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Mark Lech’s University of Maine Black Bears took to the track at the University of Massachusetts last weekend for a meet against the Minutemen. Eight other colleges from across New England also competed.
The men’s team pulled in a fourth-place victory, earning two individual wins from freshman Riley Masters, who took the 1,500-meter run in 3:54.04, setting a facility record, and senior Jhamal Fluellen, who won the 100-meter dash in 11.17 seconds. Masters has yet to lose a race in the three meets he’s competed in this season.
Also turning in a commendable performance was junior Miles Bartlett, who lowered his steeplechase time from the last meet by 20 seconds, finishing at 9:25.68. Despite the drop in time, Bartlett earned a frustrating second-place finish and was nowhere near his UMaine record.
“Even though I ran a lot faster this past week than the week before, it was still a terrible performance.” Bartlett said. “I tried to keep the pace a bit quicker, to try and hit a faster time for once, and didn’t have any gas.”
“I’ve had a rough start, but I usually seem to pull things through in the end,” he added. “I haven’t had a race in warm weather yet. If I get that opportunity with some good competition where I don’t have to do all the pacing, [the record] should go down pretty easy.”
UMaine was propelled to the fourth spot by key point-scoring performances from freshmen Donald Clark (No. 2, shotput) and Trevor England (No. 6, long jump, No. 2, triple jump); sophomores James Berry (No. 3, pole vault), Travis Cook (No. 3, 400-meter dash) and Connor Tarr (No. 3, hammer throw, No. 6, discus); juniors Toby Poirier (No. 3, javelin) and Corey Bean (No. 5, 10,000-meter run) and senior Dan Voner (No. 5, 800-meter run).
The women’s team continued to be a force, taking the top spot by a convincing 38.5-point margin over the host UMass team. Freshman Jesse Labreck led the charge, finishing second in the long jump with a leap of 18′ 2.5″, first in the triple jump with a bound of 38′ 3.25″, and first in the 100-meter hurdles in 14.82 seconds.
“I don’t look ahead to see who I can beat,” Labreck said. “As of right now I am simply looking at my times and trying to beat those.”
“I don’t like to lose,” she stressed.
Labreck indicated that she would continue to compete in multiple events unless her performance is affected. In addition to the hurdles and the long and triple jumps, she also high jumps and runs a leg of the women’s 4×100-meter relay, which reset the school record in the event for the second time in three meets.
Her relay teammate, junior Ally Howatt, took home dual wins in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, but was still not satisfied with her performances.
“My times this season have not progressed at the rate that I would have liked, but I am attempting to be as patient as possible,” Howatt said. “I know that the hard work that I have put in this year will come to light and my times will improve.”
Howatt is the defending conference champion in both short and long sprints.
A myriad of top performances from familiar front-runners like senior Vicki Tolton, who set a facility record in her return to the 400-meter dash, freshmen Katherine McGeoghan (high jump) and women’s hockey team member Jessica Bond (javelin), and the women’s 4×400-meter relay team pushed UMaine to the top of the podium.
The Black Bears head back to Massachusetts this weekend for a showdown with the College of the Holy Cross. Some athletes will make the much farther trip to Baton Rouge to take on Louisiana State University in the LSU Alumni Gold meet.
