Mattanawcook Academy sophomore springs to strong start in opening track meet

You typically don’t see personal bests from track and field athletes early in the season.

Thursday’s Penobscot Valley Conference opener in Brewer certainly didn’t produce a day fit for blowing away any sort of records, but don’t tell that to Mattanawcook Academy sophomore Cayden Spencer-Thompson.

Spencer-Thompson, who was the only sophomore to compete in the triple jump at the New Balance Indoor National championship meet last month, got his outdoor campaign off to a fine start, with three victories and three personal-bests.

Spencer-Thompson, who plays basketball at MA but often competed at USA Track and Field meets during the winter as an unattached athlete, swept all three jumping events – long, triple and high – at the Brewer Community School in an 11-team meet.

Spencer-Thompson posted exceptional marks in all three events, in particular the triple jump, where his leap of 46 feet, 4 inches is the third best in Maine history, and his leap of 6’5” in the high jump is No. 5 all time.

Spencer-Thompson, a cousin of Mount Desert Island distance runner Tia Tardy, won the triple jump by more than seven feet while claiming the high jump by nearly a foot.

Spencer-Thompson’s winning mark in the long jump was a stellar 21-3, also a personal best.

Elsewhere in the meet, Brewer senior shot putter Austin Lufkin got his final high school campaign off to a solid start with a winning toss of 56-0.50.

Lufkin wound up singling in the shot put and his Witches won both the boys’ and girls’ team competitions.

The boys’ competition wound up producing three other individual winners in Jonah Daigle of Fort Fairfield and Jacob McCluskey and Jon Donnelly, both of Brewer.

Donnelly swept the 1,600 and 800-meter runs, McCluskey the javelin and discus and Daigle the 110 and 300-meter hurdles.

Brewer’s Lilly Blakeman and Lia Johnson were the only double-event winners in Thursday’s girls meet.

Johnson took both the 100 and 200 dashes while Blakeman was the top finisher in the shot put and discus.

Hall victorious at Virginia Challenge

Casco native Kate Hall, a redshirt freshman at the University of Georgia, is competing at the Virginia Challenge meet at the University of Virginia this weekend, and got off to a strong start on Friday.

Hall, a graduate of Lake Region High School, won the 100-meter dash with an impressive 13.36 clocking.

Hall is also scheduled to compete in the triple jump on Saturday.

Ryan McLaughlin

About Ryan McLaughlin

BDN sports reporter Ryan McLaughlin grew up in Brewer and is a lifelong fan of the New England Patriots, Boston Red Sox, Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins. In "The Boston Blitz" he'll be sharing his perspective with BDN readers about what's happening on the Boston professional sports scene.