Nick Bolduc, from Cony, Dawson Stevens and John Bowen, from Oxford Hills and Aaron Emerson race the 100 meter dash at Edward Little High School on Thursday afternoon. Stevens won the race.
AUBURN — The Oxford Hills boys opened with a dominating 4×800-meter relay performance and never looked back at Wednesday’s five-school track and field meet at Edward Little High School.
The Edward Little girls defended their home field and track by winning all three jumps and two relays and outscoring Oxford Hills, Mt. Blue, Mt. Ararat and Cony.
Riley Gates, Zane Dustin, Dominic Sclafani and Cameron Bancroft finished the 4×800 in 8 minutes, 55.48 seconds, more than 49 seconds ahead of second-place Mt. Ararat in the first boys event of the meet.
“We were all pretty consistent,” Bancroft said. “This relay has been doing pretty well throughout the entire season.
“We didn’t think we’d beat the (Mt. Ararat) A team by that much, actually. That was a little bit of a surprise.”
Soon after that, Dawson Stevens took over, playing a part in four first-place finishes for Oxford Hills. The junior won the javelin (163 feet, 6 inches) and then edged teammate John Bowen in the 100 (11.84 seconds to 11.92).
“It’s very competitive between me and Dawson,” Bowen said. “He got me this time, so good for him.”
“It’s great,” Bowen added. “Dawson’s really competitive, so I think he’s pushing me to be more like that. Now that we’re going back and forth, I think we’re really pushing each other. So it’s really helping out both of us.”
The two Vikings faced off again in the 200. Stevens took first (23.88 seconds) and Bowen was fourth (24.21).
Stevens and Bowen then teamed up to help the Vikings win the 4×100 relay, joining Jacob Striegel and William Eshleman to record a time of 46.04 seconds.
Oxford Hills had four more first-place showings: Zane won the 400 (52.68 seconds), Sclafani the 3,200 (10:37.11), Silas Gordon the long jump (19-02.25) and Jason Paradis tied Edward Little’s Caden Begos for first in the shot put (37-04).
The Oxford Hills boys racked up 142 points to win the meet. Cony was second with 86, Edward Little third with 79, followed by Mt. Ararat with 62 and Mt. Blue with 20.
Red Eddies junior Alex Thompson rose above a competitive field to win the boys’ pole vault with a personal record 12-06.
“That was something else,” Thompson said. “I’ve never had that experience.”
Four vaulters cleared 10-06. Thompson and Cony’s Nick Bolduc cleared 11, but that’s where Thompson separated himself and set his sights on a new PR, which he achieved on his third attempt.
“It’s a great day for him,” Edward Little assistant coach Jaclyn Masters said. “Things are starting to come together, he’s getting on bigger poles, and I think soon he’ll be able to clear 13.”
EL’s Curtis Ouellette (102-07) out-threw Oxford Hills’ Adaryan Ray (100-02) to win the shot put, and Jackson Connor (110 hurdles in 17.94 seconds) and Max Giard (1,600 racewalk in 9:31.98) also claimed wins for the Eddies.
The Edward Little girls finished with 129 points to beat out Mt. Ararat (113.5), Mt. Blue (53), Oxford Hills (51.50) and Cony (49).
Lauren Berube, Grace Fontaine and Hannah Roy each took part in two wins for the EL girls.
Berube placed first in the long jump (14-09.5) and the pole vault (8-06), winning both events by about six inches.
Fontaine won the 300 hurdles with a time of 51.98 seconds.
Fontaine also teamed with Roy, Margot Chirayath and Victoria Beliveau to win the 4×400 relay (4:40.24).
Roy also ran a leg of the first-place 4×100 relay along with Kalonda Benedicte, Sarah Charest and Julia Berube. The quartet finished with combined time of 55.36 seconds.
Also for EL, Kaylie Vallee took first in the triple jump (31-05), and Olivia Jalbert tied for first with Mt. Ararat’s Sara York in the high jump (4-06).
In the closest race of the meet, Mt. Blue’s Isabelle Thomas edged Fontaine in the 100 hurdles by one-hundredth of a second 17.29 seconds to 17.30.
Mt. Blue’s other win was by Kahryn Cullenberg (1:06.43) in the 400-meter dash.
The Oxford Hills girls dominated the three throwing events. Maighread Laliberte took first in the shot put (34-01) and discus (103-06), and Erin Childs did likewise in the javelin with a distance of 99-09.
Grace Fontaine and Isabelle Thomas are neck and neck leaping over the final hurdle in the girls hurdle competition at Edward Little High School on Thursday afternoon. Thomas won the race by 1/100th of a second.Dominic Sclafani hands off the baton to Cam Bancroft, from Oxford Hills, in the 4×800 relay at Edward Little High School on Thursday afternoon.
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