WINDHAM – It seemed to be turning into an annual event at the Class B outdoor track and field championships.
Inevitably, either the boys’ or girls’ championship — or both –would come down to two teams, and each title always seemed to be decided by a handful of points.
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But this year was different. the halfway point of Saturday’s state meet at Windham High, two teams had enough points to create separation from the rest of the field, so winning the team title became a formality.
Falmouth won its second consecutive boys’ championship with 104 points, atop a 22-team field and more than 27 points ahead of second-place Greely. Waterville won its fourth consecutive girls’ title with 168 points, ahead of York (94).
The Yachtsmen got their biggest boost in the 110-meter hurdles, where Alec Dunn won in 15.46 seconds and teammate Kellen MacDonald finished second in 15.47, garnering 18 points.
“We never really put together a complete meet all season,” said Falmouth senior Michael Gardner, who teamed with MacDonald, Dunn and Will Wegener to win the 1,600 relay in 3 minutes, 31.84 seconds. “So we just worked together for this last meet, when we hadn’t really run together before. And we got to run against better competition.”
Gardner and his teammates also saw how the lower-place finishes paid off for Falmouth.
“Thoughout the meet we picked up different points from different people who did better than they were supposed to,” Gardner said. “Different things like that give us one or two points here and there, but it adds up to a big amount going into the end.”
The Waterville girls had 10 first-place finishes (eight individuals and two relays), and like the Yachtsmen showed plenty of depth. The Panthers had at least two individuals place in seven events.
In the 100 hurdles, the Panthers had four individuals in the top six, accounting for 17 points: Lynn Fleming finished second, Olivia Thurston fourth, Alex Jensen fifth and Alexa Frame sixth.
“They are really important because sometimes all it can come down to are a few extra points,” said Kayla Tuttle, who won two distance events for Waterville. “If we can score as much as possible, every point helps us to win.”
One example of Waterville’s depth was Bethanie Brown.
“She was seeded seventh in the (3,200) and got third,” Tuttle said. “That really helped us a lot, and I’m sure there were a lot of other people that did that, too.”
Falmouth’s depth helped it set the pace and pull away from Greely, which had five first-place finishes.
In addition to Mark McCauley’s two wins in distance events, Tanner Storey won the high jump, Jon Higgins won the javelin and Michael Burgess placed first in the discus, accounting for 50 of the Rangers’ 76.5 points.
“We had a lot of wins, but (depth) was where Falmouth rose up,” said McCauley, who won the 800 and 1,600 but finished 10th in the 3,200. “We don’t have that.
“Falmouth picked up a lot of points in races we weren’t expecting them to. We lost in several areas where we were hoping not to, and as for me, in my first two events, I had to do what I could to keep us in it. the end of the day it just wasn’t in the cards.”
McCauley was one of five athletes to earn multiple individual titles.
Leavitt’s Allison Fereshetian set the day’s only Class B record while winning the 100 hurdles in 14.72 seconds. Fereshetian also won the 200 in 25.75 and finished second in the 300 hurdles to Waterville’s Olivia Thurston, helping the Hornets finish seventh in the 26-team competition.
Tuttle won the 1,600 and 3,200, and Waterville teammate Fleming won the long jump and triple jump.
Isaiah Spofford of Waterville won the boys’ 100 and 200.
CLASS C: Because of heavy rain, the Class C state championship meet was postponed Saturday. The meet tentatively has been rescheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday.
The MPA outdoor track committee will hold a conference call Monday morning to make a final decision about the rescheduling of the meet.
Staff Writer Rachel Lenzi can be reached at 791-6415 or at:
rlenzi@pressherald.com
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