Maine Central Institute’s Jenessa Foster competes in the long jump during the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B indoor track and field championships Feb. 10 at Bowdoin College. Mike Mandell/Morning Sentinel


BRUNSWICK — All season long, Emma Burr has been unstoppable for the Maine Central Institute girls indoor track team.

She was such again Friday night — and her success powered the Huskies to a conference championship.

Burr won three events Friday as MCI won its first-ever Kennebec Valley Conference indoor track Class B title at Bowdoin College. The senior took first in the 55-meter hurdles, 55 dash and 200 as the Huskies racked up 80 points to top Lincoln Academy (74 points) for the crown.

“Sometimes, you have to go in arrogant and tell yourself that you’re going to go out there and own it, and that’s what I wanted to do today,” Burr said. “I was feeling confident, and I was ready for it mentally. It feels really good to be able to do that.”

In the 55 dash, Burr posted a time of 7.49 seconds to beat out Winslow’s Allie Kimball (7.79) for first. She then beat out Kimball a second time in her next race, winning the 200 in 26.97 seconds to top the Winslow senior’s time of 27.98.

Yet Burr’s best win of the meet, at least in her own mind, came as she won the 55 hurdles in her first event of the evening. Crossing the finish line in 8.99 seconds, she set a new personal record and beat out Leavitt’s Carina Castagna by an impressive 1.32 seconds.

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Winslow’s Justin Rogers, Joey Richards, Braden Rioux and Ethan Rancourt show off their first-place medals after winning the boys 4-by-800 relay at the KVAC indoor track championships Feb. 10 at Bowdoin College. Mike Mandell/Morning Sentinel


“I felt really good running it, and I was able to break 9 seconds, which was my main goal,” Burr said. “After the prelims, I was really feeling it; I was hyped up, and I think that helped me get the PR in the finals. … When I found out (about the PR), I was jumping all over my coaches. I was so excited.”

In the field, Waterville’s Kara Anderson and Maddie Yakimchick won one jumping event apiece in a pair of tight battles. Anderson beat Yakimchick on a second-jump tiebreaker after both athletes posted 15-foot, 5 1/2-inch jumps, and Yakimchick (32-7 3/4) then returned the favor by topping Anderson (32-4 3/4) in the triple jump.

“I had a bit of a rough time in the middle of the season just overcoming some of the mental side of it, but I got through it, and I was able to come back strong in time for KVACs,” Anderson said. “To be up here on the podium with (Maddie), it’s a surreal feeling, definitely.”

Shalomi Goeway cleared 4-11 to win the high jump for MCI, and Avery Theriault posted a PR of 32-8 3/4 to win the shot put for Cony. The Rams finished with 48 points to finish sixth behind Leavitt (third place, 60.2 points), Morse (fourth place, 52 points) and Waterville (fifth, 51).

On the boys side, Leavitt, which came up just four points short of the title last year, was not denied this time as it racked up 92 points to top Cony (72 points) for the team win. MCI (63 points), Lincoln (62) and Winslow (56) rounded out the top five.

Winslow won the first boys event of the day as Braden Rioux, Ethan Rancourt, Justin Rogers and Joey Richards placed won the 4×800. The quartet posted a time of 9:05.32 to beat out second-place Cony’s team of Martin Ferrusca, Eben Buck, Brandon Mastrianno and Luca Hardy (9:28.56). 

“We just ran our race and focused on doing what we do,” said Richards, who ran the fourth and final leg for the win. “We got a little worried in the second leg, but we really started to kick at the end and started settling in. … (The time) was what we wanted, but as we get closer to states, we want to keep shaving it down.”

Richards added a win in the 400-meter dash with a time of 52.68. Isaac Keresey (2:08.85) beat out Rogers (2:09.12) to win the 800 for MCI, which also got a win from Owen Moore (40-4 3/4) in the shot put. Connor Morin won the high jump (6-1) and triple jump (41-9 1/2) for Cony.

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