Friday evening at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham the NYA Indoor Track and Field team competed in the Western Maine Conference Championships. All of athletes were involved and the vast majority were able to either finish at or above their seeded place. The teams faired well with the boys finishing 6th out of 14 teams while the girls finished 10th out of 13 teams. Even more impressive was that over 95% of the team was able to run/throw/jump their way to a season best performance in at least one individual or relay event which, to me, defines an extremely successful championship meet and a stellar end to a strong regular season.
Starting out in the shotput circle the girls saw Muriel throw just a foot under her best which was still good enough for a 6th place finish in the Junior Division while Ellis, coming off a huge PR from last week fouled several great throws yet still held on for 18th. In the Sr. Division Julia Thompson was also only 1 foot off of her career best which placed her solidly in the top half of the competitors. On the boys side our lone competitor, Cam Rayder, won the Sr. Division in style with a 44′ 1.75″ toss which was over a foot better than his career best toss. Cam’s distances had been struggling recently but he showed he can pull it together when it really matters! That throw also moved Cam up to the number 2 spot on the NYA Boys All-Time Top 5 list.
In the sprints – while many girls were less than a .1 seconds off their season best Emma-Kate Metsker was able to hit a season best time in the prelims with a time of 9.28. On the boys side Oscar Zou was the story of the day running an extraordinary Jr. Division school record time of 7.19 in the prelims which qualified him for the finals where he placed 6th after entering the meet seeded 16th. He chopped an unheard of .25 seconds off his time in his first meet back after “the fall”. In the Sr. Boys division Nick Rayder qualified for finals off of a strong move out of the blocks but struggled to hit full speed and ended up finishing just out of scoring position in 7th. In the 200m, on the girls side, Meaghan O’Leary tied her career best time in the 200 in the Jr. Div while Nyajal Ngoal hit her career best time in the 200m to finish solidly in the top half of the competitors. On the boys side Oscar Zou 
once again turned some heads in the Jr. Div 200 by placing 5th after running in the 3rd fastest heat. He blew away his competition running a season best by over a second which also earned him the #2 spot on our all-time list. In the Sr. Division Dean Walters had a similar improvement cutting over half a second off his time and moving from a middle of the pack time into a top 20 spot with a time of 25.68. In the 400m Sarah Jordan had her breakout race of the season at the perfect time. She ran 1 second faster than her seed and just missed scoring finishing 7th by winning her heat. Her time also was within hundredths of a second of her career best time. On the boys side Jake Burns ran a smart race in the Sr. Boys 400 to come from behind in a tight race and edge out 2 athletes at the line for a 3rd place finish and a career best time of 55.10.
In the jumps NYA earned 4 ribbons on the day. In the boys HJ Nick Rayder once again tied his career best height of 5’6″ to finish 4th in the Sr. Division. 
In the boys TJ Sam Leishman decided to focus on just the triple jump this meet and it paid off with a nice career best jump of 36’4″ which was good for 6th place and 4th on the all-time list. On the girls side Moira Lachance for the 5th time this season cleared 4’8″ to make her the most reliable HJ’er in the conference and good for 5th place in the Sr. Division. Meaghan O’Leary hit 4’2″ in the Jr. Division which was good for 6th place. In the LJ Meaghan was just 2″ below her season best and in the TJ Katie Cawley hit her season best by 7″ with only 3 weeks of practice learning the event.
NYA had a huge day in the hurdles with every competitor running a career best time. In the Sr. Girls Hurdles Maura Anderson dropped over half a second off of her career best by focusing on several techniques she worked on in the week leading up to the meet. Bailey Clock also 
dropped .2 seconds off of her career best time to outperform her seed coming into the meet. In the Jr. Division Jillian Bjorn-Caron ran a solid race in the prelims and her time seeded her first going into the finals. In the finals she was able to hold on to that number one seed for the win breaking her own Jr. Division record and shattering the old all-school record in a time of 10.10. That time also hits the exact mark needed to qualify for the state championships. On the boys side Jake Burns ran a very strong prelim race finishing just off his career best time and headed into the finals seeded 5th. In the finals Jake drew on some serious adrenaline to power through the line and end up 4th in the finals also shattering his old Sr. Division and all-school record hitting a time of 8.70.
In the distance events Hannah Twombly was up first for NYA in the 1 mile. Hannah ran the majority of the race outside of the top 6 but closed strong in the final 2 laps and with a 50m surge to the finish was able to pass the pack at the line and finish in 3rd place with a 3 second season best time. On the boys side Duncan George ran yet another season best time hitting the 5:25 mark after a very smart race while John LeBlanc got his running legs back and despite a strong surge in the early laps to get out of the commotion ended up finishing just seconds off his personal best. In the 800 George Doolan hit a 3 second PR and ran competitively in his heat while Alex Coffin got thrown all over the track. The start of the fast heat of the 800m saw Alex go down head first and tumble head over heals a few times before 
the race was restarted. On attempt 2 the race went out cautiously and Alex sat near the front of the pack for a strong, yet shaken 4th place finish. In the 2 mile our only entrant, Hannah Austin, had a stellar race, running from the back of the pack up to 7th place just tenths of a second out of ribbon contention with a new season best time of 13:14.
Last up for NYA were the 4x200m relays all of which hit season best times. The Jr Girls Relay of (Muriel, Jillian, Ellis, and Meaghan) ran 5 seconds faster than ever before and was able to beat their seed and finish 8th. The Sr. Girls (Moira, Sarah, Katie, Hannah) dropped 2 seconds off of their best time and held off some solid competition in the end thanks to strong anchor leg from Sarah to finish 8th as well. On the boys side the Jr. Boys (Oscar, John, Duncan, and George) which is a relay made up of 3 distance runners and a sprinter took another 3 seconds off their season best time and finished 7th. In the Sr. Boys race our team of Nick, Jake, Dean, and Sam faired quite well in the slow heat and after coming into the meet seeded 8th were able to move up solidly in the rankings with impressive handoffs, a season best time, and a 4th place finish.
Next up for the NYA track and field teams is the Class B State Championship Meet up at Bates College on Presidents Day. Our current qualifiers are listed here and, along with those individuals, we will also have 3 relays running in the meet. We hope you can come and support the team.
Congratulations to the team and the coaching staff. It was a night to remember! Oscar is riding high on his successful meet. This opportunity has given this young man from China who had never run any distance before coming to America 6 months ago a new perception of himself as an ATHLETE!
The help and support of his school and team has helped him achieve this goal. Thanks to all of you!