TOPSHAM — By the time the 1,600-meter relay came around, the final race of the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference track and field championships served as four victory laps for the Edward Little boys and girls.
The Red Eddies swept the Class A team titles in dominating fashion at Mt. Ararat High School, as the girls won by 53.5 points, and the boys won the final relay for a 40-point margin.
“I’m really excited. Since the beginning of the year, this was our goal, to try to come in here and win this meet together,” EL Coach Rebecca Hefty said. “Hasn’t been done in a long time.”
Messalonskee was second in the girls’ competition, scoring 125.5 points to the Red Eddies’ 178. The Lewiston boys scored 137 points to finish as the runner-up behind rival EL (177 points). Host Mt. Ararat finished third for both girls (98) and boys (83).
In Class B, Lincoln Academy won its first KVAC boys’ title, beating Cony by 10 points (91-81) and not needing to worry about the final relay. On the girls’ side, it came down to the 1,600 relay, and Cony’s second-place showing secured a victory over Maranacook, which trailed by just a half-point before finishing sixth in the relay.
“We told the kids that the meet was on the line: ‘Last event, you guys can’t leave anything on the track,'” Cony Coach Jon Millett said. “They PR’ed, and Maranacook, their last runner was pretty scary. But the girls, as a collective team – that’s why it’s a four-person relay – we were just too much.”
Lincoln sewed up its title with a 21-point performance in the penultimate track event, the 3,200. Sam Russ won, Jarrett Gulden was third, Benji Pugh fifth and Josiah Martin sixth.
“Certainly we had confidence in our distance squad,” Lincoln Coach Garrett Martin said. “We’re the defending state champs in cross country, so you expect that to carry over a little bit.”
Cony won the boys’ 1,600 relay to narrow the gap and give the Rams a runner-up finish ahead of Winslow, which was led by Max Spaulding, who won the 110- and 300-meter hurdles as well as the 400 and 200.
Both Edward Little teams were strong in the sprints and hurdles. On the girls’ side, freshman Lindy Hyndman won the 100 and 200 and was on the winning 400 relay team.
“I’ve been working a lot on my block starts every day, and I think that really helped me, finally being able to push out with blocks,” said Hyndman, who edged teammate Ella Boucher in the 200.
Boucher also placed third in the 100, to go along with wins in the 300 hurdles and long jump. Grace Fontaine won the 100 hurdles and was third in the 300.
Barrack Abdraba and Connor Jackson split the boys’ hurdle races. Abdraba beat Jackson in a photo finish in the 110 before Jackson had an easier victory over Abdraba in the 300.
“We always run together, and it’s always so close. To be honest, I thought he beat me by a little bit (in the 110 hurdles), but I actually beat him,” Abdraba said. “At the end of the day, what matters is that we’re making points for the team, and that’s what matters to me, to be honest.”
“It’s usually very even,” Jackson said. “Every race, so far, it’s been neck and neck between me and Barrack.”
The EL boys got more wins from Fabrice Mpoyo (100 and 200), Matt Syphers (racewalk) and Alex Thompson (pole vault). The Red Eddies girls received other victories from Jillian Richardson (1,600 and 3,200) and Lauren Berube (pole vault).
“Every kid stepped up to the plate today,” Hefty said.
The Lewiston boys were led by Connor Kaplinger (first in discus, second in javelin, sixth in shot put, anchor leg of 400 relay), Hussein Noor (shot put winner), Lucas Nichols (long jump champ), and Kamundala Crispin (first in triple jump), as well as victories in the 400 and 3,200 relays.
“It means a lot to the guys, senior year, to come out with a bang,” Kaplinger said after the 400 relay.
Of his discus win, Kaplinger said: “I really got a nice chuck and just built off of it.”
The Lewiston girls finished fifth (62 points), behind Oxford Hills (69). Oxford Hills was paced by wins in the shot put and discus from Maighread Laliberte, and Jadah Adams’ javelin victory. Messalonskee’s runner-up finish came on the back of Charlotte Wentworth’s win in the 400, a 1,600 relay victory and a handful of solid placings.
Dawson Stevens (first in javelin, second in 100, third in 200) and Dominic Sclafani (second in 1,600 and 3,200) led the Oxford Hills boys to a sixth-place finish, behind Brunswick and Skowhegan.
The Class B winners both got an early boost from runner-up finishes in the opening 3,200 relay. The Cony girls got individual wins from Tess Towle (high jump) and Gabby Low (javelin), plus plenty of second- and third-place showings.
“We had jumpers, we had throwers, we had sprinters, we had distance runners. Everybody showed up to compete, and we, from the very first events – the (3,200 relay), the girls’ javelin, the girls’ high jump – those are the first three events, we won those events,” Millett said. “And so we set ourselves up really good for a great meet today.”
“Once the morning session was over, and the hurdle races were done, and the 100s and the (3,200 relay) – for us, kicking off the day coming in second in the (3,200 relay) was, I think, really set the tone for our team,” Martin said.
The Leavitt boys finished fourth, thanks to a 400 relay win and second-place finishes by Bryce Pelletier (110 hurdles) and Ryan Pratt (racewalk). Enrico Echevarria won the racewalk for Mt. Blue, which placed ninth.
Leavitt placed seventh on the girls’ side, getting a runner-up finish by Nicole Daigle in the 100. Mt. Blue’s Julia Hatch won the racewalk, helping the Cougars to a 10th-place finish.
Kaplinger won the Class A boys’ Don Matheson Award, given to the most outstanding field performer. Laliberte tied with Skowhegan’s Leah Savage for the girls’ Class A award. Waterville’s Sarah Cox and Morse’s William Carrolton won in Class B.
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