It has been a while since our last update. With the regular season over as of Friday night it is certainly time.
NYA had its 4th and final meet of the regular season on Friday night down in Gorham at USM. The first meet ran over by about 45 minutes and, as usual, we started a bit late. The 9 team meet ran relatively smoothly, however, and in the end the athletes put together some phenomenal performances. Despite sickness, injury, and just plain old exhaustion the team was able to pull together for a slew of personal bests, several new state qualifiers, and a few new school records. And possibly more importantly, the girls team pulled together to earn the first ever meet victory in the history of the program.
In the junior shot put Zelda Clegg and Sarah Cooper were both able to throw personal bests to place 4th and 5th while Amelia was just out of scoring position in 8th. In the senior division Muriel Adams and Shelby Peavey both were able to score for the team finishing in 3rd and 6th. In the junior girls high jump Liz McIntosh and Mackenzie Sangster were both 2″ under their personal bests but still hung on to 4th and 6th place respectively. In the senior division newcomer Kayla Rose showed some impressive depth of talent leaving the shot circle to try her hand at high jump. She was able to clear 4’2″ which was good for 4th place while veteran Adela McVicar hit her personal best once again clearing 4’10” for the win. In the pole vault both Linnea Hull and Clayton Manchester cleared new personal best heights. Clayton cleared 9′ which was good for third place while Linnea cleared 7’6″ which is a state qualifying mark AND it also ties the school record.
In the horizontal jumps Emily Taylor had a break out day with a 14′ 9.75″ jump on her first attempt which was good for second place. That jump put her just over the state qualifying distance to give her 3 events to choose from at States. Sarah Cooper hit a personal best by almost half a foot with a great mark and Acacia Bright, despite sickness and exhaustion just missed a personal best. In the triple jump Linnea, Adela, and Jillian all scored for the Panthers (4-5-6) and also established new personal bests.
In the hurdles all three girls scored for NYA in the junior division. Mackenzie tied her personal best to win the race with a lean across the line while Acacia dropped almost half a second to place 4th. Liz McIntosh tried the event for the first time in two years and was able to still place 6th! In the senior division Jillian Bjorn-Caron, despite having to race in training shoes, still won the race while Lizzie Lewis, sick as could be, still was able to run a personal best and place 5th. 
In the sprints the Emilys both scored for NYA as Emily Taylor finished 2nd and Emily Baker finished 6th despite pulling up before the finish line with a calf cramp. In the senior division we did not have any scorers but did see 3 girls drop .1 seconds off their times as Maddie Cutten, Abby McKelvy, and Diana McLeod all started the night off right. On the boys side Michael McIntosh held on to his undefeated streak as he tied his school record of 6.75 seconds with a clear victory. In the 200m NYA dominated the junior division as Alex Wahlstrom and Emily Taylor finished 1-2 well ahead of the competition. In the senior division Diana McLeod ran yet another personal best dropping almost half a second off her time. On the boys side Baron Becker bettered his time by almost a second while Greyson Cohen stepped onto the track for the first time during the regular season after a long 7 week recovery. In the senior division Michael McIntosh broke his own school record in a tight race as he pulled ahead in the last 50m to win the race in 23.47. In the 400m Alex Wahlstrom pulled out a win at the finish line with a lean to run just shy of her personal best after running the majority of lap 2 in an outside lane. Sarah Cooper, in the same race, dropped an impressive 3 seconds off her time to just miss placing in 7th. In the senior division Jillian and Maddie battled all the way to the finish line to push each other to a 4-5 finish that saw Maddie drop 2 seconds off of her best time this season.
NYA had all 3 girls milers score in the open mile as Hannah Austin, Claire Maurer, and Sarah Austin combined for 1-5-6. On the boys side John LeBlanc showed that he still has what it takes to race in a crowded field as he comfortably cruised to a win with a 3 second season best. Alec Stuckey just missed his personal best but was under 6 minutes for the second week in a row. In the 800m Kate Hilscher had the only personal best of the day with a 4 second improvement. In the 2 mile Hannah Austin and Claire Maurer teamed up yet again to finish 1-3. Claire dropped an unbelievable 17 seconds off her already strong time and is just 15 more seconds from a state qualifying mark. Matt Malcom was the sole representative for the boys, but he represented exceptionally well. His time of 10:07 is one of the top times in the state and is 30 seconds faster than he ran 2 weeks ago. Not to mention he ran the race far in the lead.
In the relays NYA placed 3rd in the girls 4×800 as Sarah A., Hannah A., Ellis, and Kate combined for a strong effort. In the 4×200 the junior division girls broke their record once again with a slightly different team to win the event. This time Emily T., Alex, Liz M., and Mackenzie S. combined to run a 1:59.79 which beats the existing school record by .2 seconds. In the senior division Maddie, Melanie, Kayla, and Jillian combined to run their best time of the season and finish 3rd.
Overall the girls team won the meet by over 50 points over runner up Poland while the boys finished 6th just behind Sacopee Valley.
Next week is the Western Maine Conference Championships at USM in Gorham on Saturday at 3pm. Hope to see you there.
Don’t forget to check out the new top 5 performances (updated soon), class records, and state qualifiers to the left. Full Results
