Class A track: South Portland, Scarborough stars lead their teams to titles

Jun. 1—SACO — As they did in the indoor track season, the South Portland High boys combined the brilliance of Arnaud Sioho with significant improvements by several other athletes to win their first Class A outdoor track and field team championship since 2002.

Sioho, a junior, won four events Saturday at Thornton Academy — the long jump, triple jump and 110- and 300-meter hurdles. He entered as the top seed in each event and set meet records in both jumping events and a ran a personal-best in the 300 hurdles

As it turned out, South Portland needed every one of Sioho's 40 points and every place it got from the rest of the team. The Red Riots won by just a half point, edging Gorham, 79.5-79. The margin could have been a little wider, but South Portland's 1,600 relay team, probably headed for sixth or seventh place, was disqualified for an exchange outside the zone. Gorham won the event, which concluded the meet.

Portland (65), Lewiston (60) and Mt. Ararat (58) rounded out the top five boys' teams.

In the girls' meet, Scarborough prevailed with 101 points, led by Emerson Flaker, who swept the 100, 200, and 400 and anchored the Red Storm's winning 1,600 relay team with an impressive final lap where she made up a 20-plus meter deficit and won by an equally large distance. Bangor (86.5) was second. Falmouth and Portland tied for third with 57 points, and Lewiston (47) finished fifth.

Sioho became just the third boy to win four individual events at the Class A meet, according to Thornton Coach George Mendros, and the first since Sam Rusak of Scarborough did it in 2016. Sioho was coming off a four-win day at the SMAA championships, a meet where he set four school records and established the best marks in Maine this season, but tweaked his right upper leg muscles just a bit.

"I was a little nervous coming into this meet and talked to my coach about it," Sioho said. "He said it was OK to be nervous, just to come out and embrace it. It was probably because I was seeded first in all four events that I was nervous and thinking something could go wrong."

Instead, everything went right, starting from the first event, when Sioho posted a meet-record long jump of 23 feet, 2 1/4 inches before defending champ and eventual runner-up Billy Albertson of Skowhegan had a clean jump. Albertson's best was 22-8. The previous record was 23-0 1/2 set in 2021 by Frank Morang of Cheverus.

Then came a clean tour of the 110 hurdles in 14.7 seconds, followed by a personal-best time of 38.67 in the 300 hurdles. Sioho finished his day with a meet-record 47-2 triple jump, breaking the mark of 46-5 set in 1991 by South Portland's Scott Sawyer.

Marshwood's Andre Clark was the other record-setter Saturday with a time of 10.59 seconds in the 100-meter dash. He broke his own all-time Maine record of 10.62 set last weekend at the SMAA championships and easily erased the Class A meet record of 10.80 set by Aidan Walcott of Bonny Eagle in 2021. Clark also won the 200 in a personal-best 22.05, coming close to Walcott's record of 21.96.

Throughout the meet, several sprinters and high jumpers noted they felt less comfortable because they were allowed only 1/8th-inch spikes. The norm during the season is 1/4-inch spikes.

"I didn't expect a PR today, mainly because of the eighth-inch spikes," Clark said. "Next week at New Englands (to be held at the University of New Hampshire), I'd like to run a low 10.5. Nationals is where I really want to lock in and try my hardest. At nationals, I don't know, 10.39 is the number I keep seeing in my head."

Gorham's challenge for the team title was highlighted by several strong individual performances. Nolan Feyler won the 400. Griffin Gammon and Aidan Lee both jumped 6-6 in the high jump, with Gammon winning on fewer misses and opting not to try to go higher. Gammon is the defending New England high jump champ, clearing 6-9 as a sophomore.

South Portland picked up critical points with third-place finishes by sixth-seeded Michael Lawlor in the 800 and eighth-seeded Henry Risch in the discus.

Maddox Jordan of Noble won two distance events, outkicking Nathan Blades of Portland in the 1,600 to win in 4:15.20, with Blades second in a personal-best 4:17.66. Jordan came back to win the 800 in 1:57.68. Blades returned to win the 3,200 in another personal-best time of 9:38.72, claiming his first individual track championship after finishing runner-up seven times, often behind Jordan.

"I think I would not be where I am without that competition," said Blades, who will compete next year at the University of Pennsylvania.

Flaker's opening win was the 100, as she dueled with Lewiston senior Makenna Drouin to the final step, winning on a lean in a photo finish that showed Flaker ahead by four-thousandths of a second. Both Flaker and Drouin were officially clocked in 12.15 seconds, a personal-best for Flaker.

"I was not expecting to win the 100," Flaker said. "Especially it being that close. When I saw the times, it was a shock. And a school record. I definitely leaned as hard as I could. I almost fell."

Flaker's other wins came with more breathing room, as she took the 400 in 57.96 and the 200 in 26.14.

Drouin won both hurdles races. She won the 100 hurdles just 10 minutes before her sprint duel with Flaker, then had to use up every ounce of energy to hold off Portland's Anneliese Collin in the 300 hurdles, winning by .12 seconds with a time of 45.62.

Portland's Samantha Moore laid down the fastest 1,600 in Class A this season with a time of 4:55.69 to beat Scarborough sophomore Laurel Driscoll (4:57.15). Driscoll led the first three laps, with Moore on her shoulder.

"I got to the last lap and thought, go now or regret it," Moore said.

Driscoll came back to win the 3,200, while Moore, who has been battling injuries, opted out of the 800, where she was the top seed by several seconds.

In the throwing events, Ryker Paradis of Lewiston and Ruby Prentiss of Falmouth were double winners in the shot put and discus. Paradis, a junior, won the boys' shot by a healthy margin of more than four feet with a throw of 56-10.

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