Gretchen Plant of Hampden Academy, left, Laurel Driscoll of Scarborough, center, and Samantha Moore of Portland take off at the start of the 1-mile during the Class A indoor track state championship meet Monday in Gorham. Driscoll won in 5:04.01, followed by Moore (5:04.66). Plant was fourth in 5:19.43. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald

GORHAM — Falmouth High’s Max Shapiro has been chasing Marshwood sprint star Andre Clark since they were both sophomores.

On Monday at the Class A indoor track championship at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham, Shapiro finally caught Clark in the 55-meter dash. It was the first time a Maine runner has beaten Clark, who holds the state’s all-time marks in the 55 dash indoors and the 100 meters outdoors, since he was a sophomore. Shapiro finished in a personal-best 6.41 seconds. Clark clocked 6.42. Clark’s meet record of 6.38, set a year ago, is also Maine’s all-time fastest.

Shapiro said he never grew frustrated finishing behind Clark because “I try to stay positive as long as I’m improving. I’ve been right there with him. Before the race, we both were talking about wanting a fast time in the final, and we got it.”

A few hours later, the duo dueled again in the 200. This time, it was Clark’s turn to run down Shapiro, who had built a big lead on the initial start and turn and still held it entering the final 40-plus meters. Clark won in 22.72 seconds to Shapiro’s 22.77.

“On the curve, he’s undefeated,” Clark said of Shapiro. “Trust me, if it was just the turn, a 55-meter turn, he’d beat me (every) time.”

Clark said Shapiro’s win and competitive presence fired him up. “In the 200, where you need both speed and endurance, I’m not sure if I could have done it if it was anybody else. But in my brain, I just wanted to beat him so bad in the 200 because of what happened in the 55. Having that friendly camaraderie, there’s nothing that can beat that.”

Both of the team competitions came down to the final events and finished with four-point wins for the Bangor girls and Scarborough boys.

Bangor needed at least a second place in the 800 relay and got the win to overcome defending champion Scarborough, scoring 78 points to Scarborough’s 74. Bangor was led by three first-place finishes from Sofia Chase, who took the long jump, 400 and 200. In the two track events, Chase was seeded second. She nipped Gorham’s Ashley Connolly, the 55-dash winner, by a hundredth of a second in the 200.

“When you ask a kid to get 30 points, it’s almost unfair,” said Bangor coach Alan Mosca. “But that’s what I asked Sofia Chase to do and she did it. She met the challenge.”

Scarborough’s girls team was led by Isabella Harmon, who won the pole vault (10-0) and high jump (5-6) and placed fourth in the 55 hurdles, and junior Laurel Driscoll, who won the mile and finished second in the 2-mile.

The girls mile run produced a thrilling finish. For most of the first seven laps, Cheverus’ Paige Alexander held a slight lead on Portland senior Samantha Moore. Driscoll was a few yards behind the entire race, seemingly not in contention for the win. But over the final lap, Driscoll went for broke, caught Moore on the final turn and won by a half-second, crossing the line in 5:04.01 with a joyful smile that had a hint of shock.

“Moore is definitely a force to be reckoned with, so I was really surprised that that happened,” said Driscoll, who believed she caught the leaders by surprise, “Which is always a fun thing to do.”

Scarborough edged Lewiston for the boys title, 72-68.

Scarborough built its lead in large part thanks to its deep distance crew. Ethan Keller won the mile and finished fourth in the 2-mile; Atticus Merriam was second in the mile and third in the 2-mile; Baxter Merriam and Landen Springer were third and fourth in the 800; and the 3,200 relay team was second. Wyatt Martin impressed with a victory in the pole vault, easily clearing the bar at 15 feet. A year earlier, Martin tore his ACL in the hurdles prelims.

“Coming in seeded first and performing as expected for my team feels great,” Martin said.

Josia Katroli (high jump), Ryker Paradis (shot put) and Cameron Harris (400 meters) were individual winners for Lewiston. Katroli was dealing with an injury and wasn’t sure about competing in the high jump.

“I kind of didn’t want to do it because I’m injured, and my coach encouraged me to do my best and I got first,” Katroli said.

Katroli was clean through 6 feet, 8 inches, which proved to be the difference over South Portland’s Tyler Bryant, who also cleared 6-8 after two misses at 6-6. Both attempted to set a meet record at 6-10. Katroli was close on his second attempt.

The only meet record came in the final event, as South Portland’s Arnaud Sioho blew past his 1-year-old mark of 46-10 3/4 inches with a winning triple jump of 48-6 1/4, nearly five feet further than second-place Fernando Kele of Lewiston. Sioho also won the long jump.

Windham’s Tayla Pelletier was also a double-winner, taking the girls 55 hurdles and triple jump.