Grace Broughton clears a hurdle in the 55 meter hurdle event at an earlier meet at University of Maine at Orono. By Monique Labbe
Blue Hill—The George Stevens Academy boys and girls indoor track teams closed out their regular seasons on February 1 with a meet against both large and small schools. The girls took fourth overall out of eight teams, while the boys came in sixth out of nine teams.
With the regular season over, head coach Tony Rolfe and his team now look ahead to the Small Schools Championship on February 8, at the University of Maine in Orono Fieldhouse. The team will compete against schools such as Orono, Central High School and Ellsworth, among others, all schools they are familiar with because of weekly competition throughout the season.
“We have some kids who are capable of winning events or placing very high,” said Rolfe.
Rolfe said that he expects junior Ian Renwick to be strong in the 55 meter dash and the long jump competitions, as well as the 200 meter dash. Freshman Andrew Hipsky has also performed well in the 55-meter hurdle and one-mile run events, and Rolfe said he is confident that will continue at the championship. On the girls side, Grace Broughton and Thea Crowley are both expected to do well in their respective events. Broughton will compete in the 55-meter hurdles and the 200 meter dash, while Crowley is on track for the one-mile and two-mile run events.
The team has spent this week preparing for the championship event, but their training has been less rigorous to ensure the most energy and fresh legs entering the weekend.
“Saturday’s meet will be the last chance for some people to qualify for states the next week at Bates College. I am very interested to see how the team does running only against the other small schools,” said Rolfe.
The time for the Small Schools Championship had not been set as of February 4.