HS track: Dragons have their day; EL girls ninth

GORHAM — Will Geoghegan may have been the star of Monday's Class A Maine Indoor Track and Field Championships, but he was just another key contributor for the Brunswick Dragons' boys team. The Dragons scored in all but three events, winning five en route to a convincing 106-57 victory over runner-up Cheverus.

The championship was the second in three years for the Dragons, while the Scarborough girls narrowly defeated Bonny Eagle 63-62 for their sixth consecutive crown. Edward Little was the top local team as the Red Eddies placed ninth with 18 points.

Geoghegan won all three of the distance races in a dominating performance. In his last two races, the 800 and the 2-mile run, he was pushed to the limit and had to come from behind in the final lap in each of them.

After easily winning the mile (4:19:94) by four seconds over Cony's Luke Fontaine, the Brunswick senior found himself in second place behind Fontaine in the 800. Geoghegan surged into the lead at the start of the bell lap and appeared to be in control, but Fontaine kicked his way into another gear and into first at the far turn. Fontaine's lead lasted just seconds as Geoghegan caught him on the final turn and pulled away for the win.

"The 800 is always my toughest race," said Geoghegan. "What I try to do is go out conservatively and not burn myself out. That worked out well."

For the first half of the two-mile run, Geoghegan and teammate Liam Cassidy were in a pack of four which included Edward Little's Sadim Abdi. Near the end of the mile mark, Cassidy and Geoghegan separated themselves from the rest of the pack with Cassidy taking the lead. The duo stayed that way until they hit the homestretch. With 40 meters to go, Geoghegan had little room to pass his teammate with two other runners who had been lapped taking up valuable real estate on the track. But Geoghegan found a crease and just nipped Cassidy at the finish line.

"You always run into that in the two mile," said Geoghegan of the traffic jam, "but they moved over and Liam kind of left me room to pass."

The Dragons also picked up victories in the 4x200 relay and a pole vault win by Mike Slovenski (15-feet, 2-inches). Slovenski is the third in a line of brothers to win the event.

Bangor's Benjamin Sinclair was a winner in both the 200 and 400 races. His bid for a sprint trifecta ended in the prelims of the 100 when he was disqualified for a false start.

Top local finishers were EL's Michael Lucas who finished fourth in the 55-meter hurdles and took seventh in the 400. Lucas was also part of the 4x200 relay team which placed fourth. Teammate Faisal Noor finished fourth in the 2-mile. Lewiston received fourth place-finishes from Faisal Abdillahi in the 800 and Cam Fillion in the triple jump. The Blue Devils also got fifth-place finishes from Ali Hersi in the mile and Hussien Ibrahim in the 2-mile.

Surprisingly, the Scarborough girls had no individual winners. The Red Storm only stood atop the victory podium in the 3,200 relay and in the team title.

Multiple winners for the girls were Thornton's Hannah Wiley (55 hurdles and 400) and Biddeford's Maria Curit, who won the 200 and established a new record in the long jump with a winning leap of 17-feet, 6½-inches. Bangor freshman Grace Maclean broke the high jump record in winning the high jump (5-feet, 6¼-inches).

Edward Little senior Ashten Hackett was the lone local winner. She captured the triple jump with a leap of 35 feet. After fouling on her first two efforts in the prelims, she nailed her winning jump. In the finals, she fouled on all three tries.

"I was moving my start back to adjust my mark," said Hackett, "but it wasn't helping. "

Instead of being conservative in an attempt to make the finals, Hackett stayed aggressive and won the event on her final preliminary jump.

"I just hit the board right," said Hackett. "All it takes is one jump."

"I often tell the girls it only takes one jump, but I don't mean one out of (six)," laughed EL coach Rebecca Hefty.

Hackett also picked up a fourth-place finish in the 55 hurdles while teammates Chyla Hiott (fourth in the triple jump, sixth in the long jump and seventh in the 55 hurdles) and Katherine Harmon (fifth in the triple jump and sixth in the shot put) both scored in multiple events.

Lewiston's Maame Bonsu was fifth in the high jump and added a sixth-place finish in the long jump while Kristen Therrien captured a fourth in the pole vault.  

Jose Leiva/Sun Journal Edward Little's Ashten Hackett takes to the air in the finals of the triple jump at the Class A track championships held at University of Southern Maine , Gorham on Monday.

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Jose Leiva/Sun Journal Lewiston's Maame Bonsu takes to the air in the high jump at class a track championships held at the University of Southern Maine , Gorham on Monday.

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Jose Leiva/Sun Journal Lewiston's Ali Hersi maintains his position close to the leaders in the mile run at the class A track championships held at the University of Southern Maine, Gorham on Monday.

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Jose Leiva/Sun journal Edward Little's Michael Lucas clears the last hurdle in the finals of 55 meter hurdles event at the class A track championships held at the University of Southern Maine, Gorham on Monday.

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Jose Leiva/Sun Journal Lewiston's Maame Bonsu leaps in the long jump at the class A track championships held at the University of Southern Maine Gorham on Monday.

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Jose Leiva/Sun Journal Edward Little's Chyla Hiott makes her landing in the long jump at the class a track championships held at the University of Southern Maine, Gorham on Monday.

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Jose Leiva/Sun Journal Edward Little's Ashten Hackett clears the last hurdle in the 55 meter hurdles event at the class A track championships held at the University of Southern Maine, Gorham on Monday.

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