Drake, Kenealy lead York girls to second straight Class B state track championship
FREEPORT, Maine — Juniors Cary Drake and Molly Kenealy led the York High School girls track team to a second consecutive Class B state championship on Saturday at Freeport High School.
Drake placed first in three events, and Kenealy had three top-four finishes as the Wildcats scored 98 points and easily beat the 26-team field. Mt. Desert Island placed second with 62 points.
"The conditions were horrible yet no one complained," York head coach Ted Hutch said. "Even the rookies acted liked seasoned veterans."
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Greely (60), Freeport (58), Old Town (49), Waterville (47.5), Leavitt (35.5), Morse (34), Yarmouth (34) and Cony (26) placed third through 10th, respectively.
"We knew we could count on (Drake, Kenealy) to score big points," Hutch said. "What surprised us is the rest of the girls almost matched their points, we didn't expect that. Cary and Molly had 52 points combined, and the other girls, mostly freshman and sophomores, got 46 points. The team scored 36 points more than they were expected to, and nobody does that."
It was York's sixth outdoor track state championship, also winning Class B titles in 2004, 2006, 2016, and 2022; and a Class C title in 1975.
Drake won the 800 (2 minutes, 17.71 seconds), the 1,600 (5:05.54) and the 3,200 (11:12.55), while Kenealy was fourth in the 800 (2:26.33), and third in both the 1,600 (5:25.69) and 3,200 (12:20.45).
Both Drake and Kenealy participated in York's 4x800 relay, which won in 10:00.97.
"(Drake and Kenealy) did the four distance events - mile, 800, two-mile and 4x800 relay," Hutch said. "That's almost impossible to ask anybody to do that," Hutch said. "
York freshman Jillian Holland placed second in the 400 (1:01.74), freshman Zoe Carroll was third in the 800 (2:26.01), and freshman Karianna Hultstrom was fifth in both the 300 hurdles (50.44) and 100 hurdles (17.75).
Also, sophomore Brook O'Neil was sixth in the 1,600-meter racewalk (9:26.25) and senior Greta Yauch was seventh (10:04.87), senior Eva Zheng was seventh in the triple jump (31 feet, 05 inches) and junior Nora Dowling was eighth in the javelin (92-01),
The 4x400 team, consisting of Jillian Holland, Zoe Carroll, Veda Kiper-Phelps and Elizabeth Buckley, placed second in 4:26.63,.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: York girls win second straight Class B state track championship
