Winnacunnet's Duffy second-team All-American in pentathlon; York's Drake 27th in mile

BOSTON — The New Balance Indoor National track and field championship meet was held Sunday at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center. A trio of Seacoast high school athletes didn’t have to venture too far to compete against the best in the country. 

Winnacunnet senior Oliver Duffy, in his first season competing in indoor track and field, placed in the top 35 in two events. 

Duffy placed 11th in the pentathlon with 3,343 points, earning him second-team All-American status and he was 35th in the long jump (21 feet, 5 inches). 

"The meet was a great experience and it was super exciting to watch other top-ranked athletes in the country compete in their events," Oliver said. "One of the highlights was witnessing the fastest 400-meters ever run, indoors, by a high school athlete. Super thankful for the opportunity."

In the pentathlon, Duffy was fourth in the long jump (21 feet, 4 inches), fifth in the 1,000 (2 minutes, 51.80 seconds), 12th in the 60-meter hurdles (8.76), 13th in the high jump (5-8¾), and 13th in the shot put (34-4¼). "In the pentathlon, Duffy was fourth in the long jump (21 feet, 4 inches), fifth in the 1,000 (2 minutes, 51.80 seconds), 12th in the 60-meter hurdles (8.76), 13th in the high jump (5-8¾), and 13th in the shot put (34-4¼). 

"Oliver just placed 11th in the country in a sport he just began less than six months ago," Winnacunnet coach and Oliver's mom Alison Duffy said. "This is both incredible and unusual. He went into the indoor season with few expectations and focused on training and peaking for the state meet. This worked out perfectly so the New England and National meets were just icing on the cake."

York's Cary Drake shines in mile run

York High School senior Cary Drake, who will run next year at Northwestern University, placed 27th in the girls mile with a time of 4 minutes, 58.14 seconds seconds. The winning time was 4:36.36. 

“Cary ran another great mile on an incredibly beautiful track,” York head coach Ted Hutch said. “It’s a shock to the system to see Cary in the third heat. But this is a great way for her to prepare for the competition she’ll see in the next four years at Northwestern. She’s ready for the big time.” 

This was Drake’s second time competing at the New Balance national stage. 

“It’s a meet I really look forward to because of the competitive and unique environment,” Drake said. "It’s always fun because the heats are seeded with everyone with very similar times so it’s fun for me to get to run in a pack with a bunch of girls who run in the 4:50 range. Running in a pack has been something I’ve been trying to get better at because it doesn’t happen very often for me in the state of Maine so this was a great experience for that.” 

Drake didn’t have any expectations going into the race “aside from having fun and staying under 5 minutes.” 

“It was an enjoyable race,” Drake said. “Super cool to be able to run at a track that was hosting D1 NCAA nationals the day before I was there.” 

In the girls 800, Newmarket senior Alanna Hagen placed 87th in a time of 2:18.85. The winning time was 2:03.85.