NAPLES — For the York High boys, who have won three Class B track and field state championships in four years, winning the Western Maine Conference title Saturday was nothing unusual. For the York girls, though, capturing the conference title felt like the start of good things to come.

“We’re not used to this. It is a very new experience,” said York junior Katherine Bullock. “We’re a very young team. For three years we’ve been watching the boys’ team do very well, watching their work ethic. But we had high expectations today.”

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York swept the conference meet at Lake Region High, with the boys collecting 156.5 points, ahead of Falmouth (148) and Wells (133). The girls scored 144 points, finishing ahead of Traip Academy (131) and Falmouth (130).

Just one meet record was broken, by Lake Region’s Kate Hall, who twice improved her long jump record, first with a jump of 19 feet, 8 inches, then with her second jump over 20 feet this outdoor season – 20-5. Her previous record was 19-33/4 set last year.

The long jump area erupted with excitement when Hall’s long jump coach and father, Eric, made the big jump known by yelling: “Yeah, baby!”

The meet announcer then put the record jump in perspective, noting that it would have taken second in the boys’ meet.

Hall also won both the 100 and 200 meters, with times of 11.8 and 25.2 seconds.

The battle for the girls’ team championship was back and forth between Falmouth and York, with the Wildcats having the edge most of the meet. York was led by Bullock, who took second in the long jump (16-21/4) and third in the triple jump (32-101/2); Maddie Amidon, who won the triple jump (34-41/2); and Samantha Robinson, who was second in the 100 (13.23) and 200 (27.92), and tied for first in the high jump (4-10) with Greely’s Lauren Williams.

The Wildcats also won two of the three relays – the 3,200 (10:05.35) and the 400 (52.56).

“We’re not used to winning,” Bullock said. “But we train with the boys, with all the same coaches. We do the same workouts. That’s really benefited us.”

York Coach Ted Hutch agreed, saying the girls’ team is starting to display the talent and attitude of champions.

“They’re fearless,” Hutch said. “They’re not afraid. We train them as a co-ed team. Some of the girls train with the boys. They love the challenge. They’re young but they’re fun. We can give them the hardest sprint workout, and they’re laughing.”

In the boys’ meet, York senior Tucker Corbett won both the 400 and 200 in personal-best times (50.32 and 22.99), and anchored the winning 3,200 relay (8:27.70) and second-place 1,600 relay (3:40.74).

Kennebunk won the 1,600 relay (3:36.75), but Corbett made up 10 meters to bring York from third place to second in the meet’s final event.

“He’s a machine,” Hutch said.

Corbett was happy he dipped under 23 seconds in the 200 for the first time and that his team seems on pace to win another Class B title.

“I’m happy with where we are,” Corbett said. “It’s been very close. Falmouth is a strong team and gives us a great test. It’s a great precursor to the state meet. They give us the same competition of the best teams in Eastern Maine.”

York also got individual victories from Schaeffer Rees in the 800 (2:06.24), Colt Santoro in the 110 hurdles (15.99), Joe Yauch in the 1,600 racewalk (7:40.60) and Jack Bouchard in the javelin (193-10), and placed first in the 400 relay (45.94).

Falmouth Coach Danny Paul said a few injuries and the intense heat kept his team from being at its best. He noted that Falmouth also lost to York at the WMC indoor championships but then claimed the Class A state title. Falmouth will compete in the Class A meet Saturday at Mt. Ararat High in Topsham, while York will head to Bath for the Class B championships.

“I don’t think there is a huge difference between Class A and Class B,” Paul said. “Lots of years a Class B team could win the Class A state meet. We’ve only been in Class A two years and we won this year (indoors). This was a good warm-up for next week.”

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