The North Yarmouth Academy Indoor Track and Field team finished off the regular season Friday afternoon at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham. The girls finished 3rd in the 8 team meet just 20 points from 1st while the boys finished 7th. The meet was filled with the smaller teams in the conference so the pace of the competition was hectic but the team did well to adjust to the fast schedule.
The shot put circle was the site of a complete set of season bests. In the junior girls division Muriel Adams led the team with a first place finish and 1 foot career best toss. Shelby Peavey was next up for the Panthers with a put of 24’9″ which moved her onto the top 5 all-time list for NYA and was good for a 3rd place finish. Ellis continued a 3 week onslaught on her career best with a 1 and a half foot improvement to just miss scoring in 7th place. In the Senior Division Abby McKelvy also threw almost a foot and a half farther to hit a mark of 22’7″.
In the jumps Ben Claytor finished 3rd in the high jump tying his career best height of 5’2″. On the girls side Acacia Bright also tied her height of 4′ to place 4th for the team. In the long jump we weren’t able to secure any places but did grab some nice personal bests. Emily Taylor leapt to a 12’6.25″ personal best which is an improvement of over half a foot while Maddie Cutten also improved by the same amount with a leap of 11’9.25″. In the triple jump Jake Burns finished 6th with a mark just inches off of his best mark from last week (note: Jake’s jump last week moved him into 4th place on the all-time list). On the girls side Jillian Bjorn-Caron had a huge career best jump of 26’6.5″ which was good for 3rd place while Linnea Hull almost broke into the 26′ range as well with a 6 inch best – good for 5th place.
On the track the hurdlers had a great day. Jake Burns dropped his state qualifying time to 8.91 which was good for the win in the senior division. On the girls side Jillian Bjorn-Caron dropped her time for the 2nd week in a row to run 10.14 which was not only good for first place but also broke the school record for the senior division. Jillian now holds the record for both the junior and senior divisions. Maura Anderson finished in 2nd with a time of 11.71 (note: last week Maura had a HUGE breakthrough in the hurdles which placed her solidly 5th on the NYA all-time list). In the junior division Maddie Cutten ran over half a second faster in her race which not only beat her seed and earned a 3rd place finish for the team but her time also places her 4th on the NYA all-time list.
In the 55m dash Jillian Bjorn-Caron made her debut in the event with a time of 8.56 which was good for 5th place in the senior division. On the boys side Ben Claytor had the improvement of the day in the sprints dropping 2 tenths of a second off of his best to run 7.48. In the 200m dash the junior girls division saw season bests all around. Emily Taylor dropped almost a full second off her best time to run 30.35 and finish 5th after winning her heat. Maddie Cutten chopped over half a second off of her time to finish in 31.45. Acacia Bright saw over 1 second melt off the clock as she finished in 32.75 and Shelby Peavey cut almost half a second off of her career best to cap off a great effort from the junior girls. In the senior division Maura Anderson continued to improve with a career best time of 33.37. On the boys side Abrahim Al Musawi cut almost half a second off of his best to run 28.44 while Ben Claytor had his 3rd career best of the night with a 26.70. Our sole representative in the 400m dash, Muriel Adams, placed 2nd in the junior girls division after a gutsy race. While Dean Walters had an off week this week in the sprints he has been improving at alarming rates in the 55m and the 200m dash moving up steadily on the NYA all-time list in both events.
In the distances the 800m had 3 girls from NYA competing for the 2nd week in a row! Ellis dropped a full second off of her career best time to lead the way while Linnea Hull continued to learn the race in the fast heat. Nyajal Ngoal was the third finisher for NYA with a strong kick to the finish. In the 1 mile John LeBlanc ran a career best time of 5:06 which was good for 5th place. On the girls side Hannah Austin lost a close race in the mile with a strong time of 5:47 which was good for 2nd place. Both athletes came back to run the 2 mile with minimal rest AND both athletes won their races by large margins. That doesn’t happen often! John’s time was another career best (his 4th in a row) while Hannah was just off of her best.
All of the 4×200 relays placed on Friday night. The junior girls team of Emily, Acacia, Muriel, and Maddie ran a season best time by almost 1 second to finish in 4th. The senior girls also chopped almost 3 seconds off of their season best time to earn a 3rd place finish thanks to Jillian, Maura, Nyajal, and Jen. The senior boys team of Abrahim, Dean, Ben, and Jake were able to pull out a 5th place. Overall the handoffs were improved and if we can really focus on getting those down the times should drop even more at the championships.
Next up is the Western Maine Conference Championships at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham on Friday. I will post a meet schedule and entries as soon as they are available. There are event limitations at the conference championships so not all athletes will be able to compete in all of the events they normally do BUT all athletes will definitely be competing in at least one event.