GORHAM — The Scarborough boys and Thornton Academy girls successfully defended their league titles Saturday at the Southwestern indoor track and field championships.

Scarborough finished with 192 points, ahead of Thornton Academy’s 119 and South Portland’s 114.

Thornton finished with 135 points in the girls’ meet. Scarborough was second with 102.5 and Cheverus was third with 102.

The Thornton girls led early after Tori Daigle, Amanda Arnold and Alexandra Pettaway went 1-2-3 in the long jump.

Daigle said the Trojans, who lost the Class A state meet by a half point last year and 41/2 points in 2012, wanted to excel in the league meet as they prepare for another run at a state championship.

In addition to winning the long jump (16-51/2), Daigle took the 55-meter hurdles in 8.85 seconds and was second in the 200 in a personal-best time of 27.26.

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“We knew we had to bring it today. I’m looking to win at states, definitely in the long jump. I believe this is the year (for the team title),” Daigle said. “It’s been frustrating, but today helped us get ready for this (state) meet.”

Arnold added a third-place finish in the triple jump (32-21/4) and a third in the hurdles (9.42). Pettaway won the triple jump (34-51/2) and finished second in the 55 (7.66). All three joined Kaitlin Hilton to finish second in the 800 relay (1:53.39).

The Trojans also had a first-place finish by shot putter Kaeleigh Harrison (35-51/2), who won by more than half a foot.

Arnold said the way the Trojans competed as a team put them all “in the zone.”

“I think we’re really trying to prepare for the state meet and this was a good step. It’s encouraging,” she said.

In the boys’ meet, Scarborough dominated the senior division on the way to its fifth straight league title, getting an early lead when Hugh McSorley won the shot put with a throw of 49-01/4, a full foot beyond the field. Jerry Kenney take third in the 55 (6.91), Alex Karam placed second in the 800 (2:06.06), and Colin Jones won the 600 (1:17.09).

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Jacob Terry took second in the mile (4:38.75), getting edged by Yahye Hussein (4:38.72) of Deering. After leading 15 of 16 laps in the 2-mile, Terry again settled for second when Deering’s Iid Sheikh-Yusuf pulled ahead on the last lap to claim the victory in 10:06.59. Terry finished in 10:07.91.

Terry said he hopes to win the 2-mile at the state meet, where he can focus on one event.

“This is my first year running indoors,” the sophomore said. “Basketball wasn’t as fun as I thought last year, so I thought I’d try indoor track. My main thing today was try to get points for the team.”

The Red Storm also got a lift from Edward James and Sam Rusak, who went 1-3 in the pole vault with vaults of 12-0 and 11-0.

And Scarborough won all three relays. Samuel Ware, Chris Dionne, Jones and Karam took the 1,600 sprint medley (3:50.89). Austin Doody, Cameron Langlois, Maxwell Ornstein and Jerry Kenney won the 800 relay (1:34.35).

The team of Lucas Foerster, Sam Webber, Will Fowler and Karam took the 3,200 relay (8:48.40)

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“A lot of things did not go great, and other things we didn’t expect did. But that’s a track meet,” said Scarborough Coach Derek Veilleux. “Jacob filled in since Colin (Tardiff) got injured, and Hugh gave us a win in the shot put. And the relays are key.”

Deirdre Fleming can be reached at 791-6452 or at:

dfleming@pressherald.com

Twitter: FlemingPph


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