Waterville sweeps to keep both state titles

BATH - Anyone who thought Saturday was a nice day to stay in theshade and drink some cold water was sharing the same wavelengthwith Poland's Brittany Bell.

Bell had extra incentive to stay cool and hydrated. Battling a coldat the state Class B track and field championships at McMann Fieldat Morse High School, the top seed in the 400 meter dash was goingto be hard-pressed to cross the wire in under a minute.

"I've been coughing all day and I'm on meds, so I feel like I'mdragging," she said. "I've been in the shade and drinking a lot ofwater."

Bell had plenty of strength for her event, finishing in 59.33, apersonal record, to hold off Lianne McCluskey of Camden Hills(1:00.12). And she wasn't the only Knight to overcome health issuesto win a state title.

Waterville became the only the second Class B school to have bothits girls' and boys' teams defend their titles. The girls squeakedby Greely by just 98.5 to 97, to win their second straight crown.The boys topped Falmouth, 106 to 100.5, to pick up their thirdtitle in a row.

Scarborough was the only other team to post back-to-back sweeps, in1996-97.

"Both teams just did a phenomenal job to stay focused," Watervillecoach Ian Wilson said.

"Things go right, things go wrong, and our kids stayed focusedthroughout the entire meet."

Poland's Nick Williams had to stay focused to overcome tightness inhis left upper-leg and defend his 400 crown.

"Before the race, it was so tight, I couldn't kick up to touch mytoes," said Williams, who noted he hurt his hamstring andquadriceps because he hadn't warmed up properly for Friday'spractice.

Some stretching 10 minutes before the race helped get him loose,but Williams had to shake off an unusual case of nervousness in thestarting blocks to catch Falmouth's Kellen MacDonald.
With MacDonald starting to pull away along the back straightaway,he ratcheted up his kick in the final 250 meters and passed himeven though his hamstring started to bunch up again in the final 75meters.

"I started faster than I usually do and I started to kick earlierthan I usually do, and it was all because Kellen MacDonald startedbreaking away from me," said Williams, who finished in 49.91.

Williams, who also placed fourth in the 100 and fifth in the 200,T.J. England (second in the long jump, third in 110-meter and300-meter hurdles and triple jump) and Tyrus Steinman (third indiscus) helped propel the Knights to a fifth-place finish in theteam standings, a half-point behind Maranacook. Greely finishedthird.

Fryeburg placed sixth thanks to Timothy Even (800-meter winner),Sequoyah Reynoso (third in the 100, second in the 200), the4x400-meter relay teams (third), and Orion Winkler, who matched his13-foot, 6-inch pole vault from last year to defend his statetitle.

"I only did 13-6 twice this year," Winkler said. "I definitely feltsome pressure and high expectations this year. I had a littletrouble at conferences last week. I only jumped 12-6. I felt alittle weak, so I tried to come back strong and get it done."

Ryan Fitzsimons of Leavitt won the 1,600-meter race walk in7:29.23. Maranacook's Max HoddWells won the 200-meter hurdles in40.21, placed second in the 110-meter hurdles and the triple jumpand third in the long jump.

Gray-New Gloucester finished 10th and Leavitt 11th.

York, Cape Elizabeth and Old Town rounded out the girls' top five.Paced by Alli-Sue Fereshitian (second in 300-meter hurdles), thirdin 100-meter hurdles), Leavitt finished ninth. Poland placed 10thand Fryeburg 13th. Fryeburg's Coreen Hennessy won the triple jumpwith a jump of 33-08.25 and finished second in the pole vault.