More than a dozen schools descended on USM’s Costello Sports Complex in Gorham on Saturday morning, Feb. 6, for this year’s Southern Maine Athletics Association Championship.

Scarborough took top honors on the boys’ side, besting No. 2 Thornton by a score of 166-153. On the girls’ side, Westbrook claimed the crown at 111, with Cheverus in second (94) and Scarborough in third (85).

It’s the Gentlemen Red Storm’s seventh consecutive SMAA title. Head Coach Derek Veilleux identified a number of key contributors – including Colin Tardiff and Sam Rusak – but went on to stress the achievement as one group. “We got contributions from 17 different athletes,” Veilleux said. “This was a total team effort.”

Rusak’s 15 feet, 9 inches in the Pole Vault not only obliterated his own SMAA record of 14-5, but is also the second-best performance in Maine history. (Besides that, it was a blast to watch and it electrified the entire arena, which basically stopped doing everything else just to pay attention to his every attempt at successively higher heights.)

South Portland Boys Head Coach Dave Kahill applauded several of his athletes as well, among them Jake Maloney, who set a new personal record (PR) in the mile and took second, despite being seeded sixth. Kahill also praised Noah Blake, Ben Sivik, Nate Begonia (who shaved half a second off his time to PR in the Junior Division 55 Hurdles), Khem Johnston and Patrick Martin.

South Portland Girls Head Coach Karen Reardon nodded to Callie O’Brien, Juliana Selser, Lingdong Bol, Serena McKenzie, Phoebe Letourneau (among the team’s States qualifiers with a nice Senior-Division triple jump), Meagan Johnson, Edita Isakovic and Emily Bolduc.

Reardon also took the opportunity to praise her relays, each comprised of four individuals, including her 4×200 Junior-Division squad – Bol, Bolduc, Rachel Haynes and Julia Banks – who finished third. O’Brien, Johnson, Selser and Jackie Tanguay earned fourth in the Open-Division 4×200, and McKenzie, Selser, Ella Jocher and Toia Francis took fifth in the Open-Division 4×800.

Boys Team Scores:

1. Scarborough, 166; 2. TA, 153; 3. Deering, 134; 4. Westbrook, 69; 5. Windham, 58; 6. Gorham, 50; 7. South Portland, 49; 8. Cheverus, 31; 9. Noble, 30; 10. Biddeford, 28; 11. Marshwood, 20; 12. Bonny Eagle, 15; 13. Massabesic, 3

Selected Boys Junior Division Top Threes:

Triple Jump – 1. Dominic Creenan, Westbrook, 40-01.75; 2. Alex Wilkins, 39-11.00; 3. Khemara Johnston, South Portland, 37-05.75

Selected Boys Senior and Open Division Top Threes:

55 – 1. Ernie Ruby, Windham, 6.79; 2. Alex Arnold, TA, 6.83; 3. Noah Blake, South Portland, 6.85

600 – 1. Iessa Ramadan, Deering, 1:18.99; 2. Shamus Malia, Scarborough, 1:20.09; 3. Branden Kuusela, Gorham, 1:21.09

800 – 1. Colin Tardiff, Scarborough, 2:01.36; 2. Abdi Hassan, Deering, 2:02.92; 3. Andrew Sholl, Scarborough, 2:04.41

Mile – 1. Colin Tardiff, Scarborough, 4:32.81; 2. Jacob Maloney, South Portland, 4:35.42; 3. Connor Doherty, Scarborough, 4:36.97

Two Mile – 1. Connor Doherty, Scarborough, 10:09.14; 2. Josh Lombardo, 10:29.61; 3. Caleb Pendleton, Bonny Eagle, 10:30.05

55 Hurdles – 1. Griffin Madden, Scarborough, 7.84; 2. Shammah Gahomera, Westbrook, 8.21; 3. Branden Kuusela, Gorham, 8.49

4×200 – 1. TA A, 1:36.08; 2. Scarborough A, 1:36.14; 3. South Portland A, 1:38.17

4×800 – 1. Scarborough A, 8:39.69; 2. Westbrook A, 8:47.00; 3. Gorham A, 8:47.91

1600 Sprint Medley – 1. Scarborough A, 3:47.98; 2. South Portland A, 3:50.29; 3. Deering A, 3:52.53

High Jump – 1. Sam Rusak, Scarborough, 6-00.00; 2. Griffin Madden, Scarborough, 5-10.00; 2. Isaac Huston, Noble, 5-10.00

Triple Jump – 1. Alex Arnold, TA, 39-06.50; 2. Mike O’Brien, Cheverus, 39-05.00; 3. Sawyer Hebert, Scarborough, 39-04.50

Shot Put – 1. Matt Brady, Biddeford, 52-07.75; 2. Thomas Sappier, Windham, 51-02.75; 3. Sebastian Osborne, Scarborough, 45-03.75

Pole Vault – 1. Sam Rusak, Scarborough, 15-09.00; 2. Alex Dionne, Scarborough, 12-06.00; 3. Rory Sullivan, Windham, 12-00.00

Girls Team Scores:

1. Westbrook, 111; 2. Cheverus, 94; 3. Scarborough, 85; 4. Bonny Eagle, 84; 5. South Portland, 79.5; 6. TA, 61; 7. Gorham, 49.5; 8. Marshwood, 47; 9. Noble, 43; 10. Deering, 37; 11. Portland, 34; 12. Massabesic, 32; 13. Biddeford, 23; 14. Windham, 18; 15. McAuley, 8

Selected Girls Junior Division Top Threes:

200 – 1. Ella Altidor, Portland, 26.76; 2. Juliana Selser, South Portland, 27.73; 3. Grace McGouldrick, Gorham, 28.16

400 – 1. Juliana Selser, South Portland, 1:00.95; 2. Gaby Panagakos, Scarborough, 1:01.59; 3. Ella Altidor, Portland, 1:02.22

4×200 – 1. Scarborough A, 1:57.13; 2. Marshwood A, 1:58.37; 3. South Portland A, 1:58.85;

High Jump – 1. Nyagao Bayak, Westbrook, 5-06.00; 2. Lingdong Bol, South Portland, 5-00.00; 3. Emma White, Cheverus, 5-00.00

Selected Girls Senior and Open Division Top Threes:

55 – 1. Elisabeth Redwood, Bonny Eagle, 7.60; 2. Callie O’Brien, South Portland, 7.78; 3. Courtney Arsenault, Westbrook, 7.81

800 – 1. Natalie DuBois, Marshwood, 2:29.72; 2. Marisa Carbone, Scarborough, 2:31.88; 3. Paige Singer, Marshwood, 2:32.32

Mile – 1. Anna Slager, Gorham, 5:29.55; 2. Bethany Sholl, Scarborough, 5:31.42; 3. Ami Beaumier, Bonny eagle, 5:32.55

Two Mile – 1. Bethany Sholl, Scarborough, 11:55.91; 2. Ami Beaumier, Bonny Eagle, 12:00.83; 3. Serena McKenzie, South Portland, 12:27.52

55 Hurdles – 1. Callie O’Brien, South Portland, 8.90; 2. Ellen Shaw, Scarborough, 9.25; 3. Sarah Mount, Cheverus, 9.58

1600 Sprint Medley – 1. Gorham A, 4:31.41; 2. Scarborough A, 4:42.94; TA A, 4:44.91

Pole Vault – 1. Kiersten Hilton, Westbrook, 9-09.00; 2. Bridget Rossignol, Gorham, 9-00.00; 3. Edie Christian, Scarborough, 8-06.00

Favored to win the Sr. Girls 55 Hurdles, Callie O’Brien of South Portland did exactly that.Sam Rusak clears 14-6 with ease en route to busting his own SMAA Pole Vault record with a 15-9 leap.Julia Banks clears the bar early in the Junior Girls High Jump.Stormer Griffin Madden, top-seed in the Sr. Boys 55 Hurdles, won the event handily.The Riots’ Nate Begonia landed at 16-09.50 in the Jr. Boys Long Jump.