BREWER — It was a fitting position at the end of the day for Waterville’s Jordhan Levine.
After winning three of his four events at the Class B track and field championships Saturday at Brewer Community School, the Purple Panthers’ senior found himself leading the day’s most gratifying run – the victory lap.
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Levine racked up 38 of Waterville’s 92.5 points as the Panthers held off Belfast (80.5) and Ellsworth (69). The Panther girls, meanwhile, accumulated 108.25 points as both Waterville squads repeated as state champions.
Greely and York finished second and third in the girls’ meet with 87 and 63 points, respectively.
“I keep saying this, we don’t worry about last year,” Waterville Coach Ian Wilson said. “It’s a thrill to see kids be able to celebrate together today. Last year is last year’s team. I’m happy for this year and the seniors we have this year. The new kids got a taste of this and it will be their turn next year.”
Wilson took a calculated risk when choosing Levine’s events, as he elected to put him in four individuals events. He had been a mainstay on the 1,600-meter relay team.
“We felt like we’d probably gain more net points that way than running him in the relay,” Wilson said. “It probably paid off, and I’d probably do it again if I had to choose.”
Levine won the triple jump (44-01/4), 110 hurdles (15.46) and 300 hurdles (40.54), and placed second in the long jump to Belfast’s Marcus Riley (21-81/4).
The only athlete who had a better day than Levine was Lake Region’s Kate Hall, who went 4 of 4 with wins in the 100, 200, long jump and triple jump. She set state records in the 100 (11.81 seconds), 200 (24.36) and long jump (19-01/2).
“It was a good day,” Hall said. “I was hoping for a real nice day like this because all of my other meets have been horrible weather and really bad wind. Today turned out pretty well and that was my goal coming into this meet, hopefully winning four events and maybe setting some state records. I’m glad with how it turned out.”
It was also a record-setting day for Hermon’s Kaitlin Saulter, who clocked a time of 56.95 in the 400 to win by nearly three seconds.
“It means the world to me, seriously,” Saulter said. “All I wanted to do was break that record so bad.”
Ellsworth’s Dan Curts broke his own Class B record with a time of 4:09.88 in the 1,600 – holding off Gray-New Gloucester’s Will Shafer, who also finished under the old record. Curts also won the 800 and 3,200.
“My legs felt pretty heavy the whole way,” Curts said of the 1,600, which was decided in the final straightaway. “I actually didn’t hear Shafer until most of the way through the third lap, so I wasn’t exactly sure where he was. … I wanted to be a little quicker, that’s what the goal was. I wasn’t too pumped with my splits. Coming through I knew what I wanted them to be and they weren’t quite there.”
The Waterville boys collected 25 points in the 110 hurdles, as Levine, Troy Gurski and Shahzaib Khan finished 1-2-3, and Demetrius Ramirez took seventh.
“That was a very big event for us. … That was a critical race and we needed to go 1-2-3,” Levine said.”
In the girls’ meet, Waterville’s Sarah Shoulta won the pole vault (9-6), 100 hurdles (15.44) and 300 hurdles (46.52).
“It means a lot that I could defend my titles … ,” said Shoulta. “To come out here and do it all over again could not have possibly gone better.”
Greely stayed close behind a strong day from Kristin Sandreuter, who won the 1,600 (5:03.82) and 3,200 (11:31.71) in addition to a third-place finish in the 800 (2:24.77). Teammate Alyssa Casarez won the discus (114-1), took second in the shot put (36-61/2) and placed fourth in the pole vault (8-6), and Samantha Pyncheon was runner-up in the high jump (5-0).
Freeport’s Harrison Stivers won the boys’ 400 (50.70), and York’s Jack Bouchard took the victory in the javelin (186-8).
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