ORONO — In his first-ever indoor-track race, Mount Desert Island High School junior Richard Helmke qualified for the Penobscot Valley Conference championships on behalf of the Trojans after running the 800-meter event in two minutes and 13 seconds.

MDI turned out several strong performances at the University of Maine field house Saturday, for the Eastern Maine indoor track league meet.

With the help of Helmke, the boys' team placed fourth overall with 50 points, behind first place Hampden with 142, Old Town with 64, Central with 54. Orono placed fifth with 45 points, Mattanawcook had 40, and John Bapst posted 25.

A team of Aidan Robichaud-Ward, William Richard, Andy Gallup and Christopher Shottenkirk placed first in the 4x800-yard relay in 9:30.37.

Ralph Magnani placed sixth in the 55-meter hurdles in 9:57.

William Fletcher finished the one-mile run in 4:56.89 for third place and placed second in the two-mile with 11:06.56.

Sean Harding, Matthew Hanna, Aidan Robichaud-Ward, and Seamus O’Brien finished the 4x220-yard relay in 1:51.93.

And Trojan Trevor Alley took first place, qualifying for the PVCs in the shot put. Alley posted a score of 39-10.

“I was very pleased with the meet. We competed very well, and had some nice performances,” said head coach Justin Laverriere. “Richard Helmke's performance in the 800-meters was one of the break-out moments. He's a junior in his first (indoor race) and he runs a 2:13, qualifying for the PVC championships. He looked really strong and in control. And ran his second lap six seconds faster than his first lap, which is impressive.”

Girls

“Chelsey Curran vaulted 8'-6" which is the top vault in girls’ class B after the first week. She won the event,” said Coach Laverriere. “Freshmen middle distance runners, Nora Hubble and Olivia Erickson had strong runs; they were both really aggressive and attacked the first lap of the 800-meter run. Both qualified for the PVC Championships. And Rebbecca O'Donnell got off to a good start finishing second in the shot put and also placing in the discus.”

Overall, the girls finished in third with 48.5 points, behind first place Old Town with 120, second place Hampden with 105.5 and third place John Bapst with 75. Orono placed fifth with 33 points, Central had 26 and Mattanawcook had 13.

A team of Emma Fernald, Caroline Driscoll, Kayla Ray and Nora Hubbell placed first in the 4x880-yard relay in 10:45.56.

Nora Hubble also placed first in the one-mile run with a time of 5:46.52.

Emma Fernald placed second in the 400-meter run with a time of 1:07.80.

And Caroline Driscoll’s 400-meter run put her in third place behind Fernald. She finished in 1:11.79. Driscoll then placed first in the two-mile run in 12:18.71.

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