Morrison places in 400 and 800 at Class B state track meet

    LEWISTON — Junior Fern Morrison accounted for all six points for Foxcroft Academy at the 2014 Class B state indoor track championship on Feb. 17 at Bates College.

The half dozen points tied the Ponies with Winthrop High School for 19th place out of 28 girls teams.
    In the 400 Morrison placed fourth, running the quarter mile in 1 minute, 2.77 seconds. She added a sixth-place performance in the 800, with a time of 2:35.91, to finish in the state’s top six in the event for the third year in a row.
    Also running at the state finals was the Foxcroft 4×200 relay, which ended up being disqualified with the baton exchange taking place out of the zone. The relay members were seniors Chastity Vainio, Mia Smith and Holly Fortier and Morrison.
    Penquis Valley High School senior Courtney Bowers took part in the high jump, placing 13th at a top height of 4 feet, 8 inches.
    Waterville Senior High School won the girls’ championship with a score of 90 points, followed by Greely High School of Cumberland with 64.50 points and then York High School with 37. The state crown was Waterville’s fourth in a row, sixth in the last eight years and 10th overall in program history between Classes A and B.
    Junior Kate Hall of Lake Region High School in Naples broke records in the 55, 200 and long jump as she swept the three events for the third time in as many seasons. Hall’s time of 7.05 seconds in the 55 surpassed the time of 7.13 set by Logan Crane of Freeport High School in 2004.
    In the 200 Hall broke her Class B mark set one year ago, running a time of 25.3 seconds compared to 2013’s 25.62 seconds. She smashed her year-old long jump record of 17-11.50 by leaping a distance of 19-03.75 on Feb. 17.
    In the boys’ competition, Foxcroft senior Corey Bjornson came in seventh in the shot put for his team’s point. Bjornson put the shot a top distance of 42-04.25 as the Ponies finished 24th in the team standings.
    Bjornson took part in two other events at the state meet. He ran the first leg of the 4×200 relay, along with sophomore Abraham Simpson and juniors Zhe Chen and Peter Boyer, that ended up being disqualified due to a ruling of assistance to the runner.
    Bjornson also was ninth in the 55 hurdle prelims with a time of 9.17 seconds. Boyer was 11th in the prelims at 9.83 seconds and right behind was Chen with a time of 10.06 seconds.
    Placing eighth, one spot away from the point-scorers, was the Foxcroft 4×800 relay. Junior Noah Simpson and sophomores James Smith, Gabe Piquette and Abraham Simpson combined for a time of 9:25.15.
    Waterville finished a sweep of the day by taking the boys’ championship after scoring 60 points for the first such state title in program history. In second place was York with 41 points and then in third Mount Desert Island High School with 37.