Abdi Shariff-Hassan was clutch at the Class A Indoor Track and Field State Championships in February, helping his team to a solid finish and earning him Sun Journal’s Boys’ Indoor Track Athlete of the Year honors.

“I enjoy competing,” Shariff-Hassan said. “I looked at my time and I looked at (the other competitors time). I just said to myself I would have to run harder and compete with these guys.”

Shariff-Hassan, who ran in the 200- and 400- meter dashes, shaved his time in both events from his times at the KVAC Championships that were held a week prior. After finishing first in the 400 at the KVACs with a time of 53.05, he cut nearly two seconds at states with a time of 51.14 to finish second behind Paolo Demarco of Deering. In the 200, he trimmed a full seven-tenths of a second from his time at the KVACs.

“The 400 (is my favorite), because going into states I was ranked sixth,” Shariff-Hassan said. “I went there and had the lead for a while — I placed second which is amazing. All the guys had a better time going into states. My time was like 53 (seconds) and all the other guys were 50 and 51. I went there and I knew who I was competing against. I did my best and ended up placing second.”

He also ran the 4×200 for Lewiston, which finished seventh at states with a time of 1:38.12.

Shariff-Hassan credited his coaches for his success.

“I had a great coaching staff this year,” he said. “They worked with me all year and I just listened to what they told me to do at practices and meets. They helped me at every meet to do better.”

Indoor track and field is something he picked up in his sophomore year after playing basketball as a freshman. The senior, who was also named Sun Journal’s Boys’ Soccer Player of the Year in the fall, used track and field to stay in shape.

“It’s very different,” Shariff-Hassan said of soccer and track and field. “At the beginning of track season, I was excited of the soccer season we just had. Track is different from soccer as there’s less running, but it’s still harder. I told people at practice I was just doing it to stay in shape for soccer. I ended up having a great season.”

nfournier@sunjournal.com

First team

Abdi Shariff-Hassan Lewiston Sr.

Abdirash Abukar Lewiston Jr.

Nick Harriman Lisbon Sr.

Tyler Blanchard Edward Little Jr.

Osman Doorow Lewiston Sr.

Stefan Porter Lewiston Sr.

Nate Pratt-Holt Mt. Blue Sr.

Ben Bernier Poland Jr.

Andrew Peterson Gray-New Gloucester So.

Evan Gallagher Poland Sr.

Thomas Flint Poland Sr.

Ben Garcia Gray-New Gloucester So.

Second team

Isse Tawane Lewiston So.

Jashaa Abdullah Edward Little

Abdirash Abukar Lewiston Jr.

Jacob Gamache Edward Little Jr.

Spencer Frahn Edward Little So.

Sam Stone Poland So.

Quinn Fergerson Poland Jr.

Nathaniel Gendreau Gray-New Gloucester Fr.

Jeremiah Gendreau Gray-New Gloucester So.

Diego Villamarin St. Dom’s Sr.

Robert Shelley St. Dom’s Jr.

Hunter Emery St. Dom’s So.

Meet the Winter 2016 Sun Journal All Region Teams

They skated, ran, swam, poled, carved, slalomed, shot and scored. And they did it better than anyone else.