i BOYS Fontaine successful despite leg injury
Morning Sentinel
BOYS Fontaine successful despite leg injury
BY BILL STEWART
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 03/22/2009

BY BILL STEWART

Staff Writer

About four weeks prior to the Class A state championship indoor track meet, Luke Fontaine pulled a hamstring, which jeopardized his goals for the season.

"I didn't know what was going to happen," said Fontaine, a Cony High School junior distance runner. "I knew it was going to be tough training. I tried to stay off it as much as possible and just hoped it would get better."

The hamstring healed, barely, and Fontaine returned to win two events at the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A championships and another at the state meet.

For his accomplishments, Fontaine is the Kennebec Journal indoor track and field boys athlete of the year. Sam Seekins of Erskine Academy was also considered.

"Luke worked real hard," Cony coach Taylor Harmon said. "It was hard for him to keep his peak. He tweaked a speed muscle, and it wasn't easy to keep up."

Fontaine won the one mile and the 800 meters at the KVAC meet. He finished the mile with a time of 4 minutes, 32.71 seconds and the 800 in 2:02.85. He followed that up by winning the mile in the Class A state championship meet with a time of 4:26.21.

"My season went pretty well," Fontaine said. "I hit one of my goals. My other goal was to finish in the top 10 of New Englands, but that didn't happen. But my primary goal was to win states in one event. I was pretty ecstatic."

Fontaine acknowledged he was nervous heading into the two championship meets.

"It was tough with the injury," he said. "If you kept going with it, you could make it worse. I was really nervous for the KVAC meet. I knew I had a lot of competition in the mile with Will Geoghegan (Brunswick) and Matt Driscoll (Lewiston). I did pretty well. I usually rely on my last kick to get the win for me, and I didn't know how it would hold out, but it worked."

Fontaine began the season running the one-mile and the two-mile events. However, the injury forced him out of the two-mile and into the 800, because there were less turns in the latter.

"My coach thought it would be better to do less corners," Fontaine said.

After the KVAC meet, Fontaine again took it easy leading up to the state meet.

"We cut back on the miles a lot," he said. "I did a lot of cross-training. Before the state meet, I just took my warmups real easy. I tried to stay calm and relaxed, and just made sure it was stretched out. During the race, I didn't think about it."

Fontaine won the event by more than a second over Nate Hathaway of Scarborough.

"He really showed me even being at a disadvantage for three weeks that he still had the mindset that he could win the one-mile at states. I'm hoping he can build on this for the spring."

So, too, does Fontaine.

"Hopefully, I can stay healthy," he said.

Bill Stewart -- 623-3811, ext. 515

bstewart@centralmaine.com

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