The Bangor High girls indoor track and field team will get a boost this weekend when senior Jennie Lucy returns to the Rams’ lineup.

Lucy, a mid-distance standout, has been out of action since injuring her knee during soccer season, and coach Manyard Walton will be extremely careful with her.

“We have a doctor’s certificate to watch her very closely,” said Walton. “Our trainer, [Bangor athletic director] Steve Vanidestine and myself will be watching her very closely.”

Lucy will run the 800 meters as the Rams square off against Bucksport, Central of Corinth, Hermon, Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln, Mount Desert Island, Sumner of East Sullivan and Orono in a seven-team Eastern Maine Indoor Track League competition at the University of Maine Saturday night.

Lucy normally runs the 400 and 800 – she is the defending EMITL champion in both of those events – and occasionally the 4×220 relay, but sprint races such as the 200 and 400 will likely put too much pressure on her knee, in particular when accelerating quickly at the start, according to Walton.

“The thing is we can’t put her into a 200 or 400 because it’s too strenuous,” Walton said.

Walton will be missing another one of his top athletes in sprinter/jumper Kendra Lenz this weekend, who has “a slight tear in her upper thigh,” the coach said.

Lenz aggravated the thigh competing in the 55-meter dash last Friday, in which she outleaned Brewer junior MacKenzie DeGraff to win in 7.92 seconds.

With three weeks of meets remaining until the EMITL championships on Feb. 9, Walton knows its better to be safe than sorry.

“It’s not very deep and the thing is we’re going to hold her out on this meet,” he said. “After she ran that [55], she felt it a little bit, so we’re not going to take any chances.”

Lenz, like many of the Rams, improved vastly in their individual events in last week’s five-team meet, in particular shot putters Cote Theriault and Erika Francis, who placed second and third last weekend.

“We had some very good improvements, Cote in the shot, in the [55], then we had pole vault and high jump,” Walton said.

Walton had three girls clear 4 feet, 8 inches in the high jump in Robin Treadwell, who soared over 4-10, along with Katie Taylor and Megan Hogan, who each went over 4-8.

Pole vaulter Jen Tsang bettered her mark to 8 feet, and had a great battle with Brewer’s Kaitlin Noyes last week, who also cleared 8 feet.

Now, Walton will seek improvement in the long and triple jumps in the next couple meets, events where the Rams have the most depth.

“One area where we’re looking for improvement is the long jump, we have the horses,” said Walton, who has a solid corps in Lenz, Catherine LeClair and Becca Bogan.

Bettering those marks will be crucial if Bangor is going to have a chance at its fifth consecutive EMITL championship.

“If we’re going to do anything, we need three to score, no question about it,” Walton said.

Mainers excel at Dartmouth

Old Town’s Hilary Maxim, Messalonskee of Oakland’s Jessie Labreck and Brunswick’s David Slovenski led a strong Maine contingent at last weekend’s Dartmouth College Relays in Hanover, N.H.

Maxim, who went to the meet seeking competition, got plenty of it as she placed 10th out of 22 runners in a strong mile field, finishing in 5 minutes, 12.76 seconds.

One of the runners Maxim beat was Hanover, N.H., star Georgia Griffin, who won the New England Cross Country championship in Cumberland in November. Griffin has committed to go to Stanford University.

LaBreck picked up two firsts, winning the 55-meter hurdles in 8.38 seconds and triple jump with an impressive mark of 37 feet, 5 inches.

She added a 17-51/4 in the long jump, good for second place.

Greely of Cumberland Center shot putter Becky O’Brien, who has committed to North Carolina, captured her event with a heave of 46-03/4.

On the boys side, Slovenski went on to set a meet record in the pole vault, soaring to a height of 16 feet. Scarborough’s Brad Nakanishi was third in the same event, clearing 13-6.

Dominik Alexis of Waterville cleared 6-4 in the high jump to finish second while Jason Kaake of Morse High in Bath was 14th in the 2-mile in 10:05.

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