The NYA Indoor Track and Field team went head to head with the larger teams in the conference this week in a long meet against Yarmouth, York, Wells, Hyde, Fryeburg, Greely, and Poland. York brought its army and Greely a talented squad but NYA was able to hold its own for a 4th place finish tied with Freeport for the Girls and a 4th place finish for the Boys as well. There were many notable performances Friday night which can be found in the results here and seen on the photo pages. There were also several all time NYA top 5 performances. Now for the recap.
Once again the meet started with the field events where NYA had some new faces along with some familiar ones. In the girls shotput Julia Thompson hit a new personal best by an inch and just missed scoring while Muriel hit a big season best by over a foot in the Junior Division to finish 3rd with a throw of 21’9″ which was also good for the 5th place spot on our all-time list. Ellis JUST missed a scoring spot finishing 7th. In the high jump Nick Rayder was consistent as ever hitting his indoor career best of 5’4″ once again to finish 4th while on the girls side Meaghan O’Leary hit a new season best of 4’2″ in the Jr. Division to finish 3rd. In the girls Sr. Division Nyajal Ngoal also cleared a new career best height sailing over 4’0″ (good for 7th) while Moira Lachance was looking good at 4’6″ but had to pull out due to ankle issues (she still finished 5th). In the sand Emma-Kate Metsker had a huge a PR in the long jump by over 2′! On the boys side Nick Rayder debuted in the long jump with a leap of 16’6.5″ good for 6th while across the way in the triple jump Jake Burns and Sam Leishman also had their indoor debut finishing 2-3 respectively. Both jumps were good enough to be 4-5 on the all-time list as well.
On the track the hurdle improvement was universal with all 4 competitors realizing big time drops. Jillian hit another PR running 10.31 to lower her standing school record and earned 2nd place while Jake Burns also dropped his school record to a time of 8.90 which was good for 3rd AND qualified Jake to compete at the state championships. In the Sr. Girls division Bailey Clock dropped a tenth of a second off of her time from last week and tied her career best while Maura Anderson dropped almost a quarter of a second off her best time. In the 55m dash Jillian once again realized huge improvements finishing just out of scoring position in 7th but dropping her time significantly from last year. On the boys side Oscar Zou made a big mark on the track scene in his debut race running 7.44 in the 55m Jr. Division and finishing 2nd. In the Sr. Div. Dean Walters dropped an unheard of third of a second off his 55m time to finish in a respectable time of 7.35 followed closely by teammate Bill Tao who dropped his time from last week down to 7.41. Sam Leishman and Ryan Salerno ran in the event for the first time this season and set the mark to beat in future meets while Cam Rayder dropped .1 seconds off his time to solidify his spot as the fastest shotputter in the state (unofficially).
The mile treated NYA well on Friday night with a win and a state qualifying time coming from Hannah Twombly after a tactical race. Hannah Austin debuted in the event running a 6:24 good for 6th. On the boys side Alex Coffin dropped his time by over 8 seconds from last week running an unbelievably consistent race to finish 2nd in 4:47. In the 400 Muriel got her career best in the Jr. Girls division to finish just outside of scoring position while Moira Lachance ran her career best time of 71.71. In the 800m Hillary Detert led the way for NYA finishing 4th in a tie of 2:46 and Ellis ran, 
literally, over from the shot circle to compete in the 800m for the first time this season. On the boys side gutsy races from both John LeBlanc and Duncan George ended with a PR for Duncan and a good learning experience for John. In the 2oom Nyajal was the only time drop on the day for the girls as she ran almost a quarter of a 2nd faster in a strong heat. On the boys side Oscar once again dominated the track in style finishing 3rd in the Jr. Division 200m. In the Sr. Div. Dean Walters dropped another unbelieable chunk of time, over 1 second, from his time last week in the 200m to run 26.50 while Nick Rayder was just off of his career best time hitting 25.80. Another huge time drop, and he did this after running the 400m, was Aldis Gamble who dropped 1.2 seconds of his 200m time from last week.
Last up for NYA were the relays, 3 of which placed 4th and 1 2nd. The Jr. Girls were the first on the track for NYA and the team of Ellis, Hannah, Meaghan, and Muriel (all freshman) finished 4th with solid handoffs. Next up were the Sr. Girls (Sarah, Moira, Bailey, Hannah T.)who ran without their normal middle leg but Bailey Clock proved a very fast replacement and helped the girls to a 4th place finish. The Jr. Division Boys (John, George, Duncan, Oscar) ran for the first time as a team this season and finished 4th as well. The final race of the night was the Sr. Boys 4×200 and NYA ran hard trying to secure a win. We were in the race all along and had strong hand-offs but it just wasn’t our night despite very strong legs from each of the 4 runners – Dean, Nick, Sam, and Jake. Their performance was, however, good enough to place nicely on our all-time top 5 list so be sure to check it out.
See you all at the track this coming Friday at 6:30pm.