The Orono boys track and field team got out to a fast start during Tuesday’s Class C outdoor state championship. And the Red Riots never looked back.
In the first track event of the boys state meet, the Red Riot 4×800 meter relay team of Liam Waring, Camden Brown, Owen Beane and Ben Arsenault took first place and set the stage for the rest of the competition.
The Orono boys won the Class C boys state title with a dominant total of 125 points, outpacing the 85 points from second place George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill and 48.5 from Bangor Christian.
The Orono girls team, coming off back-to-back state championships of their own, finished a respectable third behind first-time winner Bucksport and Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield.
The combined success of both Orono programs is staggering. The girls have won nine state championships since 2012. And this is now five for the boys in that same stretch.
“It’s a culture. And it’s been going on for decades. It’s not recent,” said Orono Athletic Director Mike Archer, who credited decades of good coaching while stressing how hard track athletes work in Orono and across the sport.
“These kids work hard. And I think that’s why there’s such a respect amongst athletes in this sport, because they know how hard it is,” Archer said. “You don’t achieve things without putting the work in in this sport.”
Orono track coach Dereck Treadwell, who had his own hall of fame running career at the University of Maine, was thrilled with his team’s effort Tuesday.
“I’m beyond ecstatic with what I’ve seen and the way that they’ve raced, and just the heart that these kids have shown,” he said.
Treadwell highlighted how discus thrower Brady Grant threw a 20-foot personal best to win the event and solidify the overall victory for the Red Riots.
“I don’t know how I did that,” Grant said. “I really wanted to lock in the win, for sure.”
Other individual state titles for the Red Riot boys team included both the 1600m and 3,200m for Arsenault.
“This is a guy that is the best teammate you could possibly have,” Treadwell said. “One of the hardest workers you could possibly have. And just a fantastic person.”
Teammate Beane went out of his way later in the meet to credit Arsenault and the work he puts in throughout the year.
“He trains all year long. Summer, winter, night, day,” Beane said about Arsenault. “He just gets out there, he gets after it. I’ve never seen someone train as hard as he does.”
Treadwell said the team headed into Tuesday’s state meet with an approach of wanting to have its best possible day, and then letting the results work themselves out.
“If we have our best day, and people beat us, then that’s OK,” he said.
But the Orono boys’ best day was unmatchable, and it ended with another state championship win.
