LISBON – If you think there’s self-inflicted pressure in belonging to a track and field team that has swept its conference championship eight years running (and jumping, and throwing), you should hear all the post-graduate chatter.

“The alumni is really putting pressure on, just about the legacy of Lisbon track,” senior Delanie Ouellette said.

“We will not be the senior class that lets down Lisbon High School,” Brandon Laurelez declared.

There was a drive for five, followed by rousing six-cess. Seven was heaven. Eight was great.

Nine would be fine, but after the 2013 season — Lisbon’s boys had to beat Hall-Dale in the concluding 4×400 relay to hang on in the Mountain Valley Conference meet at Cony High School — there’s nary a whiff of presumptuous air in the Greyhounds’ camp.

“Just because we have the success doesn’t mean we don’t work hard. We don’t come in every year thinking just because we won MVCs that we’re going to run over everyone,” said Jordon Torres, who ran the anchor leg of the relay that preserved the streak. “We think there’s going to be close competition always. I think that’s why we’ve been so good, because we don’t underestimate teams.”

With that in mind, Torres and longtime track and football teammate Quincy Thompson spent the late winter and early spring combing the hallway.

Their goal: Make sure that nobody in the league, or maybe even the state in Class C, can match the Greyhounds’ numbers. It appears to have worked, with more than 40 boys out for the team. That’s a marked increase from past seasons.

“A lot of this season was about recruiting, getting more throwers in and more jumpers,” Thompson said. “We expect nothing less than an MVC championship. Our bar is set there and definitely higher, if we put all the pieces together. Nothing is given, but we expect nothing less. That’s what we know, and we’ll work hard to get it.”

Even dynasties have transcendent years and closer-to-the-pack years.

This season might be the latter for the Lisbon girls, whose numbers are steady but younger than usual. Two sophomores — sprinter Bree Sautter and distance runner Adrianna White — represent most of the Greyhounds’ returning points from the 2013 state meet.

“Our senior class, we don’t want to be the class that loses the streak, so that’s a lot of pressure,” Paige Galligan said.

“We have a lot depth,” classmate Shantal MacWhinnie noted. “Even though we have a small girls’ team, we have a lot of depth for what we do have.”

The boys agree that they’re bigger and stronger than the team that eluded the scare from Hall-Dale before finishing fourth out of 46 teams at the state meet.

Senior Cam Ramich is trying to deflect the pressure by focusing on the experience and team camaraderie.

“Every year it gets stronger and more competitive. Personally, if we get it, that’s awesome, and if we don’t, we tried our best. I’m really looking for a team. I’m looking for kids look back on this and say, ‘I loved that year,’ the 2014 team,” Ramich said. “I want some of the underclassmen to look up to us seniors and think, ‘I want to be in a circle just like them.’ But definitely having that MVC title would be awesome.

Lisbon’s lone returning state champion is Tyler Bard in the race walk.

Bard went on to win his race at the 2013 New Balance Nationals. He’ll diversify his talents in javelin and pole vault.

“It’s just the same as after the first one. Every year, all eight years in a row, it starts over,” Bard said. “You’ve got to push harder and harder every year. Last year was close. We pulled it off in the end, and it was great. It’s harder to stay on top than it is to get there.”

Edward Little enjoyed a similar stranglehold on the KVAC championship meet until May 2013, when Lawrence snapped the EL girls’ run at six. The Red Eddies won the boys’ competition for the 10th consecutive year.

To put Lisbon’s streak into real-world perspective, the most recent year any other school won an MVC crown, the current seniors were in third grade.

“They always want to beat us. A lot of the pressure is already on us, because people look at us to stay up at that level,” Torres said. “I want to represent my team well, so I’m going to work hard every day to try to keep that reputation.”

Copy the Story Link