Conway Daily Sun
By Lloyd Jones
May 16, 2016
Link to original story

FRYEBURG — The Fryeburg Academy girls' track team finished second in a meet at Lake Region High School in Naples on May 4. The Fryeburg boys placed third on the afternoon in what was just the second meet of the regular season for the Raiders.

Highlights from the meet for the girls according to Coach Kevin McDonald included: Oriagna Inirio and Skye Collins finishing first and second, respectively, in the 100 and 200 meter dashes.

Emily McDermith ran the provisional standard in the 400 meters in a time of 1:06.62, good enough to finish second.
Anna Lastra broke her own school record in the mile, running 5:16.26 and finished second in the two-mile.

"Anna also helped the team by running the 200 meters and a leg on the 4x400 meter relay team," Coach McDonald said.

"One of the more impressive performances of the day belonged to Emily Carty," McDonald said. "As she ran the 800 meters in 2:30.48 and the mile in 5:31.18. Both theses times meet the state standard. Only a sophomore, Emily is having a great early season and we look for these times to drop even further."

Irina Norkin met the provisional standard in the mile and should run the automatic standard shortly, according to McDonald.

Constanza Santarelli finished second in the race-walk in her first attempt at the event.

For the boys, four athletes met the state standard in their events. Evan Wadsworth won the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.09.

Christian Bedell won the 800 metes with a personal best time of 2:06.44.

Patrick Carty finished second in the two-mile with a time of 10:27.77.

"Patrick is one of our captains and a huge help to the coaching staff," McDonald said. "Always there to help out and keep the ball rolling."

Brian Ward/Sims won the race-walk with a personal best of 8:12.20, just missing the school record.

The Raiders opened their season on April 29 by hosting Yarmouth, Freeport, Traip and Mountain Valley. The FA girls won the meet in impressive fashion with 111 points.

The boys struggled slightly on the afternoon, finishing fifth overall with 47 points.

"Coach (Jim) Cummings has been working hard with the throwers and the results are starting to show," McDonald said. "When you have a freshman qualify for states you must be doing something right. Casey Kneissler punched her ticket in the shot put and threw the provisional in the discus. What a way to open the season. Casey has been working very hard on perfecting her technique. Anyone that has worked with the throws knows there are a lot of moving parts and it does not come easy. Very happy for both Coach Cummings and Casey for this early season success."

Other highlights from the meet included Emily Carty just tearing it up in the distance events. She took 12 seconds off her best mile time and 5 seconds off her 800-meter time. Both state standards.

"Em and Anna Lastra, who won the 800 meters and the two-mile are a force not only in Western Maine Conference but in the state," McDonald said. "This speaks volumes about what Coach (Stephanie) Miller is doing with her distance group. Not only are Em and Anna on their game but the entire group is improving setting PRs every week."

Highlights for the boys included the Raiders obtaining three provisional standards. Evan Wadsworth in the 200 meters, Patrick Carty in the mile and Ward/Sims in the race-walk.

McDonald said the 4x100 relay team "ran very well" finishing second.

The 4x800 relay team finished first.

"There are signs that we are headed in the right direction," McDonald said. "Patrick Carty took 10 seconds off his mile time and if this improvement continues Patrick will be right in the mix at states.

"A great opening for the season," he added.