Up against top competition from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Vermont, Maine represented itself well at the 2024 New England Interscholastic Track & Field Championships this Saturday, with athletes winning five gold medals.
Held at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, junior Arnaud Sioho of South Portland and junior Tayla Pelletier of Windham kicked things off in the morning with victories in the triple jump — including a new state record for Pelletier — and junior Teanne Ewings of Houlton wrapped things up five hours later with a second-place finish in the 3,200-meter race.
Altogether, nine Mainers and one relay team from 10 different high schools were awarded medals. Two new Maine state records were set in the process.
“There was some unbelievable talent there; it was what you’d expect of a championship meet,” Bangor head coach Alan Mosca said. “The place was decked out. It was a really neat atmosphere to be a part of.”
In the field, Gorham junior Griffin Gammon defended his title with a high jump of 6 feet 9 inches, Sioho set a personal record by 10 inches in the triple jump (48 feet, 4.75 inches), and Pelletier came out of left field to win the triple jump (38 feet, 10.5 inches) as the No. 12 seed, setting a new personal record by more than 28 inches.
Pelletier’s triple jump continued a historical pattern of Mainers setting state records at New Englands, breaking a state record of 38 feet, 8.5 inches most recently attained by Mikaela Langston of Mt. Ararat in 2021.
On the track, junior Andre Clark of Marshwood tied his state-record time of 10.59 seconds in the 100-meter dash, winning gold by 0.09 seconds. Clark originally set the record last week at the Class A state championships in Saco.
“It was just awesome to watch. He maintained his speed the whole time,” Mosca said. “He dominated.”
Senior Maddox Jordan of Noble had an incredible photo finish in the 1,600-meter race, timing his kick perfectly to surpass Collin Walsh and Jack Mattingly of Connecticut by 0.17 and 0.19 seconds, respectively, winning gold with a time of 4:15.38.
In the girls’ mile race, sophomore Laurel Driscoll of Scarborough won bronze with a time of 4:56.6. In the two-mile, Ewings won silver with a four-second personal record of 10:29.7, and future UNH Wildcat Ruth White of Orono finished fourth with a time of 10:37.0.
Rounding out the action was Winslow senior Joey Richard’s bronze-medal finish in the 400-meter dash (49.19 seconds) as the No. 21 seed, and Portland’s bronze-medal finish in the 4×800-meter relay (7:58.46), led by seniors Nathan Blades and Benjamin Prestes.
