i INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS: Tuttle sets 2 state records as Waterville girls win
Morning Sentinel
INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS: Tuttle sets 2 state records as Waterville girls win
BY BILL STEWART, Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 02/17/2009

LEWISTON -- Shelby Tuttle set the stage early with a pair of record-breaking performances. Sarah Walker finished it off with two gutsy races late in the Class B indoor track and field state championships Monday at Bates College.

And in between, Danielle Fossa, Olivia Thurston, Anna LaClair and Lynn Fleming did their part to help the Waterville Senior High School girls team win the Class B state championship at Merrill Gymnasium.

"It feels great," said Tuttle, a senior who set Class B state records in the long jump (17 feet, 5 inches) and triple jump (37-9.5).

Added Waterville coach Ian Wilson, whose Purple Panthers won their second state title in three seasons: "I thought we had a really good chance. A lot of stuff had to go our way. I knew it wouldn't take a miracle, but the girls just had to do what they were capable of doing."

What Waterville was capable of doing was winning a state championship with just six girls scoring points. The Purple Panthers finished with 67 points -- 28 courtesy of Tuttle -- to ease past York, which had 65. Cape Elizabeth finished third with 61.5 points while Mount Destert Island checked in with 55. Winslow finished eighth with 18 points. Greely easily won the boys title with 92 points.

But the day belonged to Tuttle and the Waterville girls, who trailed much of the meet before some strategic moves paid off in the end.

For starters, Wilson pulled Tuttle from the final event of the meet, the 4x200 relay, so she could compete in the long jump. Athletes are allowed to compete in just three events at the state championship meet. Tuttle also finished second in the 55-meter hurdles.

"I don't like doubling up our jumpers because it beats up on their legs," Wilson said. "But we focused on where we could score some points."

So Tuttle competed in the long jump, an event she had done just twice this indoor season.

"I had done it before for fun but (Wilson) thought I could pick up some points for the team," Tuttle said. "It's not one of my main events."

Tuttle followed up her triumph in the long jump with an impressive showing in the triple jump. She set the state record, which Greely coach Kate Kress had owned since 1997, on her third and final jump of the finals.

"On my last jump I was like, 'I will get this state title,' " said Tuttle, who jumped 36-6.5 on her first jump in the finals before going 37-1 on her second. "I don't know why I didn't jump further earlier. I was like, 'Phew,' when I got it."

After the announcement of the new record, Kress walked over and congratulated Tuttle.

"I've been watching Shelby since her freshman year," said Kress, who set the old mark with a jump of 37-5. "I knew she would be the one to do it."

Waterville senior Fossa won the shot put with a throw of 39-8.25. She was seeded first and said she expected to win the title.

"It's surreal," she said. "It's not that I wasn't expecting it, but I've worked so hard for it over the last four years. It feels really, really good."

Cape Elizabeth pinned its team-title hopes on the distance events. But it was in the two-mile event that Waterville all but secured victory when Walker, in her only individual event of the day, cruised to victory and gave the Panthers a vital 10 points.

Walker, who finished with a time of 11 minutes, 55.91 seconds, was seeded fourth in the event behind talented Cape runners Kelsey Barton and Marita Stressenger. However, Barton and Stressenger had already competed in two events when the gun sounded for the two-mile race.

"I ran on fresh legs," said Walker, a sophomore. "I knew I had to win to help the team."

Heading into the final 4x200 relay, Waterville led Cape by 1.5 points and York by eight.

York was seeded first in the event, and Wilson correctly anticipated the Wildcats would win the race. That meant the Panthers would need at least a fifth-place finish to win the meet.

LaClair, Fleming, Thurston and Walker delivered, finishing fourth to give Waterville the title. Cape did not field a team in the relay.

Walker ran the anchor leg.

"I'm exhausted," she said.

Added Fleming, who was also second in the triple jump: "We ran unbelievable. It really was a team effort."

Also at the meet, Christina Massey of Winslow finished second in the high jump (5 feet) and fourth in the long jump (16-1.75).

Massey was seeded first in the high jump, but acknowledged she was nervous.

"My nerves came into it," she said. "It was mind over matter and my mind got the best of me."

On the boys side, Cody Souviney of Winslow finished second in the 55-meter hurdles while Erskine junior Sam Seekins was fourth in the one-mile and two-mile runs.

Class A: Cony junior Luke Fontaine won the mile with a time of 4:26.21 in the Class A championship meet at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham.

Messalonskee's Eric Anderson finished second in the 55 (6.76) and the 200 (23.35). Lawrence's Michael Brooks was fourth in the 800 (2:06.46).

Bill Stewart -- 623-3811, ext. 515

bstewart@centralmaine.com

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