AUGUSTA

Different season, different gender, same parade of speculative calculations and sleepless nights.

A year ago, the Lisbon boys made their coaches and community sweat it out until the final event before the Greyhounds were able to lay claim to a sweep of the Mountain Valley Conference track and field championships for the eighth consecutive year.

Thursday at Cony High School’s Alumni Field, it was the Greyhound girls who had calculators humming and blood pressures elevated. In danger of seeing Boothbay end its streak dating back to 2006, Lisbon used an unlikely 1-2-3 sweep in the 800 meters to set thetableforitsconvincingwininthe4x400 relay.

It was enough to land Lisbon a 121.5 to 111 victory. Nine is fine.

“We wanted to show the teams that we still had what it takes to win the MVC title, so we definitely had to bring it,” said Olivia Bulgin, who finished third in the 800. “We had no clue what we were in for. When we realized we finished one, two and three, we knew we had it. It was like the sun was shining on us.”

Sophomores Adrianna White and Bree Sautter went one-two ahead of Bulgin in the 800. The trio never raced together in the event all spring, with Sautter usually specializing in sprints. Their dominance was good for 24 points compared to Boothbay’s three in the event.

Together with Mia Durgin, the trio also ranthe4x400,leadingfromstarttofinish. White finished the home stretch of the anchor leg with a wide smile across her face, 30 to 40 meters ahead of the closest competition.

“It was a gamble putting us all in there,” White said of the stacked 800 lineup that landed Lisbon the lead, “but it paid off.”

Greyhound boys

Lisbon had to finish ahead of Hall-Dale in the boys’ 4 x 400 to win the 2013 conference title.

This season, not even the combined scores of runner-up Madison (82) and third-place Boothbay (60) were a match for the Greyhounds’ 177 points. Lisbon didn’t win any individualrunningevents,butthe4x100 and4x400relaysfinishedatopthepodium along with Andrew Golino (shot put and discus), Jordan Glover (long jump) and Tyler Bard (race-walk).

“Our plan was to get off the bus,” Lisbon coach Dean Hall said. “We outmuscled them with depth and quality. It is not what we expected going into this year, because it was such a struggle last year, but new and exciting kids came out, and very hard-working, quality kids.”

Golino, a junior, had never competed in track and field prior to this season. He topped Chris Hayden of Madison by more than half a foot in shot put and over two feet in discus.

“Just some lucky throws I guess. I (set personal records) in both my events,” Golino said. “It’s an amazing feeling. Being my first year and they’ve already welcomed me. We’re just one big family.”

Most family reunions are larger than the group of girls competing for Lisbon this season. Only 15 made the trip Thursday, with a dozen competing.

“And that’s stretching a bunch of girls a lot,” Hall said.

Durgin’s pole vault victory was the lone Lisbon individual win prior to the 800, where White (2:37.45) edged Sautter (2:39.56) and Bulgin (2:40.66). White was the only Greyhound seeded in the top three going into the race.

Hall also gambled by putting White in the 1,600, where she finished second to Boothbay’s Sophia Thayer.

“We had to break up some of the Boothbay long-distance things,” Hall said. “A calculated risk was taking Bree Sautter and saying, ‘OK, you’re a 200 and 400 person, let’s move you to 800.’ We had to go and stack relays. All day long we were within a point here, two points here, and we exceeded.”

Sautter was runner-up to Dirigo’s Jessica Conant in the 400. Paige Galligan and Delanie Ouellette teamed with Sautter and Whiteinthevictorious4x800relay.

Jordon Torres anchored both of Lisbon boys’ relay triumphs.

Quincy Thompson, Shawn Grover and Henry Adams set him up for the finishing kick and a season-best time of 46.71 seconds inthe4x100.AustinBedford,Charles Adams and Henry Adams provided the big lead en route to a winning margin of nearly eightsecondsinthe4x400.

“Last year was a little scary. This year we have a lot of variety and kids that put in the work every day. It’s paying off at the end of the year,” Torres said. “I know it’s going to be a lot harder at the state level. We always push ourselves even if we’re running by ourselves.”

Spruce Mountain was fourth and Monmouth and Telstar tied for fifth in the boys’ team sweepstakes. Carrabec, Dirigo and St. Dom’s completed the top five on the girls’ side.