Indoor Raiders compete well at State Meet

Published Date

By Charlie Tryder

FRYEBURG — While most students were at home enjoying their February break last Monday, 17 Fryeburg Academy track athletes competed at the state indoor track meet. The girls scored 16.6 points and finished ninth. The boys gathered nine points.

Coach Kevin McDonald feels that the indoor track team's performance indicates excellent progress.

"The Raiders had a great State Meet," he said. "Our first year we took four athletes. Last year we took seven and scored our first point on the boys' side. This year 17 athletes went to states. Coach Collins and I are very pleased with the results and not only feel the program is headed in the right direction but that the future looks very bright as we are a young team."

Emily Heggie and Izzy Hodgeman-Burns both placed in the high jump. Tia Jackson, of Old Town, won the event with a 5'-2" jump. Heggie's 5' jump took second place, while Hodgeman-Burns finished sixth with a 4'-8" jump.

Jamie Gullickson cleared 9' in the pole vault to earn a fifth place finish, and Bailey Friedman also finished fifth with a 31'-2.75" toss in the shot put.

The girls' and boys' 4x800 relay teams had a solid meet. The girls — Liz Grzyb, Ariel Fogdon, Anna Lastra and Jamie Gullikson — ran a 10:59.76 to finish sixth. The boys' 4x800 relay just missed a trip to New Englands with an 8:50.54 run that placed them third in the state.

TJ Rose, Tyler O'Keefe and Jared Schrader and Eric Hannes, who ran an outstanding anchor, had an excellent day, but McDonald sees a bright future for these four athletes.

"All these athletes will be back and a New Englands is in their future," McDonald said. "They are a great group of athletes who did the hard work and realized the results."

Although ninth grader Oriagna Inirio did not place, she ran a 7.87 in the 55m. This is a new personal record for Orie, and the school record is Sage Hennessy's 7.59. McDonald sees great promise. "If Orie stays with the sport we see many podiums in her future."