Distance runner Quaglia, sprinter Cormier spark Rams

ORONO – When Pat Taylor blazed through the finish line in the 4×880-yard relay, the first event in Saturday’s Eastern Maine Indoor Track League championship meet at the University of Maine field house, there was a strong indication that the Bangor Rams were on their way to a second straight EM title.

Led by sprinter Cam Cormier (two individual wins) and distance runner Casey Quaglia (three individual wins), Bangor did cruise to its second straight EMITL title with a 124-point showing, but Mount Desert Island, Brewer, and Orono engaged in a great battle for second place throughout the night.

The Witches and Trojans ended up tied for second with 54 points apiece while Orono’s 52 was good for fourth. Old Town rounded out the top five with 44 points.

For the second year in a row, junior Quaglia completed the tough distance triple (mile, 800 meters, and two-mile) and captured all three, earning him the meet’s outstanding performer honor.

Bangor’s Jolene Belanger also was named the outstanding performer in the girls meet after she won three events. It was the first time in the 35 years of the EMITL that two individuals from the same school each scored the maximum 30 points to win the awards.

“It’s an honor,” Quaglia said. “I wasn’t sure if it was gonna happen. About 10 minutes before the 2-mile, I threw up four times, so I wasn’t sure if I could race.”

Indeed he did race, and he pulled away from Brewer’s Brendan Carr in the last mile to win in 10 minutes, 19 seconds. Quaglia’s effort in the mile was 4:29.44 and 2:02.16 in the 800.

“My [2-mile] time wasn’t great,” Quaglia said, “but Brendan Carr pushed me great.”

Quaglia got plenty of help from teammates in all three races. Riley Masters ran to fourth in the mile (4:50.51) while Elliot Meguier was third in the 800 and 2-mile and Taylor sixth in the 800.

“It’s all about team. You have to do what you can do for the team,” Quaglia said.

Taylor and Meguier teamed up with Branden Mountain and Chris Illingworth to win the 4×880 in 8:46.92.

Sixty-yard and 200 specialist Cormier helped the cause with blistering victories in those races: 6.80 in the 60 and 23.51 in the 200, flirting with the EMITL 200 record that Tranior Kapler of Hampden set last year (23.32).

“I had a great time, it was a lot of fun,” Cormier said. “I dropped [my time] in the 60, I liked that.”

Cormier also ran third on the winning 4×220 team (1:36.15), which also included Ben Ludwig, Curtis Coleman, and Ryan Curless.

Curless and Coleman went 5-6 in the 200 while Curless ran to third in the 400.

While Bangor was busy running away with the meet, the Witches, Trojans, and Red Riots were busy fighting it out for second place. Senior Carr’s second-place efforts in the mile (4:35.73), 800 (2:03.94), and 2-mile (10:27.87) and Adam Mullen’s victory in the shot put (40 feet, 31/2 inches) keyed Brewer while jumpers Alex Keene and Danny Smith sparked MDI.

“They’re [Orono and MDI] great teams. We were lucky to come out with a good result,” Brewer coach Jamie Crowley said. “I’m sure Orono and MDI will do real well in that Class B state meet next week.”

Keene and Smith went 3-4 in the triple jump and 1-3 in the long jump. Smith’s winning leap in the long jump was 20-31/2.

Orono battled hard as well, getting victories from Jeff Normand in the 400 in 54.36 and James Berry in the 60 hurdles (8.10) and pole vault (12-0). Normand also had third-place efforts for the Red Riots in the 60 and 200 (6.94 and 23.84, respectively).

Other individual winners included David Thomas from Sumner of East Sullivan in the high jump (6-0) and Hampden Academy’s Jonathan Lenz in the triple jump (41-51/2).

The Rams are eager to contend for next Monday’s state title at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham.

“I’m really excited. We’ve got at least a shot to place,” Cormier added, while Quaglia said that he “can’t wait for states.”