York boys, Yarmouth girls run away with Class B track titles
FREEPORT — Two championship banners will hang in new places this month after the York boys and Yarmouth girls track and field teams capped their seasons with Class B state titles at Freeport on Saturday.
The York boys scored 93 points to claim their eighth state championship, and seventh in Class B, ending a three-year drought. Their last title came in 2022. Greely, the two-time defending champion, finished second with 73 points, followed by Yarmouth with 61.
"It's fantastic, I couldn't be any more proud of the guys team," York coach Matt Weber said. "They worked incredibly hard this year, lots of hard practices and lots of hard meets, good perseverance. It's a fantastic outcome, everybody hit at the right time."
York's two individual victories came from William Fagan in the shot put at 53 feet, 4½ inches, and Jackson Walker in the 110-meter hurdles at 15.75 seconds.
For the Yarmouth girls, the day delivered something no Clipper team had achieved before. Their 101 points edged Freeport's 82 and Greely's 77, earning the program's first state championship.
"I'm thrilled, it's awesome," Yarmouth coach Sarah Carrigan said. "We were super confident after (the Western Maine Conference meet). It was all about pumping the girls up, focusing on the positive, and they pulled it off, which is great."
Ella Cameron powered the Clippers with two throwing victories, winning the javelin at 121-1 and the discus at 114-5. Freshman Hayden Aines took the long jump at 18-3, and Miah Jacobs won the 100 in 12.20 seconds. Aines, Jacobs, Abby Noble and Lilah Pernal then closed out the meet with a record-setting run in the 400 relay, crossing in 49.30 seconds.
Both teams had tuned up for the championship by winning Western Maine Conference titles on May 30.
The afternoon produced four meet records, headlined by Old Town senior Elyannah Briggs, who cleared 5-6 in the high jump to break a mark that had stood since 1977. Joanne Gray of Ellsworth had set the previous record of 5-5¾ at a time when bell-bottom jeans were still in style.
"It means a lot to me," said Briggs, a senior who stands 6-1½. "Going into it, I hadn't thought about the record, I wasn't expecting to do that today. With my previous performances this season, it's been a little rocky. But I'm really ecstatic to get this record."
Hermon junior Daijha Grant added a record of her own in the triple jump, soaring 37-8¾ to erase a mark Sarah Keenan of Foxcroft Academy had set in 1997.
In the boys sprints, Leavitt senior Mason Henderson completed a memorable final high school meet with three victories. He won the 100 in 10.93 and the 400 in 49.71, then closed his day with a meet record in the 200, running 22.17 to lower the previous mark of 22.18 set by Miles Burr of Mt. Desert Island in 2023.
The University of New England football recruit wore his signature sunglasses in every race.
"It's like an alter ego, it's like I'm in race mode," Henderson said.
He called the record-setting finish "unreal" and "a little surreal."
The most anticipated boys race of the day was the 800, and it delivered. John Bapst sophomore Gavin Rogers edged Ellsworth junior Noah McGruder at the line, 1:57.58 to 1:57.87, with Freeport's Alex Gilbert third at 1:58.84.
"I was super excited," Rogers said. "I said, 'Today is the day I'm going to (set a personal record). Just go out, have no regrets and run as fast as I can.' Thankfully, I came out with a victory."
Gilbert, a senior, enjoyed his own triumphant send-off at the facility named for an Olympic legend. He won the 1,600 in 4:29.51 and the 3,200 in 9:49.25.
"It feels great to have (states) here again, it feels very full-circle," Gilbert said. "To be able to go out here and win was a lot of fun."
Gardiner junior Natalie Grant repeated as Class B champion in the 1,600 race walk, finishing in 8:05.06, more than a year after she broke the femoral head in her hip during cross country season.
"This is the best result I could hope for," Grant said. "I think even though I won last year, it means more, because I came back from something."
The Cony boys swept the relay events. Ethan Demmons, Judah Bickford, Carter Brathwaite and Joseph Knapp won the 1,600 relay in 3:30.41. Demons, Knapp, Brathwaite and Shaquan Fellows then set a meet record in the 400 relay at 43.53. Fellows also contributed an individual win, taking the long jump at 20-9¾.
Among the other boys winners, Joseph Bennett of Mt. Desert Island won the discus at 158-5, Boris Felix of Ellsworth cleared 6-2 in the high jump, Minh Ha of Belfast launched the javelin 164-6, Kannon Crocker of Greely won the 300 hurdles in 40.15, Luke Blair of Erskine Academy took the 1,600 race walk in 8:04.05, Elijah Pelkey of Erskine won the triple jump at 43-1½, and Patrick Saltysiak of Mt. Desert Island cleared 13-6 in the pole vault. John Bapst's 3,200 relay team of Benedict Hoskins, Mason Read, Beckham Rand and Rogers won in 8:21.56.
For the girls, Rowan Barry of Greely won the 800 in 2:17.48, Angelina Boisvert of Nokomis won the shot put at 38-7¼, Zoe Carroll of York took the 1,600 in 4:58.41, Seneca Haney of Mt. Desert Island won the 200 in 24.74, Karen Higgins of Lincoln Academy took the 3,200 in 11:07.45, Piper Higgins of Greely cleared 10-0 in the pole vault, Caitlin Jenkins of Ellsworth won the 100 hurdles in 15.35, Sovie Rau of Erskine Academy took the 400 in 57.05, and Victoria Zandan of Greely won the 300 hurdles in 45.85. Freeport won the 3,200 relay in 9:53.82, and Mt. Desert Island took the 1,600 relay in 4:04.39.
Joan Benoit Samuelson, the 1984 Olympic marathon gold medalist for whom the Freeport facility is named, was on hand to hand out medals to the winners.
The Class A championships earlier in the day produced state titles for the Scarborough girls and South Portland boys, while the Class C titles went to Orono and Bangor Christian.
