To say that the Messalonskee Eagles might have a little rust heading into Saturday’s Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference indoor track championships would be an understatement. It’s been nearly a month since Messalonskee ran a sprint, jumped a hurdle, or tossed a shot for points.
“We haven’t had a meet since Jan. 10,” coach Scott Wilson said, “so it can go very, very well for us or it can go horribly wrong. We have no idea until the kids show up.”
Mother Nature obliterated Messalonskee’s meet schedule with the recent snowstorms, and, mostly to a lesser degree, disrupted the meet and practice schedules of every other school in the conference. So this year’s championships (9:30 a.m., Bowdoin College) could be as unpredictable as the weather has been recently.
Then again, both the Class A and Class B meets will commence with heavy favorites — Lewiston (A boys) and defending champion Waterville (B boys and girls).
The Class A girls meet could be the most widely contested, with Lewiston, defending champion Brunswick, Messalonskee, Edward Little and Skowhegan all bringing strong teams to the Farley Fieldhouse.
“On the girls’ side, there are so many teams in it to win it, which is terrific,” Wilson said.
Messalonskee is led by defending conference pole vault champion Taylor Lenentine, who Wilson said is easily ahead of last year’s winning height of 10 feet.
“She’s pole vaulted very well this week,” Wilson said. “I’m looking forward to seeing how high she can go. She should clear 11 feet.”
Messalonskee senior Lucia Guarnieri will be participating in her first conference championship and should compete for the podium in the long, triple and high jumps. Skowhegan’s Maddy Price (sprints) and Macy Lee (shot put) and Cony’s Madeline Reny (hurdles) are among the favorites in their events.
What regular season meets the league was able to complete, the Lewiston boys have dominated, so the battle is likely to be for second place among Edward Little, Brunswick and Messalonskee.
Messalonskee’s quartet of Owen Concaugh, Zach Hoyle, Anthony Amalfitano and Carson Bessey hopes to challenge the conference 4×800 record (8:23.21) set by Brunswick in 2010. Jake Doyon will try to dethrone the defending conference shot put champion, teammate Damen Bickford. Jesse Donisvitch should be among the contenders in the sprints, along with Eli Holland of Skowhegan.
Waterville hopes to follow the blueprint that led it to the Class B boys and girls state titles last year by once again sweeping the conference championships. First-year coach Jonathan Alexander is pleased with his team’s progress during the regular season.
“The boys are young, so we’re looking to see the ones that are qualifying (for states) to do their personal best at this meet,” Alexander said. “The girls are going strong. They’re looking good. They’re very healthy and fired up and ready to go.”
The Purple Panthers feature reigning 55-meter hurdles and pole vault champion Sarah Shoulta and triple jump champion Kellie Bolduc. Lydia Roy should also pick up significant points in the sprints.
Maine Central Institute’s Katie Hughes (shotput) and Angela Strain of Mount View (sprints) could be among the other individual contenders. Belfast and Lincoln are expected to be Waterville’s closest challengers.
Distance favorite Chris Cote leads the Waterville boys to Bowdoin. Cote is the defending champion in the two-mile and was the runner-up in the mile last year. Trever Gray, the reigning state champion in the shot put, will try to defend his conference title,
Winslow’s Ben Smith (sprints), Erskine’s Ethan Dodge (hurdles), Phoenix Throckmorton (sprints, hurdles) and Sam Newcombe (hurdles) and MCI’s Curtis McLeod (shot put) also could be top contenders.
Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638
rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @RAWmaterial33
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