LEWISTON — The practice sessions for the high jump have been few and far between during the first few weeks of outdoor track season.
Attempts had been so limited that Lewiston’s Jazy Dumas had meager expectations for Friday’s season-opening meet at Lewiston High School.
“I was expecting to jump about 4-foot-8,” said Dumas, a sophomore. “I didn’t expect to do my best, and I wasn’t expecting to do horrible.”
Instead of landing somewhere in between that spectrum, Dumas was one of two school record-setters from Lewiston on Friday. Dumas set a new mark in the high jump, while fellow sophomore Kayla Allen broke her own school record in the racewalk.
“Two school records for that girls — that’s fantastic,” Lewiston coach Paul Soracco said. “On the first day out, that’s phenomenal.”
Lewiston swept the three-team meet. The girls’ team finished with 109 points, while the Lewiston boys’ won with 116. Oxford Hills had a nice showing, taking second in both, edging out Brunswick. The Vikings finished with 48 in the girls’ meet with Brunswick at 38. The Oxford Hills boys’ took second with 40 points, beating out Brunswick’s 35.
“I was really impressed with both the boys’ and girls’ teams,” Soracco said. “We kind of outnumbered everybody. I’m kind of anxious to see what everybody threw and the time of the kids to see where we really stand.”
With the spring season only a few weeks old, Dumas wasn’t sure what to expect in the high jump. She was just hoping to give it her best effort and see what happens.
“We hadn’t done much jumping in practice,” Dumas said. “We jumped a few times. I wasn’t really jumping at five feet. To clear that and get the school record was really awesome.”
Dumas finished with a height of 5-1. Teammate Taylor Chamberlain was second at 4-8.
“It felt really great,” Dumas said. “Last year, I didn’t go as far as I wanted to. I really wanted to clear five feet this year. In the first meet, especially at home, was icing on the cake. So I’m really happy and really proud.”
It has already qualified her for the state meet in June and has literally risen the bar on what she might accomplish this season. Dumas also finished second in the triple jump and third in the long jump.
“I want to go higher and I want to keep getting better,” Dumas said. “I’ve now qualified for states. So I’m really excited for that. Hopefully, I can place there. “
Allen had already had opportunity to practice her craft and felt like breaking her own mark was within reach, even on the first day.
“I thought I had a good shot at it, and I’m really excited that I did. It’s nice knowing that I can still PR,” she said.
Allen finished first in 7:29.66. That’s just slightly better than her record of 7:29.77 set last year when she was breaking her mark almost every time out. One goal she has is the state record of 7:19.77.
“I definitely think it will beg a challenge that I have to work at more and more,” Allen said. “I think it’s plausible to be able to do it. I hope I can.”
Allen has been working hard to prepare for this season. Her 1,600 racewalk was relatively easy compared to some other races she’s been doing.
“I had been doing longer ones,” Allen said. “I just recently did a 10k this past weekend, and I’ve been doing some 5k’s and 3k’s. So I thought I’d be able to get something today.”
Allen also won the 3,200, finishing in 13:43.77. Teammates Nicole Footer and Hamido Hassan followed in second and third.
Other top performers for the Lewiston girls’ included a pair of wins from Heather Kendall, Jennifer Martin and Adela Kalilwa. Kendall won the 100 and 200. Martin won both hurdle events, while Kalilwa took the long jump and triple jump. Chamberlain added a win in the 400.
The Lewiston boys got a pair of wins from Hassan Mohamed in the 100 and 200. Corey Martin won both hurdle evens. Lucas Rushton won the discus and javelin. Isaiah Harris won the 400 and was second in the 200. Also getting wins for the Blue Devils were Abbas Muktar (800), Aden Mohamed (1600), Osman Doorow (3200), Preston Ouellet (high jump), Stefan Porter (triple jump) and Julian Smedley (shot put).
“We’re off to a good start,” said Soracco, whose teams compete at a meet in South Portland next Wednesday. “It’s just the first meet. We can’t get too excited. It’s just a progression. We want to keep improving every week until the KVACs and the states.”
The Oxford Hills girls had a number of winning performances. Julia Dillon won the javelin and added second-place finishes in the pole vault and 300 hurdles. Miranda Murphy won the pole vault, while Mairead Laliberte won the shot.
On the boys’ team, Malik Geiger won the pole vault and took second in the shot.
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