Track & Field Southwesterns

By: Kristin Jacques

The SMAA Southwestern meets for track and field athletes from 14 schools in southern Maine are extremely important because they are the last chance for competitors to get qualifying scores in order to move on to the regional competition.The boys' Southwestern meet was held on Friday, May 19 at Massabesic High School in Waterboro. Lewiston came out strong with Robbie Dion leading the way, placing in triple jump, long jump and 400 meter run. Dion placed first in the triple jump with a personal record of 41 feet, 2 inches, 5th in the long jump with a jump of 19 feet, 2 inches, and 2nd in the 400 meter run with a time of 51.2 seconds. Andre Dubois also had stellar performances in the shot put (3rd place with 49 feet, 1 inch) and discus (3rd place with 139 feet, 1 inch). Overall, the Lewiston boys were pleased with their 8th place finish. As a team they earned 32 points, which was a tie with Thornton Academy. The South Portland Red Riots claimed the Southwestern win with 122 1/3 points with the Red Eddies of EL coming in second with 76 and Sanford placing in third with 62 points. Dion and Dubois will be moving on to regionals along with other qualifying team members.

Track Southwesterns continued on Saturday, May 20 with the 14 girls teams battling it out at South Portland High School. Runners, jumpers and throwers were at their best and the day started off on an exciting note for the Edward Little squad who broke a meet record in the 4x800 relay with a time of 9:46.5. The Lewiston girls showed strong performances in the 1600 racewalk, triple jump, and shot put. Kim Tuttle placed fifth in the mile racewalk with an excellent time of 9:38. Angela Roy placed in the shot put (which she had already qualified for regionals in) and Libby Asselin placed in triple jump and also qualified for regionals with a personal best jump of 30 feet, 10 inches. The team also showed good drive in the 4x400 relay, which they were placed seventh in going into the meet. Lewiston ended up finishing in 12th place with 26 points, edging out Noble (who had beat them earlier in the season) and Catherine McAuley. The Red Eddies won with an impressive point total of 370 1/2, followed by South Portland (201 1/2 points) and Thornton Academy (170 1/2 points). Overall, team spirit and unity was high for both Lewiston's boys and girls track squads, and Lewiston should be proud of the meets' participants, many of whom set personal records for themselves.

The Regional Competitions for both boys and girls will be held Saturday, May 27 at Thornton Academy, followed by the State Competition on June 3 at the University of Maine, Orono.