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HIGH SCHOOL TRACK AND FIELD NOTES: Cony gearing up for 400 participants

By Bill Stewart bstewart@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

Cony High School track and field coach Jon Millett offered a bit of an understatement when assessing the annual Cony Under the Lights meet, which is scheduled for Friday at Alumni Field.

"It's going to be a huge meet," he said.

Huge, indeed.

Nine teams and more than 400 competitors are scheduled to compete in the meet, which gets under way at 5 p.m.

"It's an important meet for us," Millett added. "We're getting toward the end of the season, and it's a last chance to qualify kids for the KVACs."

Maranacook, Erskine, Winthrop, Hall-Dale, Gardiner, Monmouth, Boothbay and Lisbon are expected to attend the meet.

"It's always a fun meet," Winthrop coach Ed Van Tassel said. "It's a really good tuneup for us heading into the end of the season, which doesn't seem possible. It seems like we just got started. It's hard to believe."

With conference championship meets looming, teams are scrambling to qualify as many athletes as possible for the postseason.

Furthermore, Friday also provides teams a taste of what to expect at championship meets, in terms of size and atmosphere.

"This is a dress rehearsal for the (Mountain Valley Conference) meet for us," Van Tassel said. "We're hoping kids will step up their level of competition. We're trying to put our relay teams together, and we'll use Friday to try and get our best teams together."

Added Millett: "Hopefully, all the work the kids put in comes to fruition."

• • •

Winthrop senior Grace Burnett, the two-time defending MVC 400-meter champ, is recovering from a knee injury that has sidelined her for much of the season.

Burnett competed in her first meet last week at Hall-Dale, participating in all three relay events.

"We're hoping she'll be able to race herself into shape," Van Tassel said. "We tried to start her training off slowly, but she aggravated it and it took forever to go away. We'll see what happens."

• • •

The weather hasn't been kind to athletics teams this spring, with several track meets being postponed.

The postponements, and in some cases cancellations, have given track and field teams fewer meets to try and qualify their athletes for the postseason.

"We've had just three meets," Hall-Dale coach Kristen Davis said. "But we've told our kids to come in every day and be ready to go."

Davis added the team has had some "serious workouts" to pass the time between meets.

"We've done interval training and our distance runners have put in serious miles pounding the pavement," she said. "Our throwing crew is in the weight lifting room two days a week building strength. We're doing workouts, drills, technique work. We try to go hard every day because it will pay off."

• • •

The seventh annual Community Cup is scheduled for Saturday morning, and for the seventh consecutive year the goal is the same for the participants chasing Waterville.

"Waterville has had a stranglehold on the Cup since we started it," Lawrence coach Tim Alberts said. "We're all hoping to get it a little closer. We're hoping we can get some points, and between us and Winslow maybe cut that deficit down and see what happens."

The Cup is scheduled for 10 a.m. at Waterville. Skowhegan and Messalonskee will also compete.

Both Waterville teams are heavily favored to win the Cup for the seventh straight season.

"I think the kids get a kick out of the meet," Waterville coach Ian Wilson said. "They all know each other so well. They are familiar with each other from the other rivalries. But to be really brutally honest, there's only one meet we circle to go after -- the state championships. Everything else is preparation for the state final. I always tell the kids that we are not going to mortgage the future to win a regular season meet. We keep an eye on the big picture."

• • •

Top performers: Monmouth's Molly Menice won the javelin (95-1.5) and discus (69-2.5) at a seven-team meet at Cony. Amanda Knight of Messalonskee won the 100 (14.21) and 200 (28.48) at a six-team meet in Gardiner. Harlow Ladd of Messalonskee won the 3,200 (9:57.54), 1,600 (4:38.84) and 800 (2:06.94) at the meet as well. Taylor Watson of Maranacook won the 300 hurdles (43.97) and competed on the victorious 4x100, 4x400 and 4x800 relay teams at the Lawrence meet. Waterville's Olivia Thurston won the 300 hurdles (47.70) and 100 hurdles (15.74) at a six-team meet in Auburn.

Bill Stewart -- 621-5640

bstewart@centralmaine.com