Two new school records were set while the Boothbay Region High School track and field team visited Hall-Dale and Brunswick high schools last week. Jessie Vander, who competes in field events, set a new senior record when she hurled the discus an unprecedented 109 feet, 10 inches at Brunswick High School on May 2.

“I didn't think I would break (the record) that day. I guess it was just luck,” Vander said.

Vander said she started throwing discus in seventh grade while she attended school in Tuscany, Italy. Her gym teacher encouraged her to try different field events. Vander won the National Championship as a youth in Italy and stuck with discus and shot put at BRHS. Vander said her goal this year is to break both the school discus record (129 feet) and shot put record of (38 feet).  

On the same night, freshman Hannah Morley had two laps to go when she looked up at the clock and realized she had a chance to break a record in the 3200 meter (2 mile) race.

As Morley rounded the final corner, she sprinted the last 100 meters. By the time Morley crossed the finish line at 12 minutes and 41 seconds, a new school record had been set.

“I had just run the 1600 meter race right before, so I figured I wasn't going to be able to (set a record),” Morley said.

Morley beat the old record held by Caroline Jones since 2004 by six seconds.

Morley said breaking the 2 mile record has been her goal this season. “I was pretty happy. It was definitely a shock,” she said.

Since it's her first year competing in high school track, Morley said she would like to break more records throughout the rest of her career at BRHS, and is confident she will under the guidance of coach Nick Scott.

In team scoring, both Boothbay boys and girls teams placed third out of seven teams at Hall-Dale High School on April 30.

At the Brunswick meet, the Seahawks faced a competitive field of Class A teams. Although Boothbay is from a the Class C division, the Seahawks proved they could compete with the high caliber competition, with 27 athletes scoring points for Boothbay.

As many personal records continue to be broken this season, a reliable percentage of points for Boothbay have come from track runners, Alex Owen and Benn Scully, while Jessie Vander, Hannah Brewer, Morgan Crocker and newcomer Antonio Maulolo continue to provide depth competing in a wide range of field events.

The Seahawks will head to Bath to compete at Morse High School on May 9, and will return to Hall-Dale High School on May 14.

Editor's note: Hannah Morley is the daughter of Boothbay Register advertising representative Sarah Morley.