Bangor’s Anna Connors, right, wins the 100-meter dash at the 2022 Class A track and field state championships. Connors also won the 200 and 400 at last year’s state meet. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel

For Maine’s high school outdoor track and field athletes, Saturday is state championship day – the day when history is made.

Only at Maine’s state championship meets can a runner, walker, jumper or thrower etch their name into the Class A, B or C state record books. From the team perspective, this is when hardware is handed out. Also at stake are berths in next Saturday’s New England championship meet, which will be at Bangor High. Maine can send up to six athletes per event to New Englands.

A year ago, York High won the Class B boys’ and girls’ titles. While not necessarily favored, both teams have chance to repeat. York Coach Ted Hutch said being consistent is the key to success when the pressure is raised.

“It’s just getting into good habits throughout the whole season and then not changing much,” Hutch said. “You want to warm up the same, get the same sleep you always do, eat the same food. Don’t try to do anything different.”

Poland senior Nolan Garey is favored to win the 300-meter hurdles at the Class B meet, after an indoor season in which he broke the 55-meter state record. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

The Class B championships will be held at Freeport High’s Joan Benoit Samuelson Track. The Class A meet is at Mt. Ararat High in Topsham, and Cony High hosts Class C in Augusta. All three meets begin at 10 a.m. with field events and the 3,200-meter relay. The field events will continue throughout the meet. On the track, preliminary heats in the 100 dash and the 100 (girls) and 110 (boys) hurdles will take place in the morning. The rest of the track events begin shortly after noon.

In the Class A meet, the Bonny Eagle boys have the top-end firepower to win their first team title since 2011. Scarborough has won three straight and five of the past six boys’ titles.

The Scots have three top-seeded athletes: senior Ethan Kane in both hurdles races, junior Rowan McDonald in the 1,600 race walk, and sophomore Colby Cooper in the 400. Jacob Schmader, seeded fourth in the 400, is also a key member of Bonny Eagle’s top-rated 400 relay and No. 2-seeded 1,600 relay team.

“State meets are usually decided by three or four athletes, and I like our three or four athletes,” said Michael Burleson, Bonny Eagle’s boys’ coach.

Falmouth, Scarborough and Brunswick also could be in the hunt.

Falmouth’s 1,600 relay team of Max Shapiro, Finn Caxton-Smith, Miles Woodbury and Miles Gay posted Maine’s all-time fastest time of 3 minutes, 24.15 seconds at the SMAA championship meet. The Class A meet record is 3:25.4.

Lewiston’s Makenna Drouin flies over the hurdle on her way to winning the 110-meter hurdles at the KVAC Large School Championship last weekend. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Maine’s all-time records are not segregated by enrollment class and include results from regular-season meets and out-of-state meets, such as New England and national championships.

With temperatures expected to hover at 60 degrees, it could be an ideal day for distance runners like Scarborough senior Adam Bendetson, who is expected to make a run at the 3,200 record of 9:18.2 set in 1982 by Tom Briggs of Cheverus. Bendetson, the Varsity Maine Athlete of the Year for boys’ indoor track, has run 9:20.57 this season.

Brunswick, which won the KVAC Large School meet, is led by top-ranked pole vaulter Thomas McCormack.

Billy Albertson’s KVAC-winning long jump of 22 feet, 8 inches for Skowhegan is only 4.5 inches shy of the record set in 2021 by Frank Morang of Cheverus. Albertson is also the top seed in the triple jump.

Bangor has won two straight girls’ titles and returns Anna Connors, who swept the 100, 200 and 400 sprints on her home track last spring. Lewiston junior Makenna Drouin, who competed for Edward Little in 2022, is the defending champion and clear favorite in both hurdles races and also has the top time in the 100 and second-fastest time to Connors in the 200.

Scarborough sophomore Emerson Flaker heads into the Class A championships after winning the 100 and 200 dashes and 300 hurdles at the SMAA meet last weekend. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

Scarborough sophomore Emerson Flaker will try to keep pace after winning the 100 and 200 dashes and 300 hurdles at the SMAA meet, while her teammate, Caroline Fallona, is also a sprint threat.

Coming off their own KVAC win, the Brunswick girls feature Lisi Palmer in the high jump and sprinter Kayla Monahan, the only Class A 400 runner other than Connors to crack one minute this season.

Portland, which finished second to Scarborough in the SMAA meet, could get a boost if sophomore Samantha Moore is able to return from an injury. Moore is the top seed in the 800 and 1,600 and fourth in the 3,200.

In Class B, York senior Matt Charpentier is the defending champ in the shot put – his best event – and discus. He broke the Class B indoor shot put record as a junior and extended it this past winter. Now he wants the outdoor mark. Last spring, he threw 59-1, but he’s already thrown 60-7 so far this season. Jim Dawson of Lawrence set the record at 59-1 3/4 in 1979.

“My goal this season is to smash the shot put record … to blow it out of the water by three feet,” Charpentier told the Press Herald in April. “I want to leave my name in the record books for a long time. I want to make sure they’re not touched for a very long time.”

York senior Matt Charpentier has his sights on two state records – in the shot put and discus – at the Class B meet.  Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

In the discus, Charpentier’s personal best is 178-5. The Class B meet record is 177-8, set in 1980 by Steve Mason of Lawrence.

Poland senior hurdler Nolan Garey and Miles Burr, a junior sprinter from Mount Desert Island, are two other potential record-breakers in the Class B boys’ meet.

Garey broke the 55 hurdle record at the state indoor meet, and his season-best in the 110 hurdles of 14.5 is below the Class B meet record of 14.53 (Zachary Beaton of Hermon, 2019). Garey is also favored to win the 300 hurdles.

Burr has the fastest times in the state this year in the 100 (10.76) and 200 (21.93). Both times are well below the Class B meet records. Burr holds the 100 mark at 10.95; the 200 record of 22.22 was set in 2007 by Justin Vigeant of Wells.

Freeport senior Henry Horne will be on his home track for a final meet and enters as the top seed in all three distance events. He’s also ranked fourth in the high jump, which he won a year ago.

“Things have to work out to his advantage, but Henry is more than capable of that distance triple,” said Freeport Coach Matt Greear.

The team championship looks to be a battle between Freeport, York and Greely. York’s specialty is the field events. In addition to Charpentier, York is projected to score another 12 points in the javelin, and Gavin Davis is ranked first in the high jump. Greely will be dependent on picking up more top-seven finishes.

York’s Cary Drake is the top seed in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 heading into the Class B state meet. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

In Class B girls, York’s Cary Drake is the clear top seed in the 800, 1,600, and 3,200, and defending champion in the two longer races. She will start her day with a leg on the Wildcats’ No. 1 seeded 3,200 relay team. Molly Kenealy will also run the same four events for York.

Waterville should pick up plenty of points in the distance events, too, as Abby Williams is the second seed in the 1,600 and third in the 800 and 3,200. Another Waterville standout is Madison Yakimchick, the top seed in the long and triple jump and a top contender in the 100 dash.

Freeport’s girls’ team is a threat to dethrone York, led by the top-ranked 1,600 relay team and Avery Baker-Schlendering, whose high jump best of 5-6 is a quarter-inch better than the Class B record.

“For both the boys and the girls, that’s been top of mind – the potential to be able to win a state title for both on their home track, but we recognize a lot of things have to go right,” Greear said.

Led by distance star Ruth White, the Orono girls could win their first Class C championship since 2019. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

In the Class C meet, the Orono girls appear to be ready to reclaim the team title they owned from 2012-17 and again in 2019. Distance star Ruth White is the top seed in the 1,600 and 3,200, and the Red Riots have a lot of depth in the field events.

North Yarmouth Academy’s Sarah Moore is ranked first in the high jump (5-6) and long jump (18-2 3/4). Those season-best marks are both slightly better than the meet records.

In Class C boys, Winslow is looking to retain its title, bolstered by the top-rated 3,200 and 1,600 relay teams.  Joseph Richards is the defending champ and top seed in the 400 and the No. 3 seed in a strong 800 field that includes Sumner’s Kaleb Colson, the top seed all three distance events and defending champ in the 800 and 1,600.

Lisbon and Orono are also top contenders in the boys’ meet. Lisbon’s Owen Booker is the top seed in the triple jump and javelin.