TOPSHAM — The Thornton Academy girls’ track and field program is on a roll, and the future looks bright, too.

Alex Hart, a freshman, won two events and scored in two others Saturday at Mt. Ararat High to lead the Golden Trojans to their second straight Class A outdoor championship.

While Thornton won easily, the boys’ meet was packed with drama, coming down to the final event – the 1,600 relay.

Lewiston had 61 points going into the race, Scarborough 60 and Cheverus 59. It came down to Isaiah Harris.

Harris gave Lewiston its first state title since 2006, capping a memorable day with a blistering anchor leg. He was in third place when he took the baton but had the lead in the first 100 meters of his 400-meter leg and added to the lead the rest of the way.

Harris, headed for Penn State on a track scholarship, won the unusual combination of the 200, 800 and 1,600.

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“That’s crazy,” said Lewiston Coach Paul Soracco. “Who does that? You just don’t see that. Isaiah stepped up when (Hassan) Speedy Mohamed went down with a pulled hamstring last week in the (Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference) meet. He was determined to bring us the title.”

Soracco joked that he told Harris he needed 39 points from him.

Counting his three individual wins and his part in the relay, Harris was responsible for 40.

“We got a great effort from Isaiah and everyone else sprinkled in,” said Soracco.

The Blue Devils finished with 71 points. Scarborough was next with 61, followed by Cheverus with 59, Falmouth 52 and Thornton Academy 44.

The Thornton girls finished with 80 points. South Portland had a strong meet and nabbed second with 62, followed by Lewiston (59), Gorham (39) and Falmouth (35).

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The Thornton girls have won four straight state titles – two outdoors to go with the last two indoors.

Hart, the basketball team’s point guard, won the 200 and set a state record in the 400 (56.87 seconds). She was second in the 100 to Heather Kendall of Lawrence and finished fourth in the long jump. Hart beat Lauren Magnusson of South Portland and Kendall in the 200.

“I wasn’t going to lose the 200 after I finished second in the 100,” said Hart. “I ran a (personal record) in the 400. I didn’t know if it was going to be a state record but it sure felt good. This was a great team win. Everyone contributed.”

Hart and the rest of the Golden Trojans are looking forward to hosting the New England championships Saturday in Saco.

Thornton might have appeared to have gotten off to a slow start, but Coach Lisa Huntress said that can be deceiving.

“In the championship meets, it appears that we’re trying to play catch up but in reality we’re waiting for the field events to kick in,” she said. “Events like the discus and the jumps, which we’re strong in. So in some areas that we lose points in, we pick up in other areas.

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“This was a lot of fun. It was a perfect day and the girls performed once again.”

Also for Thornton, Victoria Lux won the shot put and was second in the discus, and Tori Daigle won the triple jump and was second in the long jump. Chipping in were Samantha Curran with a third in the shot put and Elizabeth Provencher with a fifth in the discus.

Lewiston’s winning 1,600 boys’ relay team included Mohamud Abukar, Aden Mohamed and Ahmed Musse. They were timed in 3 minutes, 28.24 seconds.

Speedy Mohamed came back from the pulled hamstring he suffered last week to win the 100 in 11.35. He finished sixth in the 200.

Dan Guiliani of South Portland set a record in the shot put with a throw of 62 feet, 8 1/4 inches. He bettered the mark of 60-3 3/4 set by Dan Smith of Thornton Academy in 2009.

Guiliani said he was very conservative in his first throw, which was over 57 feet. He went after it on his other throws but said “it wasn’t all there.”

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“Any time you set a record you have to be happy, and I am. It was nice to get one in the record books and to defend my title,” he said.

Guiliani won last year’s title with a throw of 53 feet, 6 inches.

Jake Dixon of Cheverus set a state record in the 400 meters with a time of 48.45 seconds.

This was the last meet for Bonny Eagle Coach Greg Wilkinson, who has coached track and cross country for 40 years.

Wilkinson said he’s been thinking about retirement for the last few weeks and mentioned it to a couple of his fellow SMAA coaches before the meet.


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