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HIGH SCHOOL TRACK AND FIELD: Waterville wins 5th straight Community Cup
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BY TRAVIS LAZARCZYK
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 05/23/2009

FAIRFIELD -- The 5th annual Community Cup track and field meet ended the same way meets one through four did. With the Waterville girls and boys teams taking home the hardware.

"It's important. We wanted to send a message to a lot of other teams," said Waterville senior Shelby Tuttle, who won the 100-meter and 300-meter hurdles, long jump and triple jump. "Winning this will kind of show them how strong we are."

The Waterville girls scored 216.33 points, well ahead of second-place Winslow's 97.67 points. Messalonskee was third with 51 points.

The Waterville boys earned 198 points to pull away from second-place Lawrence (68) and third-place Winslow (57).

"We definitely want to show strongly so that we have confidence and so that we believe in ourselves. It's good to be firing on all cylinders at this point," Waterville coach Ian Wilson said. "The kids all know each other. It makes this a really fun meet. They're all friends. A lot of them have played sports together coming up through. It's just a fun day for the kids."

For many athletes, the Community Cup was the last chance to either qualify for next week's Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference meet or improve seeding at the conference championship.

For example, Waterville's Nolan MacDonnell entered the 400 meters needing a strong time. MacDonnell missed the early part of the season with injuries suffered in the hockey season and needed a strong effort at the Community Cup in order to move into the fast heat at next week's conference meet.

MacDonnell won the 400 with a time of 53.82 seconds.

"It's nearly impossible to come out of a slow heat and be in the top couple (runners). Today was now or never," Wilson said. "He came through, and he should be in the fast heat at the conference (meet) and that should help him a lot."

Messalonskee's Meaghan Collier was another athlete who came up big, placing second in the 1,600 with a time of 5 minutes, 41.89 seconds, good enough to qualify for KVACs and states, Messalonskee coach Scott Wilson said.

"That was her best time ever in (the 1,600)," Scott Wilson said.

In one of the closest races of the day, Lawrence's Mike Brooks held off Waterville's Tyler Roy to win the 800 with a time of 2:03.99. With Roy on his hip most of the race, Brooks pulled away during the final 200 meters.

"In the 4x800 (relay), I think I went out too fast and my legs couldn't quite hang on for the second lap. This one, I took it out slower and sped up as the race went on," Brooks said. "That enabled me to pull through that last 200 without Tyler catching up. I knew he was out to beat me."

Winslow's Kathryn Fedus won the pole vault with a vault of 8 feet, a foot lower than her goal. Considering she's missed four meets in a row because of college visits and poor weather, Fedus said she wasn't too disappointed with the result.

"I had just run the 400, so I think my legs were a little tired. If I had vaulted first, it probably would have been a different story," Fedus said.

Messalonskee's Erik Anderson, considered one of the top runners in the state in the 100 and 200, missed the meet to attend an All-State Chorus rehearsal in Gorham. Coach Scott Wilson was unsure what that will do to Anderson's chances at the KVAC meet.

"(Anderson) already has times, but we'll have to see what we're going to do with him. We were hoping to put him in the 4x400 today. I'm kind of disappointed he didn't make it up," Scott Wilson said.

Travis Lazarczyk -- 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com

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