BY BILL STEWART

Staff Writer

Same leg, same injury.

Messalonskee High School senior Erik Anderson tweaked his left hamstring while running the 100-meter dash at a recent practice -- the same injury that forced him to miss the Class A state championship meet last season.

"It's a little sore," Anderson said. "But I won't let it hold me back. But I also don't want to injure myself any more. I'm taking it easy this week. I think I'll be fine."

The Eagles and coach Scott Wilson are taking no chances.

"We want him to do well in the states," Wilson said. "We think we got it before he did any real damage. Hopefully, with rest and stretching, he'll be fine. But I'd rather not even run him the rest of the season and then run him in the KVACs and the states."

Is that possible?

"Who knows? We'll see where this takes us," Wilson said.

Anderson added that he works out with a physical therapist "two or three times a week."

"It helps get me flexible," he said.

• • •

The Mt. View boys hope to get sprinter Seth London back soon from a leg injury that has proven rather odd.

"He had it last outdoor season, but not in the indoor season," Mt. View coach Kevin Petrak said. "Now it's back again. It's just not going away."

The Mustangs, who finished second and fifth in their two meets this season, have received strong performances from Benjamin Fox and Colby Blanchard. Fox won the 3,200 during a meet against Waterville and finished second in the 1,600. Blanchard has been scoring in the high jump, triple jump and javelin.

For the girls team, sophomore Hayleigh Kein has soared to 4 feet, 6 inches in the high jump and is competing in the 200, a new event for her this spring.

"She banged up her knee in field hockey, so we took her out of the hurdles," Petrak said. "She may end up doing them at the end of the season, we'll see."

• • •

In an effort to qualify as many girls for the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B and state championship meets, Winslow coach Shawn Carey is moving athletes around to a variety of events.

At a meet Monday in Skowhegan, for example, he had Kathryn Fedus run the 4x400 relay. Fedus usually competes in the pole vault and middle-distance events. Meghan Pelletier also threw the javelin and competed in the 100, both relatively new events.

"We're looking to qualify people everywhere," Carey said. "I want to maximize my points. We'll see where it all goes."

• • •

The Madison boys finished second in a season-opening, 10-team meet at Dover last week.

"We're looking a lot better than expected," Madison coach Bob Hagopian said. "They are developing a lot faster than I realized."

Sam Perkins cleared 11 feet in the pole vault to win that event. Jake Hatigan won the 110 hurdles with a time of 18.06 and the 300 hurdles in 45.82.

"We're looking really good," Hagopian said. "When you start off and you have individuals qualify for the state meet in the first meet of the season, that gave us a good boost."

• • •

Mt. Blue only has 10 boys on its roster, but seven have already qualified for the KVAC A meet in at least one event. Kelton Cullenberg (800, 1,600, racewalk), Sam Mungin (200, 400) and Jared Foster (triple jump, hurdles) have led the way.

"It's not really common to have this many qualified with so low numbers," Mt. Blue coach Kelley Cullenberg said. "Even though our numbers are low, I'm finding that several are able to take first or second. We're holding our own."

On the girls team, Melody Lam has performed well in the 300 hurdles and 1,600. Emily Reed also finished under nine minutes in the racewalk recently, which Cullenberg said was a nice accomplishment.

"We've really had some decent performances," she said.

• • •

Former Maranacook Community High School standout Max HoddWells is transferring to the University of New Hampshire from Stonehill College in Easton, Mass.

HoddWells, who won the Class B state title in the 300-meter hurdles last season, said he wanted to compete at the Division I level.

"I definitely enjoyed it here, but they also don't have everything I want for school and I felt I would have a better track career (at UNH)," he said.

HoddWells is not competing for the Skyhawks this spring.

Bill Stewart -- 623-3811, ext. 515

bstewart@centralmaine.com