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If you look at the girls performance list for Monday’s Class A track and field championships at the University of Southern Maine, there doesn’t appear to be a clear-cut favorite.
“It’s a toss-up, I don’t think anyone is favored that much,” said Ron Kelly, coach of four-time defending champion Scarborough.
Along with Eastern Maine Indoor Track League champion Brewer, the Red Storm is loaded with depth while KVAC Class A champ Brunswick has two of the state’s quickest sprinters in Kristin Slotnick and Clare Franco.
Add in always-competitive Thornton Academy of Saco, Gorham and Edward Little of Auburn, and it could be a tough puzzle to solve once the starter’s gun goes off at the Costello Field House just after 10 a.m.
So how will it be solved?
Well, that’s going to be the task at hand for Maine’s top teams and individuals.
The Witches, Red Storm and Dragons will all look to their strengths, and Brewer’s comes from its relays, speed in the sprints, depth in the distance events and EMITL co-Outstanding Performer MacKenzie DeGraff in the jumps.
You won’t see DeGraff competing in the same individual events she won at the EMITL championship meet. With a better chance of placing in the long and triple jumps, coach Jamerson Crowley decided it was best to bring her in fresh for those events and have another possible candidate for the 4×200 relay.
“That’s an interesting point,” he said. “She’s been strong all year, you saw it at Easterns in the triple jump. When she needs to make a big jump, she usually does.”
DeGraff is seeded sixth in the long jump and fifth in the triple jump, where the top five jumpers from Messalonskee of Oakland’s Jessie Labreck to DeGraff are separated by a little over a foot.
The Witches will also look for big points out of Katie Snow and Michelle Haluska in the mile and two mile, along with the 4×800.
Snow, the third seed in the mile, has improved her times consistently over the season and broke the 5-minute, 30-second barrier for the first time in her career last weekend, clocking a 5:27.09.
“She’s a big key for us. We need her to be, she’s the kind of girl who leads by example,” Crowley said of Snow, also seeded fourth in the 2 mile, where Haluska, whose personal record of 12:00.82 is a new Brewer freshman class record, is second.
The Witches’ relays are perhaps their top threats. Both their 4×8 and 4×200 teams rewrote the EMITL record books this winter, and both will contend for a coveted first-place finish and even more pivotal 10 points.
Brewer’s 4×8 quartet of Kaitlin Noyes, Haluska, Bekah Clark and Snow has clocked a 10:03.62 and is seeded second behind Scarborough, while its 4×200 will in the mix as well.
The 4×200 team of Sarah Risser, Erika Cote, Kira Giroux and Colleen Carr broke its own EMITL record twice this winter, posting a 1:51.05
“That’s a big thing for us, being strong in both relays,” said Crowley. “They’re going to be up against some very good competition, hopefully it’ll bring out the best in our teams.”
Brewer will be bolstered by the return of Clark, a sophomore who missed the EMITL championships with a back injury.
Other keys for the Witches will be Giroux in the 200 and 400 and Noyes in the pole vault.
EMITL runner-up Bangor boasts the second seed in the 55 hurdles in junior Dee Wilbur, while Kendra Lenz will look to place in the long and triple jumps.
Mid-distance runner Jennie Lucy will run the 4×800 and 800, and has been very impressive after missing half the season with a knee injury, and posted a solid 2:27 in the 800 last weekend.
On the boys’ side, the 2 mile will feature a long-anticipated showdown between two of the top schoolboy runners in New England.
Riley Masters of Bangor has posted a 9:38.77 this winter, which is ranked tops in New England and that time has earned the Rams’ senior a qualifying berth in the Nike Indoor Nationals.
His main competition will come from Lewiston senior Mohamed Noor, seeded right behind him at 9:39.86.
Both runners will run the distance triple, and Masters is seeded second to Noor in both the mile and 800, while Masters’ teammate, Stephen Salinas, is third in a wide-open 800 field in which the top nine runners are separated by a mere four seconds.
The defending Class A state champs will need strong performances from Masters and Salinas, along with Chris Illingworth and Lonnie Hackett in the 400 if they’re going to have a chance at being among the top teams.
Ben Sinclair, Steven Rice and Chase Daniels represent Brewer’s best chances to rack up some solid individual points.
Sinclair is the top seed in the 400 at 50.71 seconds, where he’ll be challenged by Illingworth, Hackett and Cam Stevens of Gorham.
Daniels has improved in the pole vault for the Witches, clearing 12 feet to win that event in the EMITL championships.
Rice is among five runners who can place anywhere from fifth to ninth in the 400. The sophomore’s personal best this season is 53.66.
Brunswick and Gorham appear to be the early favorites in the team competition.
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