FAIRFIELD — Some of Maine’s top track and field athletes overcame what may have been the hottest day of the year so far to put on impressive performances at the Community Cup on Tuesday at Lawrence High School.
On the track, Winslow’s Hassan Hobbi blew past opponents for a personal record in the 110-meter hurdles. At that same time in the field, Anthony Pickell, Ben Ireland and Thomas Hebert went blow for blow in the shot put, while Zoe Hutchins launched the discus far beyond her competitors.
“I love this meet,” said Hutchins, a Lawrence senior. “This is our community, and it’s awesome to be able to be here and throw against all these kids that we’ve competed against these last four years. … There’s lots of competition this year.”
There certainly is, and Tuesday’s meet provided the perfect launchpad to the postseason. With only conference and state championship meets remaining, it was a showcase of some athletes who also have goals to be the best in their conference and in the state over the next 12 days.
The Winslow girls ended Maine Central Institute’s three-year year reign in the Community Cup, scoring 144 1/2 points to the Huskies’ 140. Messalonskee won the boys title, scoring 191 points to easily eclipse runner-up Winslow (124).
One of the day’s top competitions came in the shot put between Messalonskee’s Pickell and Ireland, and Skowhegan’s Hebert. Pickell and Hebert were both closing in on school records. Pickell is one of the few Maine high school throwers to reach the 50-foot mark this spring.
Hebert got his recored, throwing 49 feet, 5 inches to break Skowhegan’s previous record by a foot. The throw was good enough to win the meet, beating out Ireland’s PR of 48-4 and Pickell’s heave of 47-4.
“I’ve gotten it before in practice, and I’ve been working hard to do it in a meet, so it feels good to finally do it,” Hebert said. “(The competition) is a lot different this year than last year; there’s a bunch of us around 50 (feet).”
It won’t be the last competition between the trio. With all three throwers in the mix for top finishes at the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference championships and at the Class A state meet, Tuesday’s battle gave them a chance to see where they stack up.
“Just looking at KVACs this year, you pretty much have to be a state competitor to be able to throw at KVACs,” Pickell said. “It’s a competitive meet to be in, which is what you need. It’s cool to see.”
It’s hard to talk about central Maine throwers without mentioning Hutchins. The senior entered Tuesday with the best discus and shot put throws of any girl in the state this year at 126-4 and 37-9 1/2, both school records.
Hutchins broke that shot put mark Tuesdat with a throw of 39-9. Although she focused less on breaking a record in the discus and more on refining her technique for the two competitions that remain, her distance of 116-9 was still far enough to win comfortably.
“This is a great time to tweak some things and figure out what works and what doesn’t work to try and maximize distance before conferences and states,” Hutchins said. “Today, I didn’t have my best day, but we were working with some new things. Once we put those together, we’ll find some more distance.”
MCI’s Angelina Boisvert recorded a throw of 36-7 1/2 to finish second in the shot put. That distance was further than anyone in Maine this year with the exceptions of Hutchins and Cape Elizabeth’s Sloan Gardner (36-8).
Even in a small field of three runners, Hobbi found a way to PR and set a school record in the 110 hurdles. His time of 15.35 broke his own record of 15.46 earlier this year and kept him on course to repeat as the Class C state champion.
“This is a nice meet to PR; it’s a good warmup,” Hobbi said. “I’ve been working for a year and a half now to try and gain weight and speed as motivation for football season. I think it’s really paying off.”
Messalonskee’s Christopher Shaw put the state on notice as well, setting a school record in the 100 with a time of 11.18. He also achieved a PR in the 400, winning that event in 52.43.
