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| Staff photo/Kevin Sjoberg Limestone-MSSM senior Lucy Wilcox competes in the 1,600-meter run during a track and field meet held Friday at Presque Isle. Wilcox is one of the veteran runners for coach Kirk Cote’s Eagle squad. |
By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
LIMESTONE — Tenth-year coach Kirk Cote is hoping to get a few more of his athletes qualified for the June 1 Class C state track and field meet, and has many “on the bubble” with a real chance to get there.
The only returnee with state meet experience is sophomore Grier Osterman, who following Friday’s meet in Presque Isle has provisionally qualified in the 300-meter hurdles and the triple jump. Osterman was second in the hurdles with a time of 46.3 seconds and also was the runner-up in the triple jump with a mark of 36 feet, 7-1/2 inches. Osterman also does the 200-meter dash, placing fourth Friday in 25 seconds.
Senior Nate Tucker also plays on the Eagle baseball team but is also doing track. He came close to qualifying for last year’s state championships in the 100-meter dash and also competes in the 200 and 400. He did not compete in the recent meet, but Cote hopes he will be able to attend at least one later this month.
Sprinter Kevan Villareal (11th place in the 100 Friday at 12.9 seconds), thrower Curtis Pahel (90 feet, 1 inch in the javelin, 28 feet, 1/2 inch in the shot put) and Andrew Shade, a sprinter and jumper (tied for third in the high jump at 5-2, eighth in the long jump at 16 feet), all seniors, have all been impressive in early-season workouts as well as the first meet. Villareal is a returnee, while Pahel and Shade are first-year athletes.
On the girls’ side, senior Michaela Garrett has made the switch from softball and impressed in her first-ever meet, taking second in the javelin at 93 feet, 2 inches to already qualify for the state event, which this year is being held at Foxcroft Academy.
Jordyn Hopkins, a junior, is close to qualifying in the 100, recording a time of 14.2 Friday. She also runs the 200 and 400.
Abigail Harvey, another junior, is a first-year participant who fell just short of qualifying in the high jump as she cleared 4 feet, 4 inches at Presque isle.
Other team members are, for boys, sophomore distance runners Nicholas Chouinard and Zimra Winters, and for girls, senior javelin thrower and distance runner Heather Brown, senior thrower Mia Harrow-Mortelliti, senior runner Lucy Wilcox, sophomore thrower Elly Bencivenga, sophomore sprinter and hurdler Lillian Costello and sophomore Judy Yao.
“I have a lot of first-year kids, so I’m still working with them to find events that are good for them,” Cote said. “We’ll try to avoid injuries and get some more qualified over the next few weeks.”
