The USM men’s indoor track and field team held off a strong Bates team Saturday night to capture the Maine State Indoor Tack and Field Collegiate Chamionships.
The competing schools, USM, Bates, Bowdoin and Colby College, came together at the Costello Sports Complex to take part in one of the country’s longest running annual meets.
The Huskies got out of the gates quickly by placing second, third, and fourth in the mile. It was an intense race with sophomore Tim Even (Stoneham) setting a breakneck pace from the start.
The lead changed hands several times throughout the meet with Bates and Southern Maine seemingly trading events one after another.
Junior Matt Harmon (Auburn) had a respectable meet amongst a powerful Bates group of throwers with a sixth place finish in the weight throw and a fourth place finish in the shot put. Senior James Spaulding (Lewiston) also represented USM well as he came in second place in the long jump and garnered third place accolades in the shot put.
Coming in second in the pole vault was Orion Winkler (Brownfield), and winning the high jump was freshman Anthony Stanton (Acton). USM usually racks up a solid number of points in the field events but it was the depth of the middle distance runners for Southern Maine that kept them in the meet.
Going one and two in the 600-meter were Parker Chipman (Pownal) and George Foster (Lewiston). Four out of the top six runners that came across the line in the 400-meter race were USM runners, as well as five out of the top eight runners in 200-meter race. After a restart in the 800-meter, Jimmy Sawyer (Gorham) legged out a third place finish in one of the toughest events in the meet. Even with all of the great showings in the middle distance events, it was never clear who the winner of this meet would be until the last few events.
The 4×400, and the 4×800-meter relay races were the final two of the night. Having the full roster on hand proved to be too much for a Bates team that just couldn’t keep up with a USM squad that has a reputation for having some of the top distance runners in New England. Both of the final two races were never in doubt after the second leg. Even (Stoneham) coasted across the finish line to help his team capture first place and set a school record in the 4 x 800 relay, in a time of 7:58.6. The other relay team members included Foster, Sawyer, and sophomore Seth Neuts (Portland).
The next home meet for USM will be the Little East & Alliance Championships Saturday Feb. 13 at noon at the Costello Sports Complex in Gorham.