The University of Maine’s New Balance Fieldhouse in Orono became a mecca for indoor track on Thursday night, when 18 teams from the Penobscot Valley Conference battled to become champions of the Eastern Maine Indoor Track League.
Divided into a large school division and a small school division, Bangor and Orono high schools dominated, with both winning the boys team championships. The Bangor girls won the large school team title while the Orono girls finished second behind Bucksport in the small school competition.
Individually, Mount Desert Island senior Miles Burr, Houlton junior Teanne Ewings, Brewer junior Lauren Vanidestine, and Bucksport sophomore Haley Rose topped the field, winning three gold medals apiece.
In the 55-meter dash, Burr overcame Bangor senior Gage Jones in the final kick to reset his own EMITL record, winning the finals with a time of 6.46 seconds — 0.06 seconds faster than his Feb. 4, 2023 record finish.
“Gage has an excellent start every single time, and so when you’re running against someone like that your start seems bad,” Burr said. “I definitely have room for improvement — my starts are slowly improving — but I’ve put a lot of work in the weight room. I’m having a really fun season.”
Burr then beat Jones by more than a second in the 200-meter dash, taking home the gold with a time of 22.46 seconds — just 0.1 seconds off his EMITL record of 22.36 set on Jan. 27 of this year. Burr also dominated in the triple jump, beating out Bangor senior Oscar Croce by more than two feet with a distance of 42 feet, 4.5 inches.
In the distance events, it was business as usual for Teanne Ewings, who cruised to gold medal finishes in the 800-meter, 1-mile and 2-mile runs. Ewings has won every single race she has competed in this indoor track season, but usually only races in two of the three distance events to conserve her energy.
“My goal was to win them all. I’m probably going to [race all three] at states as well,” Ewings said. “Most of our workouts are pretty late, but I’ve never raced this late before, so it’s definitely something different.”
The EMITL championships were moved from Saturday afternoon to Thursday night this week, with the first blanks being fired at around 4:45 p.m. The girls 2-mile run took place at 10:30 p.m., and the awards ceremony wrapped up at around midnight.
Brewer’s Vanidestine was the third triple gold medalist on Thursday, winning the 55-meter dash with a time of 7.42 seconds, the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.79 seconds and the triple jump with a distance of 35 feet, 10.75 inches. Her efforts accounted for 30 of the Brewer girls’ 68 points, propelling the Witches to a third-place finish.
Vanidestine also won the Anne Norton Sportsmanship Award on Thursday, voted by the EMITL
Buckport’s Haley Rose and her twin sister Madison dominated the girls small school division, finishing one and two in the 55-meter, 200-meter and 400-meter dashes. The Rose sisters also helped lead the Golden Bucks to first place in the 4×200-meter relay.
The reigning state champion Bangor girls ended up winning the EMITL large school championship with a team score of 152.9 (over Hampden Academy, 93.5; and Brewer, 68). The Rams were equally as dominant on the boys side, with a team score of 153 (over Hampden Academy, 88; and John Bapst, 46).
Bangor’s double and triple medalists included senior Gage Jones (gold in long jump, silver in 55-meter dash, silver in 200-meter dash), senior Oscar Croce (gold in high jump, silver in triple jump, bronze in long jump), sophomore Sophia Chase (gold in 400-meter dash, silver in 200-meter dash, bronze in long jump) and junior Oliver Turner (silver in 55-meter hurdles and silver in pole vault).
In the boys small school championships, Orono (99) edged out George Stevens (97) and Sumner (97) for first place on the boys side. The Bucksport girls finished first with 159.50 points, well ahead of second-place Orono (108).
Orono had seven double medalists, who largely dominated in the field. They included senior Alex Maheu (gold in pole vault, silver in high jump), sophomore Easnadh Nobel To’olo (gold in pole vault, silver in triple jump), sophomore Connor Moeykens (silver in triple jump, bronze in 55-meter hurdles), sophomore Audra Brooks (silver in 1-mile run, bronze in 800-meter run), sophomore Addie Duran (silver in long jump, bronze in 55-meter dash), junior Leigha Woodard (bronze in long jump and high jump) and junior Camden Brown (bronze in 400-meter, bronze in pole vault).
“I’m so proud of the kids and all that they’ve managed to accomplish this season,” first-year Orono head coach Emily Francis said. “This is the largest indoor track team we’ve had in Orono’s history. It has been amazing to see them all grow as athletes across the board, and see their hard work rewarded with first and second place [team] finishes.”
This weekend, the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference and Southern Maine Athletic Association will have their conference championships, leading up to the Class A and B state meets on Saturday, Feb. 17.
