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HIGH SCHOOL TRACK AND FIELD STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Cony has good day in Class A

Clarke wins 3 events, Orio 2

By Bill Stewart bstewart@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

AUGUSTA -- Rick Orio heard footsteps coming from lane five over his right shoulder. He also heard footsteps coming from lane three coming over his left shoulder.

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FASTEST OF THE DAY: Cony’s Luke Dang, left, gives the baton to anchor man Cory Clarke in the 4x100-meter relay at the Class A track and field state championship meet Saturday at Cony High School in Augusta. The Rams team of Dustin Dang, Rick Orio, Luke Dang and Clarke won in 44.03 seconds.

Staff photo by Joe Phelan

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UP AND OVER: Cony’s Rick Orio runs the 300-meter hurdles in the Class A track and field state championship meet Saturday at Cony High School in Augusta. Orio won in 40.56 seconds.

Staff photo by Joe Phelan

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"They were coming on," Orio said. "I got out of my blocks slow and I knicked the first hurdle. It wasn't going good but then I got into my run. Coming home I felt good, but I felt them coming on. So I leaned at the end. I actually leaned a little too much because I went flying, landed on my shoulder and rolled around."

Victory never felt better for the Cony senior, who won the Class A state title in the 300-meter hurdles by a mere six-hundredths of a second. Orio and Cory Clarke, who won the 100- and 200-meter dashes, led Cony to a fifth-place finish Saturday with 53 points in the Class A state meet at Alumni Field.

The two also helped lead the 4x100 relay team to victory.

Senior Will Geoghegan won three events -- 800, 1,600 and 3,200 -- to give Brunswick the team title with 82 points. Cheverus was second with 66, followed by Gorham (62.5) and Edward Little (56).

Scarborough won the girls title with 91 points. Edward Little, the defending Class A state champion, finished second with 83 points.

Cony, thanks to a Lindsey Folsom victory in the pole vault, finished 12th. Lawrence freshman Sasha Letourneau finished sixth in the 100 and second in the 200 to account for all of her team's 10 points.

"I was really, really nervous," said Folsom, a freshman who was seeded second but won the event by clearing 10 feet, 3 inches. "My hands were shaking going into it. I haven't been this nervous at a track meet before."

The Cony boys 4x100 relay team, which featured the fastest seed time in the state (44.36 seconds), also felt the nerves flow.

"We've wanted this for four years," Cony senior Dustin Dang said. "We wanted it badly."

They almost didn't get it. The Rams trailed when freshman Luke Dang handed the baton off to Clarke, who ran the anchor leg.

After the handoff, Luke Dang raised both hands and pointed each index finger to the sky as if to signal victory.

"I knew Cory wasn't going to lose," Luke Dang said.

Added Orio with a laugh, who ran the second leg: "Luke threw his ones up and I was like, 'You are such a toddler.' I couldn't believe it, but Cory took care of business."

Clarke did, as he chased down three runners to reach the finish line first. Cony finished in 44.03.

"It was awesome," Orio said. "We were moving. It was very emotional for us."

Orio later won the 300 hurdles with a time of 40.56. Brewer senior Steven Rice finished second in 40.62 while South Portland senior Jamison Esquibel was third in 40.72.

Clarke also emerged victorious in tight races. He won the 200 in 22.76, just four-hundredths of a second ahead of Gorham senior Jake Willis. Clark won the 100 in 11.31 with a late lean over Willis as well.

"It was an awesome race," Clark said of the 100. "I didn't expect to go so fast. I caught him right at the end. I've never had to lean like that before. To be honest, I thought (Willis) actually had me. It felt awesome."

Cony senior Luke Fontaine finished third in the 1,600 and fourth in the 800.

"The last lap was brutal," Fontaine said of the 1,600. "I tried to stay with (Geoghegan). I tried to make it up but it didn't happen. I tried with about 200 (meters) left but (Geoghegan) picked it up."

The victory for Geoghegan was his first of three on the day.

"I didn't have any outdoor titles coming into today, so this feels great," said Geoghegan, who will attend Bowdoin College in the fall. "It feels good to pick them up."

Skowhegan senior Garrett Nelson finished second in the long jump, fifth in the 100 and sixth in the triple jump.

"I was pushing my hardest," he said. "It was a good feeling to know that no matter how hard I pushed I never went over the board in the long jump. I felt I did my best."

On the girls side, a change of equipment and mechanics boosted Folsom in the pole vault.

"I got a new pole and I changed my steps from five to six," she said. "I was pleased."

Letourneau, meanwhile, was seeded fourth in the 200 but used a late surge to finish second in 26.69.

Scarborough sophomore Nicole Kirk won the race in 26.25.

"I had a lot of adrenaline going," Letourneau said. "I hadn't run against these girls before so I wasn't sure how it would go down. I gave it all I had."

Kennebunk sophomore Abbey Leonardi broke two Class A state records, including the 1,600 and 3,200. She won the 1,600 in 4 minutes, 51.7 seconds to eclipse the previous record of 4:56.64 that she set last season.

She won the 3,200 in 10:42.32 to break the previous mark of 11:06.06 set by Erica Jesseman in 2006.

The Cheverus boys 4x800 relay also set a Class A record in 7:54.32.

Bill Stewart -- 623-3811, ext. 515

bstewart@centralmaine.com