Our Communities. Our Teams. Our Future.
We’re proud to make high school sports coverage free for everyone—because these moments matter. At Maine State Credit Union, we’re here for the people and places that make Maine strong. Let’s Go! Learn more at mainestatecu.org. 

View 9 photos

SANFORD — Athletes and coaches stood as close as they could to the track at Sanford High School and leaned over, their eyes fixed intently on the starting line, hoping to catch some history being made.

Andre Clark didn’t let them down.

The fastest sprinter in Maine history outdid himself at the SMAA track and field championships Friday, nipping his own all-time state best with a time of 10.57 seconds in the 100-meter dash. It’s the third time in two postseasons Clark has lowered the 100 mark, and the second straight time he’s done so at the SMAA championships.

Then, as night fell, he did it again, winning the 200 with a time of 21.54 that beat the conference record of 21.7 set by Nick Nappi of Cheverus in 1998. Clark’s time also was faster than the state’s all-time best of 21.57, which he set 13 days earlier.

The feeling for the Marshwood senior never gets old.

“I kind of detach myself from my times,” said Clark, a University of Pennsylvania commit who first set the 100 mark of 10.62 at the SMAAs last year, then ran 10.59 at the Class A state meet. “In my eyes, I just (set a) state record that I’ve never had before. I try to separate myself from those times so I don’t get complacent. But it feels really good.”

South Portland rested star Arnaud Sioho but still won the boys team title, getting wins from Tyler Bryant in the high jump and triple jump (6-2 and 42-2 1/2, respectively), Evan Small in the 3,200 (9:45.35) and Darius Johnson in the long jump (21-3 1/2) to finish with 115.2 points. Portland (75) was second, followed by Bonny Eagle, Marshwood and Windham.

“(Depth) is definitely a strength, and overall characteristic of our team,” said coach Dave Kahill, who said Sioho will be ready for next Saturday’s state meet.

On the girls’ side, Cheverus got a win from its 400-meter relay team en route to 86 points, enough to hold off Windham (82) and four-event champion Tayla Pelletier, who swept the hurdle races and also won the long jump and triple jump. Portland (77.5) was third, followed by Scarborough and Gorham.

To provide fuel for his record-setting day, Clark created some motivation.

“I try to get mad before my races,” he said. “Even though I’m the first seed, I try to remember back to the times when I was kind of the underdog.”

In the 100, which he has mostly avoided this season but focused solely on for the past week, he got in front from the opening gun and won easily. The 200 was a different story, as Clark made the turn neck-and-neck with Bonny Eagle’s Drew Gervais and Falmouth’s Ali Carter, prompting an intrigued “ooh” from the crowd that realized the record-holder could be beat.

Instead, Clark prevailed with a final kick, nipping Carter, who also bettered the old SMAA mark. Clark’s margin of victory was one-tenth of a second.

“I was out of my comfort zone in the first 50 meters of that race. … (But) I know my top speed, I was just patient,” he said. “I know I have more left to give, so I just have to get back to training.”

Clark’s feats weren’t the only mark set Friday. Portland broke a conference record while winning the boys 3,200 relay in 7:58.85.

Pelletier came close in two events, first while winning the 100 hurdles with a time of 14.89 that was nine-hundredths of a second off the record, then by taking the triple jump at 37-6 1/2, just shy of the SMAA milestone of 38-1.

Pelletier had to run the 300 hurdles after doing finals for the 100 hurdles and long jump, and acknowledged that she felt fatigue building up. Still, she defended her seedings and held off upset bids.

“I think it was pretty great,” said Pelletier, who won the 300 hurdles in 45.41 and the long jump at 17-7. “The fatigue definitely got me at points, but you’ve got to push through it. … I’m always expecting the best out of me, I have very high expectations. I was going in to it like, ‘I can do this.’ You’ve got to have a positive mindset.”

Portland’s 3,200 relay team of Owen Blades, Cole Smith, Charlie Jacques and Aran Johnson led wire-to-wire en route to beating the SMAA record of 8:06.49 set by Cheverus in 2010.

“It’s just a great time to have. I’m really proud of my teammates,” Johnson said. “Track is often seen as an individual sport, but really, it’s a team sport. I think if you see your teammate run fast, then you’re going to want to run fast and make the whole team do well.”

One of Portland girls coach Frank Myatt’s close friends was on that Cheverus team.

“He reminds us about that all the time. He really wants to erase his friend from the record book, and replace him with a Portland team,” Jacques said. “There’s some goals we have, and this was definitely one of them.”

Double-winners included Gorham’s Ashley Connolly (100, 13.01; 200, 26.11) and Portland’s Samantha Moore (1,600, 5:00.82; 800, 2:16.77). Moore won the 1,600 despite trailing Paige Alexander of Cheverus going into the final lap; she found another gear on the second turn and won by nearly four seconds.

“I was pretty nervous going into it, a lot of these girls are super fast,” Moore said. “I felt like it got taken out pretty slow, so I felt like that gave me the advantage for the end of it. … Once I got to (the second) corner, I kind of was like ‘OK, I’ve got it. I feel really good, I’m just going to go fast.'”