FAIR HAVEN — Fair Haven Union High School hosted its second annual Slater Invitational track and field meet on its brand-new, collegiate-level track facility on Saturday, but first had important business to handle: The new facility was dedicated to longtime Slater track coach Dave Heitkamp and his family, who are Orwell residents and who all attended the ceremony.
The facility is named “Heitkamp Track & Field.” Heitkamp and his wife Linda’s children, Tom, Michael, Natalie, Anna, Elana and Mary, have been track stars at Fair Haven, and Tom and Anna competed for Middlebury College. Mary Heitkamp is also a former Vermont Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association Female Athlete of the Year.
This year, Fair Haven will take advantage of its new track to, for the first time, host the state D-II track and field championships.
Fair Haven, traditionally a Division II track power, celebrated the occasion on Saturday by defeating the 14 high school teams competing, including Middlebury and Mount Abraham, to win both the boys’ and girls’ competitions.
A number of Tiger and Eagle athletes performed well, while Middlebury girls were fourth, the Eagle girls were eighth, the Mount Abe boys were 11th, and the MUHS boys took 12th.
Tiger sophomore Emily Anderson won at both 800 and 1,500 meters, Eagle junior Cassie Marion won the long jump and took second in the triple jump, and Eagle freshman Malcolm Plunkett won at 3,000 meters in meet-record time and also took third at 1,500 meters.
GIRLS’ RESULTS
Scoring points for the MUHS or Mount Abe girls were:
• 200 meters: 2. Ashleigh Hickey, MUHS.
• 400: 6. Rosalie Wright-Lapin, MUHS.
• 800: 1. Anderson, MUHS, 2:31.95.
• 1,500: 1. Anderson, MUHS, 5:10.32.
• 3,000: 3. Christine Artim, MUHS.
• High jump: 3. Becky Johnston, MAU.
• Long jump: 1. Marion, MAU, 15’-5”.
• Triple jump: 2. Marion, MAU.
• Discus: 4. Brooke Lossman, MAU.
• 4X100: 2. MUHS (Alexa Clarisse, Nina Edson, Wright-Lapin, Hickey).
• 4X400: 2. MUHS (Rachel Getz, Anderson, Wright-Lapin, Hickey).
BOYS’ RESULTS
Scoring points for the MUHS or Mount Abe boys were:
• 200: 6. Adam Peterson, MUHS.
• 400: 4. Ben Smith, MAU.
• 1,500: 3. Plunkett, MAU.
• 3,000: 1. Plunkett, MAU, 9:45.62; 4. Neil Guertin, MUHS.
• Long jump: 5. Peterson, MUHS.
• 4X400: 5. MUHS (N. Guertin, Stuart Guertin, James Hare, Ethan Roy).
• 4X800: 2. MUHS (N. Guertin, S. Guertin, Hare, Roy).