DOVER FOXCROFT — Although the weather at Saturday’s Class C track and field state championship wavered between blistering sun, rain, wind and back to sun again, there was nothing unpredictable about the performance of Hall-Dale senior Tyler Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald established himself as the fastest runner in Class C with victories in the 100- and 200-meter dashes and threw in a personal best leap of 21 feet, 7 inches to finish second in the long jump. Fitzgerald won the 100 as a sophomore but had never won the 200, which was his final event of the day.
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“Before the race, I said this is my last race in high school so I better just give it hell and have no regrets,” Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald’s 28 points gave the Bulldogs a late surge and pushed them into second place behind winner and host Foxcroft Academy.
“I couldn’t be any happier or more proud,” Hall-Dale coach Jarod Richmond said. “Foxcroft was just a little too stacked for us today but our kids came out and gave a tremendous effort in the heat and overcame the conditions.”
Although Fitzgerald was in control in both dashes, his long jump was a complete surprise.
“I PR by 14 inches,” Fitzgerald said. “(Foxcroft’s) Donnie Boyer got 21 feet, 10 inches. We both pulled it out our last jump.”
Hall-Dale senior Sam Shepherd placed second in the high jump while teammates Josh Ringer was third in the 3,200 and Steven Longfellow third in the triple jump.
Two of the more dramatic duels of the day took place between Kents Hill freshman Anne McKee and Seacoast Christian sophomore Laken Kerrigan in the 1,600 and 3,200 runs. McKee beat Kerrigan by just over three seconds in the 1,600, leading from wire to wire.
“I definitely wanted to go out pretty quick because I know (Kerrigan),” McKee said. “We both raced together in cross country and we both like to go out quick.”
McKee used the same strategy in the 3,200 and built a sizable lead only to see Kerrigan catch her at the wire, beating her by .02 of a second.
“I had no idea she was coming,” McKee said.
The Maranacook boys finished a solid seventh in the 30-team field, getting a first place in the shot put from senior Andrew Lachance, who beat his previous personal best by nearly 2 feet on his last throw.
“I don’t really know,” Lachance said of his throw of 45-8. “The national anthem was before that and I just kind of visualized what I had to do.”
The Black Bears also placed third in the 4×800 relay and got a third place from Sam Nielsen in the 110 hurdles, a third from Ian Perry in the pole vault and fourths from Austin Landry (3,200) and Nick Barnes (300 hurdles).
Winthrop picked up a second from Marc Hachey in the 3,200 while Monmouth’s Marques Houston anchored the third-place 4×400 relay team and finished second in the 400. Winthrop’s Rachel Ingram placed second in the triple jump and fourth in the long jump.
Two Class C state pole vault records were set, by Orono’s David Frederick (13 feet, 9 inches) on the boys side and by Traip Academy’s Kelsey Barnes (10-6) for the girls.
Gary Hawkins — 621-5638
ghawkins@centralmaine.com
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