The lead changed hands between Edward Little and Bonny Eagle throughout the afternoon at the University of Southern Maine, with the Scots holding on to a precarious two-point advantage going into the final relay.
Any hopes of EL winning the indoor championship rested on a victory in the relay. Both relays teams were top-ranked and evenly matched going into the event.
Seniors Kailey Norcross, Beaudet, Katie Ferrara and Morgan Knowlton took turns at the wheel and bolted around track to a first-place finish with a time of 1:48.60. The Scots, whose team consisted of Sabria Merrifeld, Kanani Lopes, Elisabeth Redwood and Samantha Richard, finished second in 1:51.63.
The meet ended with Edward Little scoring 52 points, followed by Bonny Eagle at 50. Lewiston and Sanford were tied at 20 points apiece for 10th place.
“We have worked together since were sophomores,” Beaudet said. “And it is nice to put it all together. It turned out to be great. Feels nice. I think we deserve it after all the hard work this season.”
Beaudet took second in the 55-meter dash, with a time of 7.41, to Skowhegan’s Maddy Price in a neck-and-neck finish.
But that was ancient history to the smiling Beaudet.
EL coach Dan Pontbriand was a nervous wreck when it all came down to the relay.
“Well, It always come down to the relay,” Pontbriand said. “It is nerve-wracking. Our girls really stepped up today. It is a huge improvement from the KVACs to now. They are having a great day.”
“It is certainly a huge plus and we are excited for these athletes. The girls are on cloud nine.”
The Red Eddies won only one event — the relay — but they inched up the leader board with second- and third-place finishes in other events.
Beaudet (26.79) took third in the 200 dash, Knowlton (36-11.0) placed third and broke her own school record in the shot put, and sophomore Lauren Berube (19-06.00) ended up in third place in the pole vault.
“(Berube) did pretty well, I’d say,” EL coach Ryan Getchell said. “With the meet that it is, we ask a lot of kids to step up and try to do as well or go beyond because it is a big meet. I think Lauren had a pretty good day so far.
Ferrara surprised the field in the 55-meter hurdles, placing second with a time 8.90. She went out for track for the first time this year, in her senior year.
“I started sports overall my sophomore year,” Ferrara said. “I always wanted to do it in middle school, but I never did it. (Girls’ varsity soccer) coach (Craig) Latuscha, I had him as a teacher. He told me, ‘Oh, you are lazy, you need to something.
“He got me into soccer, and after soccer they were like, ‘Oh Katie, you’re fast. You should do track.'”
Norcross, who placed fifth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:01.97, set a new school record in that event.
“It feels amazing. I have been envisioning this all week,” Norcross said. “I had run only a 1:03 and I went 1:01, which is like a dream. That’s never happened to me before.”
Lewiston’s Adela Kalilwa finished third in the long jump 16-10.25 and took fourth in in the triple jump at 33-07.00.
“I injured my leg Thursday, kind of twisted my knee at Bates,” Kalilwa said. “That was my biggest fear coming here today because I knew I wasn’t going to do any better.”
In the girls’ high jump, all eyes were upon Westbrook’s nationally-ranked freshman Nyagoa Bayak, who set a state meet record in that event with a jump of 5-07.00. She will be competing at nationals next month. Later that evening, Bayak played in a girls’ basketball playoff game.
“She’s just naturally gifted, you know what I mean, They don’t come around often, Westbrook assistant coach Andy Lefebvre said. “The more incredible thing is she plays two sports.
“So we split time with her, and we don’t get her all that much. She’s a very good kid. Her smile says it all.”
In the boys’ meet, Lewiston had a much better day, finishing in third place with 33 points. Scarborough was the front-runner with 74 points, followed by Falmouth at 45.
A disappointed Osman Doorow finished fourth at 3:32.64 in the mile run and third in the 800-meter run at 2:02.18. Abdi Shariff-Hassan took second at 51.14 in the 400.
“My first one, it was kind of fast, then I saw these guys behind me. I thought I was by myself,” Doorow said. “When I looked back, I saw these guys behind me…I couldn’t even go. I was really tired.”
“He’s run better times, but it just hasn’t been a good day for us, believe it or not,” Lewiston coach Paul Soracco said. “You never know week to week. That’s why they run the races. He’s a great kid. Just a tough day today.”
Stefan Porter highlighted the Blue Devils’ day with a victory in the triple jump with a lunge of 42-07.5
Nathan Pratt-Holt, Mt. Blue’s only representative, took third in the long jump with a flying leap of 19-11.25. The Cougars don’t have indoor track team so he trains with Messalonskee.
“I would have liked to win. I will take it,” Pratt-Holt said. “I was happy with (performance). It was solid.”
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