Regina Jacobs’ bid for a U.S. record in the 1,500 is scuttled when she pulls out of the meet with a tendon injury.
By Randy Whitehouse
Staff Writer

BRUNSWICK – Organizers were touting this as the deepest field ever in the 10-year history of the Maine Distance Festival, and judging the rate at which meet records bit the dust Saturday, they weren’t just trying to add more hype to the prestigious event.

Five records fell in the 11 running events held on a hazy, hot and humid late afternoon/early evening at Bowdoin College’s Whittier Field. Several other times recorded are now among the top two or three ever at the meet.

Katie Engel of Ottawa set the record-breaking tone by establishing a new mark in the first event, the high school girls’ 800 meters. New records were then established in four of the next six events, none more impressive than those in the high school boys’ mile and the women’s 3,000 meters, where the new champions had to overcome injury or illness, or both, to set their standards.

Ben True, a state champion from Greely High School, broke former Edward Little star Ben Fletcher’s mark in the high school boys’ mile with a time of 4:15.24, four-tenths of a second faster than Fletcher’s four-year-old record.

True had four wisdom teeth taken out three weeks ago, just four days after winning the New England championship with a time of 4:12.28, and didn’t think he’d be in top form Saturday.

“I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get back in shape in time,” he said. “When I started warming up, I was really sweating buckets, it was so hot out there. But you don’t think about it. Once the race starts, everyone’s in the same boat.”

True passed Jeffrey Englehutt (4:17.59) in the first 10 meters of the final lap and finished strong.

“With my (qualifying) time, I knew I had a chance at (the record), but what with taking the time off, I really didn’t think I’d be able to recover quickly enough to make it,” said True, who just completed his junior year at Greely. “I was a little surprised.”

Breeda Willis of Ireland, a two-time winner (1999 and 2000) in the women’s 5,000-meter event that is no longer held at the festival, made the long road back from a fractured femur she suffered a year ago and shattered Molly Watcke’s three-year-old record in the women’s 3,000 meters by nearly three seconds with a time of 9:03.27.

“I guess Maine is a lucky place for me,” said Willis.

Willis wasn’t feeling so lucky when she left training with a new coach in Newport, R.I., to compete in Maine.

“I ran in the middle of the pace most of the race because I was lacking a lot of confidence,” she said. “I ran a really bad race on Tuesday and I’ve been suffering from allergies since I came up to Maine.

“For somebody to go into a race with no confidence and to come out with a win, I’m definitely happy with my performance tonight,” she added.

Derrick Peterson was happy with his performance after barely setting a new meet mark in the men’s 800 meters. Peterson (1:45.69) outdueled Anthony Kabara of Kenya at the finish line and nipped Jess Strutzel’s record by .12 of a second.

Russell Brown of Hanover, N.H., established the other new meet record in the boys’ 800-meters, finishing in 1:52.79 to edge Nolan Fyfe’s year-old mark by nine-hundredths of a second.

Engel struck down the longest-standing record of the meet, held by Leanne Brady in the girls’ 800. Engel pulled away from Lauren Lewis (2:11.36) in the final 10 meters to break the tape at 2:11.17.

The record in the women’s 1,500-meters seemed fairly safe after American Olympian Regina Jacobs, who set the American 5,000-meter record at Whittier Field five years ago, pulled out of the competition last week with an Achilles’ tendon injury. Winner Carmen Douma (4:08.53) fell two seconds short of the record set by Marla Runyan (4:06.42) in 1999.

With Jacobs out, the men’s 5,000-meters became the marquee event, if only for the presence of former Ellsworth High School legend Louie Luchini. An All-American at Stanford, Luchini hung within the top four for most of the race. Chants of “Louie, Louie” from the crowd seemed to spur his taking over third with three laps left, but Luchini quickly dropped back and finished eighth (14:03.77) behind winner Scott Graham of William and Mary (13:49.76).

Chantee Earl, who ran a record in the Women’s 800 meters last year, defended her title with a time of 2:01.49, more than a second off her own mark. Dan Wilson didn’t set a new record in the men’s mile, but he did become just the 11th person ever to run a sub-four-minute mile in the state, breaking the tape at 3:59.83.

Canada’s Matt Kerr (8:37.34) won the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase. Fellow Canadian Scott Russell won the meet’s inaugural javelin throw competition with a throw of 267 feet, 7 inches.

rwhitehouse@sunjournal.com

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