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BY BILL STEWART
Staff Writer 05/07/2008

Staff Writer

For the last two springs, Courtney Dufour followed up the Cony basketball season by picking up a lacrosse stick. This year, however, the Cony High School junior decided track shoes fit her best.

"I did lacrosse the last two springs and it just wasn't for me," said Dufour, 16. "I wanted to do something new. I knew it would help me get in better shape."

It helped that her sophomore sister, Mackenzie, competes in track as well.

"I've never done it before but I decided during basketball season that I would do it," said Dufour, a guard on the Eastern A finalist Rams who sank 36 3-pointers during the regular season. "I was so nervous on the first practice and very nervous at the first meet. I was afraid I was going to mess something up."

Courtney Dufour is running the 800-meter run as well as some relays for the Rams. She finished second in the 800 in Cony's last meet against Belfast, Hall-Dale, Mt. View, Nokomis, Lincoln and Richmond.

"She's an important part of our relays," Cony coach Shawn Totman said. "I never expected her to do this well without having tried this before. It's impressive."

Mackenzie Dufour is also turning in strong performances. She won the 100 and 400 in the Rams' last meet.

• • •

The Winthrop boys cruised to a win in a meet against Carrabec, Jay, Livermore Falls and Madison last week, without really thinking about winning. The girls finished second in that meet.

"It kind of stinks we're only one meet in," Winthrop coach Ed Van Tassel said. "We're still trying to figure out where to put people. We weren't focusing on winning the meet. We'll start dialing it in once we get down the line a bit."

Van Tassel had each of his distance runners compete in the 800 and 3,200 to see who he could move up or down.

"We tried some people where there might be some potential," he said. "We definitely have some kids who can run, jump and throw."

Kevin Hart and Brandon Kenney were among several Ramblers who enjoyed a big meet. Hart won the triple and long jumps as well as the 100. Kenney won the shot put, discus and javelin.

Danny Soltan and Tor O'Brien anchor the team's middle distance events. Both seniors will pursue their track careers at the collegiate level next year. O'Brien will attend Harvard University while Soltan will go to Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa.

O'Brien said Harvard assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Ricardo Santos said O'Brien should "fit into the program."

"He said I've got to run a little bit faster, but that I'll probably do the longer distance events."

Soltan said Lehigh was also a good fit.

"I hope to make top 12 on their team," he said.

• • •

When Messalonskee coach Scott Wilson saw the schedules for the first time, he couldn't help but do a double-take.

"We only have five meets, and our first three were against Erskine," he said. "I've never seen anything like that before. When I first saw it, I said, 'Hey, this is interesting.' Three meets with the same two teams. Needless to say, we're getting to know Erskine real well."

Messalonskee and Erskine will compete against each other for the final time Tuesday. The girls teams split the previous two meetings, while the Erskine boys swept Messalonskee.

"I'm not sure how that worked out," Erskine coach Ben Willoughby said on the schedule. "I think it's just the roll of the dice."

• • •

Messalonskee's Jesse Labreck, one of the top track and field athletes in the state, tried the 200 last week for the first time in her career.

"It's just something she wanted to do," Wilson said.

Just like her other events, including the hurdles, high jump and triple jump, Labreck had no problems dominating the field. In a meet against Erskine, Rockland and Maranacook, Labreck easily won the 200 with a time of 26.79. Messalonskee scored 103 points to win the meet.

"She's only a few hundredths of a seconds away from the school record," Wilson added.

• • •

Anna Niedbala is off to another good start for Erskine. Niedbala, a senior who will compete for the Dartmouth College track and field team next fall, won the shot put and discus in her team's May 1 meet against Messalonskee, Maranacook and Rockland.

In the season-opening meet, she helped the Eagles score 50 points against Brewer, Belfast, Messalonskee and Lincoln by winning the javelin, discuss and shot put.

"She is by far my strongest kid," Willoughby said. "She's throwing the discus at 133 feet, which is phenomenal."

• • •

Speaking of Erskine, the Eagles competed in their third meet of the season on Tuesday, which equals last year's total.

"We had a string of bad luck last year," Willoughby said. "We had bad weather, a bomb threat in Belfast, everything. It's so tough to reschedule a meet, so we just had three all of last year."

Bill Stewart -- 623-3811, ext. 515

bstewart@centralmaine.com

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