Cheverus standout Emma Gallant wins the girls’ 200 at the Class A state indoor track and field meet. Gallant’s performance helped the Stags tie Scarborough for the championship.

Cheverus’ Brim Peabody takes part in the boys’ 500 freestyle at the Class A state swimming and diving meet. Peabody won the race and the Stags finished first as a team for the sixth year in a row.

Cheverus’ Annesley Black wins the Class A girls’ giant slalom at last week’s state meet. The Stags were seventh as a team.

February vacation week was anything but a break for local athletes, who turned heads at the indoor track, swimming and skiing skate meets.

Here’s a recap:

Indoor track

Cheverus’ girls’ indoor track team had never finished higher than second at a state meet, but that changed last Monday at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham, when the Stags posted 67 points to tie Scarborough for Class A honors.

Cheverus was led by Emma Gallant, who won the 400 in a new record time of 57.80 seconds. Gallant was also first in the 200 (25.94) and second in the 55 (7.34).

Freshman Victoria Bossong was runner-up to Gallant in both the 200 (25.96) and 400 (58.51) and was third behind Scarborough’s Molly Murnane and Gallant in the 55 (7.39).

“I love training with Victoria and racing against her,” Gallant said. “I’m excited to see what we can do outdoors. I think we will do a lot.”

Also scoring were Emma White, who was runner-up in both the long jump (17 feet, 1 inch) and triple jump (36-4) and seventh in the 55 hurdles (9.13)

“We only have one senior, 11 girls, and nine of them competed here,” said Stags coach Steve Virgilio. “That’s pretty good for a small team.”

Deering (9 points) tied Biddeford for 15th and Portland (3.5) was 21st.

The Rams got points from Annah Rossvall, who was fourth in the 400 (59.33) and fifth in the 200 (26.43), and Darcy Lally, who placed sixth in the pole vault (9 feet).

The Bulldogs’ points came from Jaidyn Appel, who tied for fourth in the high jump (5-0).

In the boys’ meet, Scarborough won the title with 79 points, while Deering (66) was runner-up.

The Rams were paced by their champion 4×200 relay team (Nicholas James, Jack Lynch, Travis Soule and Luc Harrison, 1 minute, 33.78 seconds) and their first-place 4×800 relay squad (Yahya Nure, James, Mohamed Abdurahman and Alec Troxell, 8:21.34).

Kabala Muka was runner-up in the shot put (45-6). Nure was second in the two-mile (10:05.94). Harrison was runner-up in the 200 (23.22) and came in third in the 400 (51.48). Troxell placed fourth in the mile (4:28.88) and was sixth in the two-mile (10:16.96). Josh Paisley finished fifth in the shot put (44-3.5). James was fifth in the 400 (52.92). Chris Irakoze finished fifth in the 55 hurdles (8.42). Lynch placed seventh in the 200 (23.87). 

Cheverus (23 points) was eighth. The Stags got points from Sean Tompkins (second in the 400, 51.35, and third in the 55, 6.70), Giovanni Fornaro (third in the shot put, 44-10.25) and their fifth-place 4×200 relay team (Ethan Johnson, Alex Baur, Joe Macaluso and Paul Lussier, 1:36.20).

Portland did not score.

The final event of the winter sports season will be the New England championship meet Saturday in Boston. Local qualifiers included Cheverus’ Bossong (girls’ 55 and 300), Fornaro (boys’ shot put), Gallant (girls’ 55 and 300), Tompkins (boys’ 55 and 600), White (girls’ long jump) and its boys’ 800 relay team and Deering’s Harrison (boys’ 300), James (boys’ 600), Muka (boys’ shot put), Rossvall (girls’ 300), Troxell (boys’ mile) and its boys’ 800 relay team.

Swimming

Cheverus’ boys swim team continued its domination of Class A last week by tallying 328 points to beat runner-up Bangor by 78 and win a sixth successive championship.

The Stags got wins from their 400 freestyle relay team (Phineas Underwood, Brim Peabody, Jeremy Baker and Ben Adams, 3 minutes, 25.17 seconds) and Peabody in the 200 free (1:43.78) and 500 free (4:47.41).

The 200 freestyle relay team (Underwood, Quintin Hastings, John Hight and Peabody) was runner-up to Bangor (1:32.15). The 200 medley relay squad (Jack Martin, Hight, Adams and Hastings) placed third in 1:43.87.

Adams placed third in the IM (2:05.96). Underwood came in third in both the 100 free (50.22) and the 200 free (1:50.20). Hastings was fourth in the 50 free (22.61) and fifth in the 100 free (50.41). Baker placed fifth in the 500 free (5:22.30). Chase Cameron was fifth in the 200 free (1:54.30) and sixth in the 100 backstroke (59.10). Hight placed sixth in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.42). Martin finished eighth in the IM (2:1.0.78). 

“What really helped us was our depth and us covering the freestyle events, for sure,” said Cheverus coach Kevin Haley.

Portland (145 points) was fifth, its best showing at a state meet since the 1972 squad placed third. The Bulldogs were led by Will Couture, who was runner-up in the 100 butterfly (53.39) and third in the backstroke (54.04). Josh Ying was seventh in the 50 free (23.28). Reed Foehl finished eighth in the breaststroke (1:06.52). Portland’s 200 free relay team (Ying, Max Orchow, Foehl and Couture) placed third (1:34.82) and its medley relay team (Couture, Foehl, Ying and Orchow) was fourth (1:44.82). 

Deering (77 points) tied Lewiston for 13th. Owen McLaughlin stole the show for the Rams with a runner-up finish in the IM (2:05.06). McLaughlin was also sixth in the fly (55.46). Deering’s 400 free relay team (McLaughlin, Mason Ripton, Ben Archibald and Dru Tillman) finished seventh (3:46.27).

In the Class A girls’ meet, won by Cony with 280 points, Cheverus (163) was sixth, Deering (60) finished 13th and Portland (2) came in 27th.

The Stags got a third-place finish from its medley relay team (Tholia Hallett, Caroline Arpin, Sophia Kruse and Rosie Train, 1:57.62). Their 400 free relay squad (Hallett, Patsy Ciampi, Arpin and Kruse) placed sixth (3:56.14). Arpin was the runner-up in the IM (2:16.35) and sixth in the breaststroke (1:13.08). Kruse finished fifth in the 50 free (26.20) and seventh in the 100 free (57.77). Hallett was eighth in the fly (1:05.69) and eighth in the backstroke (1:05.33). Grace Shimansky was eighth in diving (228.15 points). 

In the Class B girls’ state meet, Cape Elizabeth won the title with 351 points. Maine Girls’ Academy (68) was 11th. Blake Wescott finished third in the breaststroke (1:13.06) and sixth in the IM (2:23.79).

Waynflete (31) finished 15th. 

In the Class B boys’ meet, won by Mt. Desert Island with 343 points, Waynflete did not score.

Skiing

Cheverus’ Annesley Black was the local star of the skiing state meets.

Black won both the Class A Alpine slalom (a two-run combined time of 1 minute, 27.77 seconds) and the giant slalom (1:46.94). Tellie Stamaris was fifth in the GS (1:55.18) and eighth in the slalom (1:38.15). The Stags girls finished seventh in Alpine as a team.

Deering’s boys didn’t score as a team, but Bennet Berg was 13th individually in the GS (1:44.47).

On the Nordic side, Deering’s girls gave Fryeburg Academy a scare before settling for a second-place finish in Class A. Grace Tumavicus was runner-up in the classical (19 minutes, 15.8 seconds) and eighth in the freestyle (17:18.3). Sierra Aponte-Clarke placed sixth in the freestyle (16:52.2) and seventh in the classical (20:09.7). Ella Raymond finished 12th in the freestyle (18:14.2) and 16th in the classical (22:18.5). Morgan Aponte-Clarke was 13th in the classical (22:03.3) and placed 15th in the freestyle (18:37.8). 

Portland didn’t score as a team, but Elizabeth Thomas finished 10th in the classical (21:22.7) and 14th in the freestyle (18:35.0).

In the boys’ meet, won by Mt. Blue, Portland came in fourth. Liam Niles was a close second to Leavitt’s Roy Varney in the classical (15:54.5) and was fourth in the freestyle (13:58.2). Ezra Flint was fifth in the freestyle (13:59.8) and 14th in the classical (17:43). Robert Sheils came in 16th in the classical (17:52.7) and 18th in the freestyle (15:20.4) and Kieran Elliott placed 45th in the freestyle (18:42.9) and 48th in the classical (23:58.9).

Deering didn’t score as a team, but Peter Jordan was runner-up in the freestyle (13:40.8) and third in the classical (16:32.6) and William Jordan finished ninth in the freestyle (14:25) and 10th in the classical (17:00.5).

Cheverus also didn’t score as a team, but Michael Luna had the 50th-best individual time in the classical (21:43.7) and the 54th-best individual time in the freestyle (18:52.3). 

In Class C Nordic action, Waynflete’s boys and girls both came in third.

The boys were a point behind Madawaska for second (Fort Kent won the title). Nicholas Werner led the way by placing seventh in both the classical (18:05) and freestyle (15:59.3). Luca Antolini was 18th in the freestyle (17:54.1) and 24th in the classical (21:04.5). Mykel Henry was 18th in the classical (19:54.1) and 26th in the freestyle (19:05.7). Patty Shaw finished 22nd in the classical (20:43.7) and 23rd in the freestyle (18:15.2).

The girls also came in a point behind Madawaska (Orono was first). Clara Sandberg came in 10th in the classical (22:05.5) and 12th in the freestyle (20:41.0). Kaitlynn Bliss was 10th in the freestyle (20:11.8) and 16th in the classical (23:36.1). Hannah Babcock tied for 17th in the classical (23:58.5) and 28th in the freestyle (23:23.0). Emily Wagg was 23th in the classical (24:52.4) and 25th in the freestyle (22:35.0).

Portland Press Herald writers Deirdre Fleming and Glenn Jordan contributed to this story.

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.