Bangor boys capture ‘A’ state crown 4×800 relay team sets tone for Rams

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BATH – Barely an hour into Saturday’s Class A outdoor track and field state championship meet, the Bangor High School boys team had it won.

Say what? One hour into a 71/2-hour meet? It was just the second of 19 events in a marathon, back-and-forth affair with more drama, intrigue, twists and turns than an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Besides that, the Rams wound up edging meet favorite Edward Little of Auburn by only 81/2 points. How could the second event – the 4-by-800-meter relay – carry that much clout?

Well, when you’re seeded fifth – a full 10 seconds slower than the top-seeded relay team, which also just happens to be that of the team [Edward Little] you’re trying to beat – in an event you end up winning by turning in a time almost 10 seconds better than that same top-seeded team… Well, anchor leg runner Riley Masters probably summed it up best:

“When you’re fifth seed by 10 seconds and going against the top seed, everyone PR’s, and we win by 10 seconds, and we’re only two seconds off a state record when we weren’t even close to that in indoor track with the same team … Um, that’s just sick,” said the Rams senior.

That’s exactly how Bangor made the Red Eddies, who were seeded to finish 16 points ahead of Bangor, feel after securing its first A state title since 1987.

Bangor scored 98 points to edge EL, which tallied 91.5. Gorham was a distant third with 62, followed by Thornton Academy of Saco (46.5) and Cheverus of Portland (62).

The Rams showed what can happen when every relay runner turns in a personal-best time that’s at least 5 seconds better than any previous leg they’ve run and the relay team shaves a whopping 24.13 seconds off its best time this season.

Where were those times the rest of the season?

“Yeah, where were those times Jaime?” Bangor head coach Joe Quinn jokingly asked distance coach Jaime Cooke at the conclusion of the meet.

“It was the competition,” Cooke answered with a laugh.

Yikes. This is one foursome you don’t want to compete against in a golf tournament.

“I don’t know. I really don’t know how we did that,” said lead runner Joel Parent. “I set an impossible goal for myself, to run a 2:05, and that’s what I ended up running.”

“That definitely pumped me up,” said second leg runner Stephen Salinas of Parent’s run. “I knew he ran awesome splits and I knew if I could follow suit, Riley and Casey [Quaglia] would take it.”

Riley was third leg runner and junior Riley Masters, who was just as awestruck as his teammates.

“When I stepped to the line, we were in fifth, and then our second guy kept moving up so I was like ‘Wow, we’re in this,'” Masters recalled. “Then the EL guy scared me a little bit with his speed on that first lap, but he slowed down a little and I got ahead of him. Then Casey took it home on the last one.

“Dropping 19 seconds off your team’s PR [for indoor and outdoor] is just ridiculous, but this is states. This is where you want to peak.”

They did, and just like in indoor track a few months ago, because of it the Rams end their season atop the peak of Class A track and field.

“This is even better because it’s our second and we weren’t expected to do this,” said Rams senior sprinter Cam Cormier, who won the 400, finished second in the 100 and 200, and ran the anchor leg of Bangor’s second-place 4-by-100 relay team. “Finishing up with another one is a picture perfect way to end it for the seniors.”

Cormier was one of several seniors who figured prominently in Bangor’s victory. Leading the charge was Quaglia, who won both the 1,600 and 3,200 in addition to anchoring the 4-by-800 relay.

Quaglia also provided some crucial extra motivation for Masters after Bangor’s lead shrunk from 191/2 points to 31/2 after Edward Little took first, fourth and sixth in the javelin and top seed Ben Bambrick of Bangor was disqualified. Next up was the 3,200.

“That was a scare. After I found that out, I went up to Riley and said ‘Dude, not to put any pressure on you, but we’ve only got three points on them’ and he just put his head down,” Quaglia said. “We were extremely nervous going into that.”

It didn’t show. Quaglia won with a time of 9 minutes, 47.8 seconds and Masters finished right behind him in 9:50.89.

“Before the race, Casey came up to me and said ‘What do you want to do?’ and I told him I just wanted to run fast,” Masters said.

The Rams’ distance duo finished better than five seconds ahead of the next-closest runner, duplicated their 1-2 finish in the mile, and bumped the lead back up to an insurmountable 15 points with just the 4-by-400 relay left.

Bangor’s Robert Seccareccia was fourth in shot put and sixth in discus, Tyler Seekins finished fifth in the 300 hurdles, Jimmy Clukey was fifth in the triple jump, and Curtis Coleman was sixth in the 200. All are seniors. Bangor’s 4-by-100 relay team of seniors Anthony Martinez, Coleman, Zachariah Brown and Cormier finished second.

Seniors weren’t the only ones playing a vital role in Bangor’s win as sophomore Sean Seekins, Tyler’s younger brother, was fifth in pole vault.

“Everybody, pretty much, had a great meet today,” said Quinn. “It seemed like almost everyone did at least what they were seeded for or better, and we had a lot of personal bests.”

Masters said the little things gave the Rams their big win.

“I think it was also all those small points we picked up, like Sean in pole vault, which I don’t even think he was seeded to place in,” he said. “All those guys stepped up and gave us breathing room.”