was dominant, earning the team sweep, 124-61 over MDI. Ellsworth was third with 40, followed by MA with 27 and Bapst with 18.

In the girls meet, the distance races were the difference, as the Witches outscored the Trojans 35-8 in the 4-by-880 relay, mile run, 800, and 2-mile. Sixteen of those points were scored by freshman Snow, who picked up wins in the mile (5 minutes, 43.68 seconds) and the 2-mile (13:17.13).

The mile was the closer of Snow’s two wins as she battled with Mattanawcook sensation Renee LaFlamme and MDI’s Emily Farley throughout the race before pulling away in the final 75 yards.

“There was a lot of good competition for her tonight, and that [the mile] set the tone,” said Crowley, who took over the Witches after coaching spring track in Fort Kent for three years.

Brewer is mostly young, with only five seniors, but according to senior shot putter Kelly Clark, the future looks bright.

“A lot of them [the young kids] are great athletes, so I think this team will be good pretty soon,” said Clark, who finished second in the shot with a heave of 28 feet, 2 inches.

Crowley added, “One thing we have is the depth. We’ve got 30 girls and some talent; we’ll pick up points here and there.”

Brewer’s only individual winner other than Snow was Angela Commeau in the 60 hurdles (9.91 seconds). Other key contributors included freshmen Courtney Hutchinson and Kaitlin Noyes, who went 3-4 in the 400, and Brooke Madden, another freshman, who anchored the 4-by-880 team and was second in the open 800.

MDI sprinter Sarah March continued her well, march, to possible championship success by winning two individual events and leading off the Trojans’ winning 4-by-220 team. March claimed the 60 and 200 dashes with times of 7.75 and 28.11 seconds, respectively.

March had to rally in the final yards of the 60 to win that event, surging to nip Monica Gambilado of Ellsworth, who finished in 7.79 seconds.

“The 60 was probably the scariest race for me,” March said. “I had to turn on the jets in the last 20 yards.”

March’s run toward the top of the EMITL sprinting charts has surprised her.

Aimee Brooks took the 400 in 1:05.71 for the Trojans, while Mariah Glover leaped her way to victory in the high jump, clearing 4-10.

In the boys meet, the Witches were looking to show that they could be a title contender, and Crowley feels they did just that.

“I think the boys were trying to make a statement, that they could challenge for this thing,” he said.

Like the girls, the Brewer boys dominated the distance races. Senior star Brendan Carr earned two wins, in the mile and 800 with times of 4:44.23 and 2:07.59, respectively.

“Those are two good wins for Brendan. I know he wanted to run faster, but he will,” Crowley said.

Carr did have quite the battle for a while in the mile with Drew Pickering from Lee Academy, who competes as an individual. Pickering stayed with Carr as long as he could before the Brewer senior pulled away. Pickering finished second in 4:58.92.

Carr was backed up by teammates Travis Blackmer and Paul Holyoke in the mile and Liam Kenny and Alex Smith in the 800. Each of them went 2-3 in those respective races.

Chris Fogler from John Bapst earned two individual wins, taking the triple jump (36-2.75) and high jump (5-10).

The best individual battle of the day took place in the pole vault between MDI’s Jeremy Curran and Matt Jordan of Ellsworth. Curran won the battle eventually, clearing 12 feet to Jordan’s 11. Curran’s teammate, Alex Keene, picked up wins in the 60 (6.92), 200 (24.23), and long jump (19 feet, 6.75 inches) but feels there is room for improvement.

“I know I can do better than what I’ve been doing,” Keene said. “My jumping is really down compared to indoor last year. I need teammates to push me and I need to work harder in practice.”