The Bangor Rams defended their Penobscot Valley Conference titles on Saturday in Brewer, sprinting and throwing their way to gold in both the boys and girls divisions.
On the track, seniors Gage Jones and Horace Graham, junior Jalynn Williams, and sophomore Bayley Fryer helped the Rams win the 4×100-meter relay and collect seven of 12 possible medals in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes — setting five individual personal records in the process.
Meanwhile, in the field events, Bangor senior Ian Randall won the shot put (53 feet, a top-10 mark in the state), sophomore Jake Bassi won the discus, sophomore Alice Thibodeau won the pole vault (9-foot-6, a personal record), sophomore Ava Syphers was a close second in the discus and sophomore Sophia Chase placed second in the long jump.
Overall, the Bangor girls dominated with 190 total points (66 in the field, 51 in sprints), beating out Hampden Academy (118) and Brewer (72). The boys won gold with 130 points (39 in throws, 38 in sprints), surpassing Caribou (94 points) and Hampden Academy (91 points).
“I’m proud of the entire team. There are a lot of great athletes in this league, and to win both divisions says a lot about this team,” Bangor head coach Alan Mosca said. “Our kids have a great attitude. They try to get 1 percent better every day.”
On the boys’ side, Caribou was led by its jumping, hurdling and relay teams, and Hampden was paced by its distance and jumping teams.
Viking senior Mason St. Peter won the triple jump with a personal record of 42 feet, 10 inches, and a high jump of 6 feet flat. Hampden junior Andy Henaghen was right behind him, placing second in the triple jump and third in the high jump.
Joining St. Peter on the podium for Caribou was senior Kyle LaBreck and junior Evan Durepo. LaBreck finished second in the 300-meter hurdles (41.55 seconds, a personal record) and third in the 110-meter hurdles; Durepo won gold in the 400-meter dash and won bronze in the long jump.
St. Peter, LaBreck and Durepo helped power Caribou to silver in the 4×100-meter and 4×400-meter relays, coming up just 0.45 seconds short of Bangor in the former.
Hampden junior Tim Collins and sophomore Asher Valentine took home silver and bronze in the 1600-meter run, then bronze and silver in the 3200-meter run, respectively. They lost to Ellsworth senior Matt Cormier in the mile (Cormier clocked in at 4:34.6, and also won the 800-meter race), and Ellsworth junior Aedyn Hughes in the 2-mile, who finished in 10:09.8.
Senior Miles Burr of MDI and senior Colby Largay of Brewer also starred. Burr won the 200-meter dash and placed second in the 100-meter dash, while Largay won silver in both the discus and shot put.
“Miles is the gold standard right now. Our kids have tremendous respect for him,” coach Mosca said. “For Gage to beat Miles in the 100 was huge.”
On the girls’ side, Hampden was powered by trio Gretchen Plant, Addison Elliott and Natalia Charles, and host Brewer was led by junior duo Lauren Vanidestine and Lauren Low.
Bronco sophomore Plant won the 3200-meter race with a time of 12:25.4, won the 1600-meter race with a time of 5:32.8, finished second in the 800-meter run, and was the first leg of Hampden’s gold-winning 4×400-meter relay (4:12.4).
Meanwhile, Hampden freshman Elliott and junior Charles went one-two in the 400-meter dash, were key contributors to the 4×400-meter relay and helped the Broncos win silver in the 4×800-meter relay (Bangor won gold, anchored by senior Katie McCarthy).
Elliot also finished fourth in the 200-meter dash, and senior Emily Bishop finished top four in both long distance events.
For Brewer, Vanidestine and Low were jacks of all trades. Vanidestine won gold in the 100-meter dash (12.72 seconds), won gold in the triple jump (35 feet, 10.5 inches), won silver in the 200-meter dash and was fourth in the 300-meter hurdles.
Low won bronze in both the 100-meter and 300-meter hurdles, competed in the high jump, and helped power Brewer to fourth in the 4×100-meter relays.
“[Vandestine]’s just so talented and classy. Her events were all spread out, but she’s so mentally tough,” Mosca said. “Hampden has quite a tradition with its distance runners.”
The Bangor girls will try to win their fourth consecutive class A state title at Thornton Academy in Saco this upcoming Saturday. The Class B state championships will take place at MDI High School, and the Class C state championships will happen at Saint Joseph’s College in Standish.
