The Hall-Dale High School boys track and field team is off to an impressive start, winning its first two meets against formidable competition.

“It’s been a lot of fun watching the boys team evolve throughout the season,” Hall-Dale coach Jarod Richmond said. “They are finding different ways to score points.”

Members of the Bulldogs are also finding different events in an effort to step out of their comfort zone and boost team scores.

Richmond said athletes are encouraged to try at least two different events.

“Three or four would be preferable,” Richmond said. “One thing we’ve focused on is kids doing multiple events. It makes you better in your event. If you do the long jump, for example, it helps if you do a couple sprinting events. And it’s the same in the field. Instead of a kid spending a whole week throwing the shot around, maybe there is something else they could do.”

The emphasized versatility is paying off for several Bulldogs. Richmond said Sam Shepherd is now routinely clearing 6-foot-2 in the high jump after struggling to go over 6 feet last spring. Tyler Fitzgerald, one of the top sprinters in the Mountain Valley Conference, is competing in the long jump and high jump this season as well.

“He didn’t do a whole lot of that last year,” Richmond said. “And Sam is also seeing results.”

Shepherd led the victorious 4×400 relay team at a five-team meet at Wiscasset last week. He also won the 300 hurdles in 48.1 seconds. Colten Zakrzewski won the javelin and triple jump, while Fitzgerald won the 100 in 11.5 seconds and the 200 in 24.1.

“I expected us to be very competitive,” Richmond said. “I’m excited to see where we can go.”

• • •

Winthrop boys finished second and the girls third last Thursday at Madison.

Kameron Souza and Zach Nadeau followed up their performances at the annual Tom Foley Invitational with another strong meet. Souza won the 400 (54.99) and finished second in three other events. Nadeau won the shot put with a throw of 45-1.

“Zach Nadeau continued to impress,” Winthrop coach Ed Van Tassel said. “He’s just throwing real strong. The distance and the throwing are our two strong areas. The shot put is a real strength. We had four of the top five spots. It’s exciting to see the depth.”

Nate Bowers, Brady Farnham and Sam Vigue also scored points in the shot.

Souza is primarily a middle distance runner, but the senior captain is adding the javelin to his events this season. He’s also competing in the high jump.

“He’s willing to do anything,” Van Tassel said.

Rachel Lorgan (long jump) and Christina Smith (high jump) led the girls with individual victories.

“We’re happy with where we’re at,” Van Tassel said. “The kids are competitive.

• • •

Cony senior Julian Hubbard reached new heights in the high jump last Thursday, and coach Jon Millett said that should serve as a confidence-booster. Hubbard won the triple jump, long jump and high jump at the Skowhegan meet.

“He was amazing,” Millett said. “He’s looking really good.”

Hubbard also set a personal record by clearing 6-0 in the high jump. He had only accomplished that feat once before, during the indoor season.

“He’s pretty ecstatic,” Millett said. “Hopefully, this will propel him and he’ll continue to do well.”

Hubbard won the long jump with a leap of 19-4. He went 40-4 in the triple jump.

Like Hubbard, Cony junior Luke Dang also won three events — the 100, 200 and 400.

“Luke does what Luke does,” Millett said. “We’re expecting some good races with him coming up, too.”

• • •

The Erskine track and field teams received quite a surprise when it showed up at Brunswick last Thursday for what they thought was a three-team meet featuring Oceanside and Brunswick.

“We got there, and all of a sudden we were like, ‘There’s another team here,’ ” Erskine coach Ben Willoughby said.

That other team was Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A contender Bangor.

“We had to quickly change some things around to try and maximize our points,” Willoughby said.

The Eagles still turned in a strong meet — the girls finished second while the boys came in fourth.

Bridget Humphrey scored in three events to lead the way. She won the shot put with a throw of 29-8, finished second in the javelin and fourth in the 300 hurdles.

Freshman Kyra Nerrithew also made an impression, winning the discus (81-1) in her first meet. Grace Killian won the javelin with a throw of 86-9.

“We had some pretty good performances,” Willoughby said.

Bill Stewart — 621-5640

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