GORHAM — Powered by senior Kate Tugman’s victories in the mile and 2-mile and second-place finish in the 800 meters, the Gorham girls won the SMAA indoor track championship Saturday at the University of Southern Maine.
Gorham scored 154 points to finish well ahead of Thornton Academy (106.5), the defending champion, and Noble (105).
In the boys’ meet, Scarborough earned its 11th consecutive SMAA title by tallying 189.67 points – even with state-champion sprinter Jarett Flaker sidelined because of an injury. Gorham took second (92.33) and Thornton was third (89.50).
The meet started with Cheverus senior Lauren Jordan winning the shot put with a distance of 40 feet, 1 3/4 inches despite taking only two throws before leaving for a basketball game against Windham, in which she helped lead the Stags to a comeback victory.
“What’s amazing is she came up to me eight months ago and asked me if I could teach her how to throw the shot,” said Cheverus throws coach Ken Swanberg. “She didn’t even know how to throw and do a rotation before that.”
As Jordan rushed to put on her sweats before leaving, she gushed with satisfaction at how good the throw felt.
“It’s cool because everyone else is really good, so there’s competition, which I like,” said Jordan, who placed fourth at the Class A outdoor state meet last spring.
Tugman won the mile by 5 seconds in 5 minutes, 11.71 seconds (just 3 seconds off her personal best) before taking second with a personal best of 2:21.55 in the 800. Then she captured the 2-mile title with ease, winning by 35 seconds in 11:22.64.
“The 2:21 is the Gorham school record, so I’m happy with that,” Tugman said of her second-place finish in the 800.
Cheverus junior Victoria Bossong was a triple winner despite dealing with jet lag and illness, after she broke her own Maine all-time best while winning the 400 last weekend at a National Scholastic Athletics Foundation meet in Iceland. Bossong set a conference record in the 200 – running 26.02 to break the mark of 26:04 set by Sarah Perkins of Gorham in 2012 – and also captured the 55 (7.43) and 400 (59.01). In Iceland, she clocked 54.96 in the 400.
“I’ve been really sick this week, and school has been tough. But we had two snow days, so that helped,” Bossong said. “Today, I just wanted to finish all my events.”
Scarborough, considered the favorite to win Class A boys’ championship on Feb. 17, easily claimed another conference title despite the absence of Flaker, who reinjured his right hamstring. He had the fastest seed time in the 55, 200, 400 and 600.
The Red Storm were led by Tristram Coffin, who was seeded second in the 600 and 2-mile but won both. In the 600, he grabbed the lead with 150 meters to go and beat top seed Chris Walton of Biddeford, 1:20.02 to 1:20.27. Coffin ran 10:01.00 in the 2-mile.
“I think we have a good shot to win states even if Jarett doesn’t run,” Coffin said.
The other double winner in boys’ senior events was Thornton’s Max Spaulding in the 55 hurdles (8.30) and 400 (52.24).
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