Students from various schools celebrate Bonny Eagle’s Drew Gervais after he won the boys 100 meters in a time of 10.63 at the SMAA track and field championships May 29 in Windham. Gervais is the 2026 Varsity Maine Boys Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)

STANDISH — The nerves ahead of a meet that not even 1 percent of Maine high school runners will even compete in, got to Bonny Eagle’s Drew Gervais the week of June 8.

But by the start of the 100-meter dash at the New England high school track and field championships, Gervais was in the zone — and by the end of it, he was elite.

Gervais turned a week of meticulous analysis and preparation into a New England title on June 13 at Noble High School. It was the crowning achievement of a banner season for the Bonny Eagle junior, who is Varsity Maine’s Boys Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year.

“The whole week through it, I was stressed about it and couldn’t stop thinking about it, but I just told myself, ‘It’s a privilege to be under this much pressure,’” Gervais said. “When the meet came, I knew that I was ready to perform, and when I crossed that line, it was amazing.”

Gervais, whose time of 10.78 seconds beat out Sean Blaze (Clinton, Massachusetts) by 0.05 seconds, was also the Class A (11.07) and Southwestern Maine Activities Association (10.63) champion. In addition, he won the 200 at states (21.84) and SMAAs (21.91).

Gervais’ performance at the SMAA championship, Bonny Eagle coach Jacob Newcomb said, was his best. In poor conditions, Gervais finished just 0.06 seconds shy of the 100-meter meet record set last year by Marshwood’s Andre Clark. In the 200, he edged standouts Ali Carter (Falmouth) and Bossay Ditanduka (South Portland).

“Going sub-22 in that 200 in the pouring rain was a performance that left me kind of awe-struck,” Newcomb said. “If it was good weather, he would have broken the all-time state record. He was coming off an incredible training regimen that he put himself through, and he was in full control of that race.”

That training routine was the brainchild of Newcomb and assistant Kevin Cooper, the track team’s sprint coach who is also Gervais’ football coach. Cooper crafted a regimen designed to help Gervais shave time off the tail ends of his 200 races.

Bonny Eagle’s drew Gervais, center, crosses the finish line to win the 100-meter dash in a time of 11.07 at the Class A state championship meet June 6 in Bangor. (Rich Abrahamson/Staff Photographer)<?xml version="1.0"?> Purchase this image

Improving in the 200 was the primary goal for Gervais entering the outdoor season. Although the junior enjoyed a strong indoor campaign, he was disappointed by his fifth-place finish at SMAAs and his third-place finish at states in the 200. That made his success this spring all the sweeter.

“My 200 just wasn’t as good as it could have been; I thought I was going to run faster, but I didn’t really get the training that I could have gotten,” Gervais said. “I wanted to come out and do better than that, and better than I did last year, and try to win as much as I could, pretty much.”

Newcomb credits much of Gervais’ success to his technical ability as a runner, saying that the rising senior accounts for every little thing from start to finish. Also, his knack for picking up new techniques and taking on new forms of training has helped him reach the top, with a year of high school still to go.

“He’s so mindful of all of his body movements,” said Newcomb, who teaches social studies at Bonny Eagle. “He’s also great at recovery. Oftentimes, his teammates will tell him they aren’t getting their times down, and he’ll say, ‘Well, what do you do to recover?’ He’s just a very focused athlete.”

Gervais has had the benefit of racing among a group of all-time great Maine high school sprinters. Last year, he was pushed by Clark, Carter, Falmouth’s Max Shapiro, Kennebunk’s Kyle Barron and Lewiston’s Josia Katroli. This year, he had battles with Carter, Ditanduka and South Portland’s Ambrosio Mputu.

Bonny Eagle’s Drew Gervais, center, races to victory over, from left, Rocco Ciccomancini of Deering Academy, Bossay Ditanduka of South Portland, Karl Longstreth of Windham and Ambrosio Mputu South Portland in the boys 100 meters at the SMAA track and field championships May 29 in Windham. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)<?xml version="1.0"?> Purchase this image

That’s part of the reason why Gervais made so many strides over the past year, Newcomb said. Gervais added that the presence of so many other elite runners meant he couldn’t have an off-day — if he wasn’t driven to improve, he was going to lose.

“At one of our first two indoor invitationals, I remember I came in too overconfident and Bossay beat me in the 200,” Gervais said. “The competition was great because I knew it wouldn’t come easy, and that drove me to step it up and train for it.”