Click image for interview from MileSplit
By Pete Warner, BDN Staff
With league championship meets less than two weeks away, Maine athletes continue to turn in impressive performances during the high school indoor track and field season.
Intrasquad competition appears to be paying dividends at Orono High School, where Tia Tardy and Becky Lopez-Anido turned in outstanding runs in the 800 meters.
Tardy, a junior transfer from Mattanawcook Academy in Lincoln, lowered her Eastern Maine Indoor Track League/Penobscot Valley Conference indoor record to 2 minutes, 14.29 seconds during Saturday’s Meet 5A at the New Balance Field House at the University of Maine in Orono.
The effort was a career best for Tardy, who had run a 2:14.33 at last June’s New England Outdoor Championships. Her most recent time ranks her fourth in the country this season, according to MileSplit USA.
Tardy on Jan. 2 had broken the former standard of 2:17.31 owned by Ellsworth’s Aleta Looker when she clocked a 2:15.00.
Lopez-Anido also strode to a personal best time of 2:16.25 on Saturday, less than two seconds behind Tardy. That is the eighth-fastest time posted this winter.
It was the first time Lopez-Anido, a junior, had competed in the open 800 this winter. Her effort bettered the 2:17.99 that earned her ninth place at the outdoor New Englands in 2015.
In addition to their potential to score big for Orono at the Feb. 13 Class B state championships at Bates College, Tardy and Lopez-Anido also have positioned themselves for high seeds at the New Englands.
There, they likely will be chasing Connecticut’s Danae Rivers, whose 2:12.09 is tops in the nation among high school girls 800 runners.
The New Englands are slated for Feb. 28 in Boston.
Tardy and Lopez-Anido also finished 1-2 in Saturday’s two-mile run. Tardy clocked an 11:17.48, which is tops in the state regardless of class this winter. Lopez-Anido ran a 12:02.44, which ranks her seventh in Class B.
In the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference, Skowhegan senior Maddy Price turned in a triple jump of 37 feet, 5½ inches on Saturday, which is the best effort in the state thus far.
