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The Universtiy of Maine women’s indoor team competed at the Terrier Classic at Boston University on Friday evening and finished strong in several events, although the meet was unscored. Meanwhile, the Black Bears’ indoor men’s track and field team also competed this weekend, hosting the Blue Devils from Central Connecticut State on Saturday, and defeated them soundly winning 12 of 17 events.
UMaine coach Mark Lech was impressed with his team’s performance this weekend. He wasn’t too surprised by the men’s strong showing against Central Connecticut, saying that they appeared to be stronger on paper coming into the meet. His one disappointment was in the mile run, which he had expected to win coming in but came up short.
“It’s nice to have a home meet, and Central Connecticut was gracious enough to come up and compete against us,” Lech said.
For the women, Allyson Howatt was 13th in the 55 meter finals in 7.49 and 14th in the 200 meters in 25.87. In the 400 meters, Lindsay Burlock was 16th with a time of 58.73. Elonnai Hickok was the top UMaine finisher in the mile in 5:17.09. In the 800 meters, Hana Pelletier was 16th with a time of 2:16.99. Jessica Belliveau was sixth overall in the 1000 meters in 2:57.45, while Stephanie Jette was 11th in 2:58.43. Erin Hatch was seventh in the finals of the 55 meter hurdles in 8.79. In the pole vault, Allyson Thomas was tenth by clearing 3.07 meters. Jennifer Pierpont finished eighth and Rachel McCaslin ninth in the long jump, going 4.96 and 4.94, respectively. Tanya Simard was 10th in the triple jump with a 10.68 meter performance and Tess Perry was 12th with a jump of 10.56 meters. In the shot put, Micralyn Wiechman was ninth with a throw of 11.18 meters and Maegan Burke was tenth with a throw of 11.16 meters. Clarissa Michalak was seventh in the weight throw at 14.76 meters.
The results for the men were also very impressive against a Central Connecticut team that seemed overmatched. In the 60 yard hurdles, Maxwell Ludwig took first place with a time of 7.80. Eric Libby finished the 500 meters with a first-place time of 1:06.37 and Miles Bartlett won the 800 meters with a personal best time of 1:55.49. In the 55 meter dash, Arel Gordon continued his remarkable season with a first place finish in 6.30. Scott O’Connor won the 1000 meters in 2:33.82 and Donnie Drake won the 3000 meters in 8:44.35, which was his best time ever for that event. The Black Bears won both the 4×440 and 4×880 relays. In the pole vault, Mark Liimakka finished first and cleared 3.56 meters. Skip Edwards was first in the long jump with a jump 6.78 meters. Jeff Ramos cleared 1.98 meters in the high jump for first place, while Carson Hartman won the triple jump with a distance of 12.89 meters.
Lech thought the Black Bears did what they were supposed to do and competed well, saying that the meet went “true to form.” He said that he is pleased with the way the season is going along so far, and that the team had a good meet at the Great Dane Invitational last week as well, in which Arel Gordon set the school record for the 55 meter dash. He is looking for performances to improve as the season wears on and the athletes get fitter and in better shape. Lech is already looking ahead to the conference championships at the end of the season.
In the long run, Lech hopes that UMaine can crack the top 3 in the conference this year, and would like to see Arel Gordon get into the finals of the NCAA Championship with his blazing speed in the 55.
The men’s and women’s next meet will be on next Saturday, when they host Holy Cross in the fieldhouse at Memorial Gym.
