Cyr and Pelletier heading to Hershey
Trace Cyr of Presque Isle and Cassidy Pelletier of Ashland have earned the right to travel to Hershey, Pa. for an all-expenses paid trip to the North American Finals of the Hershey Track and Field Games, to be held Aug. 1-4.
Cyr will compete in the 11-12 year-old boys’ standing long jump, while Pelletier will compete in the 13-14 year-old girls’ softball throw. Cyr will be traveling to Hershey for the meet for the first time, while Pelletier has competed there before.
Also traveling from Maine to compete on the Region 6 team, which is comprised of all six New England states and all the Atlantic provinces, will be Isabella Pawloski of Bangor in the 11-12 girls’ 800-meter run; Madison Szczygiel of Wells in the 13-14 girls’ 800-meter run; and Cole Tweedie of Hampden in the 13-14 boys’ softball throw.
The Maine qualifiers were announced Friday by Kathy Mazzuchelli, who is the superintendent of the Caribou Parks and Recreation Department and has been involved in the program for 34 years.
The Hershey Food Corporation adopted the Hershey Track and Field program in 1977 and has expanded the program to every state as well as every Canadian province and territory and recently to Puerto Rico. The program begins at local recreation departments or in school physical education classes.
Eventually participants move through local, district and state and/or provincial meets in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the 10 provinces and three territories of Canada and Puerto Rico.
Mazzuchelli explained that the states and Canadian provinces and territories and Puerto Rico are divided into eight regions. Once every state and province has had their state and provincial meets, scores are compared and regional teams formed.
To ensure fair representation of participants, Hershey requires that a minimum of five finalists be selected from each state or province to participate in the North American Finals, which are held at the Henry Hershey Field.
Since early spring, literally thousands of boys and girls from across North America have participated in the Hershey Youth Track and Field Program.
For 36 years, the Hershey Track and Field Program has helped provide quality recreation and school programs where children have fun and are introduced to physical fitness through basic track and field events such as running, jumping and throwing.
The root of the Hershey program, according to Mazzuchelli, is encouraging kids to be the best they can be.
“The most important part of the North American Finals is allowing the youngsters to experience the competition and to know that everyone comes from somewhere, communities large and small all across North America, but it is what they aspire to achieve that allows them to succeed,” Mazzuchelli added.
