Roberts sets new LR 2-mile mark

For nearly 12 years, Jacqui Black was Lake Region’s fastest two-miler. No longer. Abigail Roberts set the new school record with a 12:14.64, eclipsing Black’s time of 12:25.38 set in 2011. Roberts’ time ranks fifth in Class B. She also ranks fifth in the mile and third in the 800 meters.

Due to a postponement, the Lakers had two indoor track & field meets in four days last week. “We used the meets as our main workout days. It did make it difficult to have maximum performances in both meets, but many Lakers did very well,” Coach Mark Snow reported.

Alex Freitas automatically qualified for the state meet in the 200 meters, lowering his personal record (PR) to 24.85 seconds. He also lopped off 0.48 seconds in the 55-meter hurdles. Alex is now ranked #12 in Class B.

Grady Kemp automatically qualified for states in the 800 meters on Tuesday. Then on Friday, he ran the race fresh and now is ranked #9 with his new PR of 2:07.51. Grady also met the provisional mark in the 2-mile run on Friday.

Teammate Ezra Gronlund is ranked #14 in the 800 meters and ran a PR for the mile on Tuesday. Both Grady and Ezra hope to reach the automatic mark for the mile this Friday.

Kimberly Stiffler led the team hauling in 5 PRs in her sprint events over the two meets. Very impressive considering she ran in 6 events. Next best on the team were several who had 3 PRs. Campbell Johnson had 3 and is ranked in the top 12 in her 3 jumping events. Hailey Brewer and Madelyn Long had 3 PRs and have been improving their acceleration phase each week.

“I’m optimistic that they, Kimberly, and the other sprinters will continue getting PRs through the championships,” Coach Snow said.

Alex Freitas, Tristan Cormier, and Grady Kemp registered 3 PRs in the two meets for the boys.

Lake Region’s next meets are this Friday in a smaller meet at USM starting at 4:30 p.m. and then next Friday, Feb. 10 is the league championships, also starting at 4:30 p.m.