YARMOUTH — The Maine Central Institute outdoor track and field program has steadily made strides over the past few years, and part of that is thanks to the performances of throwers Eric Hathaway, Curtis McLeod and Katie Hughes.

The trio — which combined to pick up six top three finishes in the throwing events at the Class C championships Saturday at Yarmouth High School — did not simply hope for success, though, and that is part of the legacy they are trying to pass on to future Huskies.

“(It’s about) just never being satisfied with your previous throw and always wanting more,” Hathaway, a senior, said. “We try to show the extremely competitive side that we have to let people know that’s how you’re going to beat the other throwers.”

“The ability Katie, Eric and I have to tune out the other throwers and just worry about what we’re doing and beating our own records, that’s what drives the season and that’s what gets us to these meets,” added McLeod, a junior.

Hathaway was the leading scorer for the MCI boys Saturday, as he won the shot put — edging out McLeod by 2 1/2 inches — and placed second in the javelin. McLeod added a second-place result in the discus, while Hughes, a senior, was second in the girls shot put and third in the girls discus.

“I felt that I did pretty good. My PR is 54 (feet in the shot put) so I didn’t quite make it but if there’s one person I have to lose to I’m glad it’s Eric,” McLeod said. “Second place isn’t that bad. There’s a hell of a lot of competition here.”

Behind the performances of Hathaway, McLeod, Brandon Stevens (third in triple jump) and River Massey (fourth in pole vault), the MCI boys managed to place fourth in Class C Saturday with 49 points. The Huskies, like everyone else on both the boys and girls side, were left looking up at Orono, though.

The Red Riot boys took home the state title with 88 points, while Lisbon (65), Foxcroft (54), MCI and Yarmouth (45) rounded out the top five.

On the girls’ side, Lauren Stoops had wins in the 100 meters, 200, 300 hurdles and as a member of Orono’s record-setting 4×400 relay team to help the Red Riots rack up a total of 132 3/4 points for the title. Traip (51 3/4), Seacoast Christian (44), Yarmouth (35) and Lisbon (33 3/4) rounded out the top five.

Stoops teamed with Kassidy Dill, Diana Tyutyunnyk and Rebecca Lopez-Anido to post a new top time in Class C of 4:08.09, eclipsing the old mark of 4:09.55 set in 2004, also by Orono. Mattanawcook’s Tiara Tardy set a new mark in the girls 800 (2 minutes, 16.34 seconds), while North Yarmouth Academy’s Muriel Adams set a new record in the discus (128-7).

Much like MCI, Carrabec has enjoyed some growth in recent years thanks to throwers Emma Pluntke and Shen Black. Pluntke wrapped up her career with a third in the girls shot put, while Black, a junior, was second in the discus and third in the shot put.

Madison brought just nine boys to compete Saturday, but still turned in a solid performance and finished seventh with 32 points.

Senior Jordan Curtis was third in the 100 and also added another third place result as a member of the Bulldogs’ 4×100 meter relay team along with Ben Toribio, Ben Henry and Matthew Curtis. Henry added second and sixth place results as well in the triple and long jumps, respectively, while sophomore Jarrett Bearor cleared 12 feet in the pole vault but finished third as a result of number of attempts.

“We’ve all been doing pretty good,” Jordan Curtis said. “We practice a lot, although we’re not trying to kill ourselves before (a meet). We came here just to give it our all. It being my last meet I figured I might as well go for everything.”

In the girls pole vault, Madison’s Monica Ouellette finished tied for third with NYA’s Linnea Hull, Lisbon’s Mia Durgin and Traip’s Hannah Stevens.

Evan Crawley — 621-5640

ecrawley@mainetoday.com

Twitter: @Evan_Crawley

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