Getting disqualified from the 4×800 meter relay for the second consecutive week was more like a nagging cough.

One of the Blue Devils’ runners stepped off the Windham High School track multiple times, costing Lewiston a top finish and wasting a freakishly fast split time by junior Isaiah Harris.

Five events into the state showcase, Lewiston didn’t have a single point to its credit. That deficit was too much to overcome in a runner-up finish to the Stags by almost the exact margin — 99 points to 70 — as performance lists and seeds projected.

“We needed to have a perfect day, and then we needed to Cheverus to screw up in a place or two,” Lewiston coach T.J. Niles. “We did alright. We set some school records.”

Relay disqualifications were a recurring theme. In fact, one ultimately settled the girls’ meet.

An illegal baton pass wiped out Bonny Eagle’s apparent victory in the concluding 4×400 and made Thornton a 65-58 winner.

The boys’ title is Cheverus’ 10th, and first since 1998. Thornton won its only previous girls’ championships back-to-back in 2003 and 2o04.

Both Edward Little squads finished fifth, with the Lewiston girls sixth after being scored in the top three for most of the day.

As has become his custom, Harris, a junior who is drawing interest from Division I schools around the country, stole the show. Even with the DQ, he was responsible for 28 points.

First, he smashed his own state and personal records in the 800 meters, finishing in 1:52.96, more than nine seconds ahead of Scarborough’s Colin Jones.

“He’ll be fresh for New Englands. I think with competition he can break 1:50,” Niles said.

Then Harris had roughly 20 minutes of recovery time, or as long as it took to run five sections of the girls’ 200 and four lower-seeded boys’ 200s, before it was time to get into sprint mode.

“I have bad acceleration,” Harris said. “The first turn I’m always behind everybody, then slowly at the 100 I pick it up on the straightaway.”

Fourth with only the second straightaway remaining, Harris closed to second with 25 meters to go and then reeled in Cheverus’ Jake Dixon with an astonishing finishing kick.

Harris stuck out his chest. Dixon mirrored. Each hit the wire in 22.76 seconds. When it carried out to thousandths of a second, Harris was the winner.

“That was crazy. I had about 15 minutes break maybe, max. My legs surprisingly didn’t feel tight after the 800. My throat hurt, but my legs felt good. With all the fast people in that heat, it helped me,” Harris said. “I think of the 200 as all out. Anything I have left, it’s all out, right there. I knew I had a decent break before the 4×400.”

Even other coaches needed a minute to get their jaws back in place.

“That was amazing,” EL coach Ryan LaRoche said. “He didn’t just do that against a weak field. He beat Dixon who is for real, Hassan Mohamed who is for real, and my guy, Hunter Martin, who is very good.”

Mohamed was third for Lewiston in the 200. Martin crossed the line fourth.

There has no drama going into the 4×400 as far as the team championship was concerned, but Lewiston needed a solid finish to keep Scarborough at bay for second.

And did Harris ever provide it. He reduced Dixon’s five-second lead to about two strides before the Cheverus junior held his ground over the final 100 meters.

“My legs were way too tight,” Harris said. “The first 200 I was just going. I was hoping maybe he would slow down or something. Once I got to the last 100, I knew it was over. I still wanted to push it and get a good time, but I didn’t see any chance there.”

For fun and comparison’s sake, Harris’ split of 46.9 seconds would have shattered the state record in the individual 400 by more than a second-and-a-half.

Cheverus built its championship on Dixon’s win in the 400 and one-two finishes in the 110 and 300 hurdles by senior twins Isaac and Elijah Yeboah. The Yeboahs and Dixon also joined forces on the victorious 4×100 relay, and Nick White topped the discus.

Mohamed (11.36) edged Trey Rogers and Martin of EL in the 100 and was part of a runner-up finish in the 4×100. Osman Doorow was second to Jonathan Stanhope by five-hundredths of a second in the 1,600 and later ran fourth in the 3,200.

“It got off to a bad start, but we ended up second place, which is good enough for me,” Harris said. “That’s better than any Lewiston team in a while, so I’m proud of that. Even with the DQ, second is still good.”

Niles, who was coaching his final meet for Lewiston, still wonders what might have been.

The 4×800 wouldn’t have been enough to make up the difference, but it set a costly tone.

“He went off the track twice. He took three consecutive steps in two different spots,” Niles said. “And then afterwards he said, ‘There was no room,’ and I’m like, ‘use an elbow or something.’ You don’t just step off the track to gain an advantage. That’s illegal. That’s why you’re disqualified. It was really disappointing.”

Cole Butler of EL (javelin) and Nate Pratt-Holt of Mt. Blue (triple jump) each went home with an individual state championship. Both are sophomores, although one is coming and one is going.

Butler was an out-of-nowhere story for the Eddies. His KVAC-winning throw was 10 feet beyond shis previous best, and he topped that by six feet with a distance of 170 feet, 7 inches Saturday.

Only pro basketball player Troy Barnies has thrown a javelin farther for EL in the modern era.

“I haven’t done track since sixth grade. I think it was baseball. I was a pitcher for baseball,” Butler said. “I got coached by my teammate Brandon Henry, because he was the No. 1 thrower for EL. He’s a great kid. My throwing coach, Dan Pontbriand, he’s a great man, too. He’s given me the audacity to keep striving for it and keep going for it. And Coach LaRoche, he’s a constant inspiration. It doesn’t matter what event you do.”

Henry placed seventh for the Eddies.

This was Butler’s lone state meet for EL. He has been accepted at Maine School of Science and Mathematics in Limestone.

Pratt-Holt transferred from Spruce Mountain this season. The Cougars have a force to be reckoned with, going forward. His winning triple jump of 44-9 was only 20 inches off the state record.

“It was my third jump before the finals,” Pratt-Holt said. “I was seeded third behind two kids from South Portland. I didn’t know what to expect.”

The Lewiston girls’ all-underclass team 4×100 relay team of freshmen Jenny Martin and Isha Kasai, sophomore Adela Kalilwa and junior Heather Kendall edged Cheverus by four-hundredths with a school-record time of 50.52.

“We were hoping for good handoffs, and we got it each way,” Martin said.

Freshman Kayla Allen (7:41.83) captured the race walk for Lewiston.

Martin was runner-up in 300 hurdles. Kendall claimed third in the 100 and fourth in the 200.

EL won the 4×400 going away in 4:08.87. Kailey Norcross, Katie Ferrara, Olivia Paione and Anna Beaudet prevailed by more than seven seconds.

Thornton took home the team title on the strength of a top-four sweep in long jump. Tori Daigle won the event. Kaeleigh Harrison added a shot put victory for the Trojans.

Audrey Weyand (200, 400) and Kialeigh Marston (800, 1,600) dominated the running events for Bonny Eagle. Weyand’s win by four-hundredths in the 200 denied Synclaire Tasker of Brewer a 40-point day. Tasker swept the hurdles and won the triple jump.

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