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Morning Sentinel
HIGH SCHOOL INDOOR TRACK NOTES

Cony learns to
make do with less
By GARY HAWKINS
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 01/07/2008

By GARY HAWKINS

Staff Writer

The Cony High School track team is making due with the bare minimum of practice facilities this season, yet doing fairly well. The boys and girls teams each finished fourth in a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference meet Saturday and the girls were competing without top point-scorer Bethany Dumas.

Many indoor track teams in central Maine are forced to run in the hallways of their high schools to stay in shape. Even those periodic trips to the field house at Colby College are unavailable this season due to repairs to the basketball court.

Cony has survived with even less. The Rams are not allowed to run in the hallways of the new high school.

"We get one stairwell and sometimes part of the gym," Cony coach Taylor Harmon said. "The rest of the time I send my kids outdoors to run."

Harmon has his largest team ever this season with 17 boys and seven girls.

"The kids I have are really improving," he said. "A lot of them are first-year track people."

Many have already qualified for the KVAC meet Feb. 9 at Bowdoin College or the state meet Feb. 18 at the University of Southern Maine. Among them is senior shot putter John Carll, who won Saturday's meet with a personal best of 43 feet, 10 inches.

"Being an all-conference football player (this fall) really boosted his confidence," Harmon said.

Sophomore Luke Fontaine placed in the two mile while Nick Plante (long jump), Rick Orio (sprints), Curtis Ludwig (200 and Tyler Rodrigue (sprints) also placed.

Among the girls, Cassie Diplock has qualified in the long jump and Tori Fowler in the 55 and 200 meter dashes. Kaitlin Clifford placed second in the two mile, Morgan Beede in the mile and Debra Juarez in the shot put.

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Harmon missed Saturday's meet to accompany Dumas to Reno, Nev., for the pole vault summit. The defending state and New England high school champion turned in a vault of 11-6 and also attended clinics given by U.S. Olympians.

"She jumped really well out here," Harmon said. "She's picked up a lot of stuff."

Earlier this season, Dumas won at the Brown Relays with a vault of 11-2 and set a record at the University of Southern Maine relays with a height of 11-3.

"She's improving every meet we have this year," Harmon said.

Dumas has a career best of 12-7 at Harvard last spring. She'll go to the Dartmouth Relays this weekend and likely compete in the National Indoor Championships in New York City next month.

"The way she's going she'll be able to go to the junior nationals in June in Indianapolis," Harmon said. "If she gets into that, she'll get into elite coaching."

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Messalonskee senior Jesse LaBreck is training with Waterville and rounding into the same form that helped her win three states titles last spring as well as a second place.

"Her marks have been off a little bit, but this week she was really sharp," Wilson said. "When we go to Bowdoin, she'll be in good shape."

Wilson said LaBreck has concentrated more on spring mechanics and form this winter than the long and triple jumps.

"I can't think of a more well-rounded gifted female track athlete I've ever worked with," he said.

Distance runner David Currier and sprinter Eric Anderson, both from Messalonskee, are also training and competing with Waterville. Mt. Blue athletes training with Lawrence include distance runner Eric Marceau and high jumpers Melody Lam and Jared Jones. Marceau won the mile and 800 meter events on Friday, an impressive feat since there are only two events between them. Also training with Lawrence is Maine Central Institute's Amanda Asaro, who has a win and second place so far in the mile.

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Indoor track differs significantly from the outdoor version because of the size of the tracks. Because of the indoor confines, there's much more jostling in races and runners must be able to hold there own to win.

"Track position is huge because the turns are so tight," Coach Wilson said. "Indoor track is kind of a contact sport. You have to be very aggressive physically."

Gary Hawkins -- 621-5638

ghawkins@centralmaine.com

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Hermann Munster of AmishLand, PA
Jan 7, 2008 9:56 AM
Given Lawrence's history under the late Coach Dave Martin, I am surprised that current Coach Albert complains about being able to motivate his athletes due to the lack of a track on which to practice.

Here's a fact: Lawrence High School won a decade's worth of state championships BEFORE a track was built.

Lawrence High School had a decade's worth of state champions in nearly every event BEFORE it ever had a track on which to practice. That includes indoor and outdoor track.

Bruce Bickford, state champion distance runner and US Olympian NEVER had a home track to practice on. Never. Same with his brothers Patrick and Stanley.

Jim Dawson, state champion thrower practiced out in the parking lot most of the time. He had no indoor facility to practice on.

One year, perhaps more, Lawrence had 3 pole vaulters who jumped over 13'6', including the state champion, but they had no practice facility at the high school.

The point is this: motivation can be built without adequate practice facilities, indoors or out. When a coach complains about the facilities instead of focusing on coaching and instruction, then his athletes will not perform as well. I should know. I was a member of 3 of Lawrence's state championship teams and I never had a home track facility to practice on. Roads, hallways, parking lot. No excuses, just get it done.report abuse

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