As the Eastern Maine Indoor Track League heads into the final weekend of regular-season action before the Feb. 9th conference championships, things are just starting to heat up.

The temperatures in the University of Maine field house rose to a boiling point last weekend, as another league record fell, another was nearly broken, a winning streak was halted and Eastern Maine’s best runners continued to produce better seed times and distances.

The Brewer girls continued to re-write the EMITL record books.

Seven days after the Witches’ 4×220-relay quartet of Erika Cote, Kira Giroux, Colleen Carr and Sarah Risser broke their own conference record in that event, Brewer’s 4×880 team wanted to get in on the record-breaking fun.

The foursome of Kaitlin Noyes, Brooke Madden, Bekah Clark and Katie Snow did that in a big way, blazing around the UMaine track in 10 minutes, 3.62 seconds, which not only eclipsed the 10:08.66 that Bangor’s Kelly Schneck, Jennie Foley, Jennie Lucy and Jolene Belanger posted in 2005-06, but gave the Witches the state’s top ranked 4×880 time.

The 10:03.62 equals an average split of roughly 2:30 per leg.

Coach Jamerson Crowley’s top athletes also enjoyed some of their best efforts of the season, in particular MacKenzie Degraff, who lowered her 55-meter dash time to 7.86 seconds and reached 16 feet in the long jump; and Giroux, who cracked the 28-second barrier in the 200 in clocking a 27.94.

Meanwhile, Old Town senior Hilary Maxim continues to set the bar for schoolgirl distance runners not just in Eastern Maine, but statewide.

The Coyotes’ standout came within three seconds of breaking the EMITL record in the mile last weekend, running uncontested to a personal-best 5:07.76, three seconds off Heather Clark’s league record of 5:04.66 set in 2003.

Maxim later posted an 11:25.53 in the two mile, running uncontested in both races.

Those times, in addition to her 2:24.15 clocking in the 800 earlier this year are all tops statewide.

Classmate Lauren Keane has climbed to the peak of the EMITL and state performance lists in the 400 meters as well.

Keane lowered her 400 time to 1:02.43 last weekend, which is the quickest among EMITL and Class B runners and third overall statewide, behind only Brunswick’s Claire Franco and Maria Curit of Biddeford.

Keane and teammate Erin St. Peter headline a deep Eastern Maine 400 field that includes the likes of Noyes and Giroux of Brewer, Bangor’s Brittney Chapman and Katie Porter and Alex Crocker of Orono, all of whom have run under 64 seconds.

Bangor senior Riley Masters continued his mastery of Eastern Maine competition while putting himself in a prime position for the upcoming state championships in the 2 mile.

Masters broke the 10-minute barrier for the first time this winter, posting a 9:47.56 and climbing to the top of the statewide ranks in that event, just ahead of Lewiston’s Mohamed Noor.

Masters’ efforts of 2:02.33 in the 800 and 4:28.81 in the mile are second in the state, only to Noor.

Masters’ Rams lost in EMITL competition for the first time since the 2004-05 season last weekend, falling by 10 points to Brewer.

The defending Class A state champs had not lost a meet in indoor or outdoor track since the 2006 outdoor state championships or within league competition since Old Town knocked them off in January 2005.

With top guns Masters, Stephen Salinas, Lonnie Hackett, Chris Illingworth and Tyler Seekins hitting stride in their events, the Rams are still considered the favorites in next weekend’s EMITL championships but the Witches, led by sprinter Ben Sinclair, should give Bangor a strong challenge.

TA to host New Englands

This spring, Maine’s high school track and field athletes who are fortunate enough to qualify for the New England Championships will get to showcase their talents in their home state.

Thornton Academy’s Hill Stadium in Saco will host the June 14th meet, the second time in three years that the facility has hosted the championships.

The 2005 meet at TA featured arguably one of the best races in the history of Maine track and field, where former South Portland star Eric Giddings and former Portland High standout Sintayehu Taye finished 1-2 in the 3,200 meters, running impressive times of 9:00.70 and 9:01.68, respectively.

That race was run in oppressive 90-plus degree heat, while meet officials sprayed runners with hoses and handed them cups of water.

Giddings’ winning time from 2005 is the current New England record.

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