WATERVILLE — One team won in a runaway; the other won as tight as tight can be.
Both, though, were good enough to take home trophies — and marked the continued success of two programs that have emerged as the area standard in recent seasons.
The Maine Central Institute girls and Winslow boys successfully defended their crowns in Saturday’s Community Cup at Waterville’s Drummond Field. The Huskies produced one of the most prolific team performances in event history while the Black Raiders beat Waterville by a single point.
On the girls side, MCI racked up 232 points, the most from any team since the Waterville girls scored 258 1/2 points in 2010. The Huskies finished with an impressive nine wins on the day to beat out the second-place Purple Panthers by 71 points.
“We worked hard at refocusing and making sure our eyes are on the prize ahead of championships,” said MCI head coach Jess Libby. “We put some people in new positions to see if they could fill some of where the gaps might be for next week, and they stepped up. I was really happy with that.”
The ever-reliable Emma Burr won three track events for MCI, taking first in the 100- (12.87 seconds), 200- (26.35 seconds) and 400-meter (59.98 seconds) dashes. She added a fourth win in the field, recording a distance of 96 feet in the javelin to beat out Waterville’s Sadie Williams (86 feet).
Maine Central Institute’s Heather Nelson competes in the shot put at the Community Cup track meet at Waterville Senior High School in Waterville on Saturday. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel
Shalomi Goeway (high jump, 1,600-meter race walk), Gabrielle Finelli (100-meter hurdles) and Heather Nelson (pole fault) added individual wins for MCI, and Addison Verrill, Cecilia Stinson, Isabelle Grard and Riley Williams won the 4×800. A countless number of second- and third-place efforts helped the Huskies truly pile on the points.
“Gabby Finelli looked really good in the 100 hurdles, and Emma was great, especially in the 400, but that’s nothing new there,” Libby said. “Olivia Varney got us some points in some events she was trying for the first time. I think we’re really seeing the pieces come together and getting a good look at where we are for next week.”
Abby Williams won the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs for Waterville in 2:28.51, 5:33.14 and 12:12.92, respectively, and teammates Maddie Yakimchick won the long (16-0) and triple jumps (35-3 1/2). Those two also participated on Waterville’s 4×100 relay team, which won with a time of 54.04.
Elsewhere, Winslow’s Kyri Meak, Emily Daigneault, Addison Pellerin and Allie Kimball won the girls 4×400 in 4:40.39. Lawrence got a pair of wins in the field with Zoe Hutchins (29-6) winning the shot put and Payton Cole (88-9) taking first in the discus throw.
On the boys side, Winslow had work to do entering the final event of the day with Waterville holding a three-point edge entering the 4×400. Yet the Black Raiders, favored to win the event, did so with Talon Loftus, Hassan Hobbi, Justin Rogers and Joey Richards posting a time of 3:46.37.
Richards added wins in the 400- and 800-meter runs for Winslow, and Hobbi claimed victories in the 110- and 300-meter hurdles. Loftus, Rogers, Braden Rioux and Ethan Rancourt won the 4×800 in 9:12.19. Andre Morin added a win in the race walk for the Black Raiders, who took home their third straight Community Cup.
“I figured going into it that it would be tight, and it was,” said Winslow head coach Ken Nadeau. “We left some points on the table, but it was a weird day because you had a lot of kids missing for prom or doing other sports. It could’ve shaken out differently, but the kids competed hard, and I’m proud of them.”
Waterville’s Dawson Harrison won the 100- and 200-meter dashes and competed on the winning 4×100 team with Ethan Goodrich, Hunter Willett and Andrew Turlo. Henry Phillips added a field win for the Purple Panthers in the javelin throw.
MCI, which placed third, got wins from Wyatt Degrasse (high jump, triple jump), Isaac Keresey (pole vault) and Wyatt Robinson (shot put). Messalonskee’s Pierce Coughlin (1,600-meter run, 3,200-meter run) and Skowhegan’s Orion Dickinson (discus throw) also claimed event wins.
This year marked the 14th edition of the Community Cup, a battle for bragging rights among the six nearby high schools. It was the last for outgoing Lawrence head coach Tim Alberts, who first came up with the idea for the event ahead of the 2009 season.
“I graduated from Lawrence, so I know that a lot of these communities are very close and have very good relationships,” Libby said. “It’s very humbling to be involved with a meet with the schools I grew up with, especially for Tim’s last meet.”
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