Panthers, Penguins at State C

The Boys State C Track Meet in Laurel concluded last Saturday and the Saco Panthers and Whitewater Penguins were present at the Laurel Sports Complex, which also featured the Class A State Meet.

As Whitewater’s lone athlete, junior Trace Simonson totaled six points for the Penguins placing twenty-fourth. Ennis won the meet with a total of 61 points, Darby took second with 46 points and Richey-Lambert took third with 34.

Simonson took third in discus with a throw of 143-4.

“He ended up doing pretty good,” Whitewater Head Coach Charlene Wasson said. “He was getting warmed up and by the end he was throwing pretty good. Two or three throws were in the 140’s which he hadn’t been that consistent. He looked strong and he looked good. He was pretty happy with himself.”

Simonson also placed in the top ten in his other events, taking eighth in the 300 hurdles with a time of 43.18, less than a fraction of his season’s best of 43.00.

“He nicked one of the hurdles with his heel and just couldn’t get his rhythm back,” Coach Wasson said. “He has a really good start. It was looking like he was going to have a personal best but he had one little hiccup.”

He took tenth in high jump after clearing 5-8.

“He jumped really good at 5-8,” Coach Wasson said.” He hasn’t cleared 6-0 this year but had he cleared (5-10) he might’ve been on the stand.”

Saco freshman Ty Murphy took eighth in pole vault after clearing 11-00.

“That was a really good start for a freshman,” Saco Head Coach Barry Malone said. “He’s been able to get 11-6 but he just couldn’t get it.”

Murphy and Coach Malone were trying to figure out the right pole for Murphy.

“Even towards the end of the season he was working on different poles,” Coach Malone said. “That is something that we have to look at next year; getting him solid on the various poles.”

Brady Albus took fourteenth in the 800 with a time of 2:08.04.

“Brady was kind of nervous going into the race but qualifying for the top ten going against stronger runners I knew he was going to start posting personal bests at every meet,” Coach Malone said. “He had a personal best in divisionals taking fourth and I told him that he was going to be running in a pretty big wolf pack. He had a little more adrenaline and he was able to pull out a 2:08, beating his previous best by three seconds. That was pretty impressive for a freshman.”

Coach Malone said that Albus might chase the school record and mentioned his time at state was only a few seconds behind the record.

“It was a very good season for us, building our track program back up,” Coach Malone said.