Lewiston’s Chrispin Kamundala hits the sand in the long jump competition at the Class A state outdoor track and field championships at McMann Field in Bath on Saturday. (John Ewing/Portland Press Herald)
BATH — Oxford Hills swept the javelin for the second year in a row at the Class A state track and field championships Saturday.
Dawson Stevens won the boys’ javelin with a throw of 173 feet. After winning the girls’ title in a bit of a surprise in 2017, Jadah Adams outdid herself by setting a new state record. She threw 135-07, more than 3 feet farther than the record set in 2011.
“I won last year and it was unexpected,” Adams said. “This year it was a completely different story. I won KVACs and broke the school record … I knew what the record was, but I did not expect to break it.”
Cheverus won the girls’ team championship easily. The boys’ team finish was much closer — in fact, it was a close as can be, as Thornton Academy and Falmouth ended up sharing the title.
Edward Little’s boys’ team had a strong day that started off with Matt Syphers winning the race walk. Syphers finished second but after the judges convened it was determined that the leader, South Portland’s Jacob Costin, was disqualified. Lewiston’s Nicholas Roy placed second in the racewalk.
Fabrice Mpoyo, the Red Eddies’ top sprinter, finished third in the 100-meter dash and fourth in the 200. Also, Russell Allen bounced back from a disappointing seventh-place finish in the 400 with a silver in the 800 from the middle heat.
The Cheverus girls were led by their sprinters, as freshman Victoria Bossong won the 100 and the 400, while Emma Gallant won the 200 and was runner-up in the 400.
“We went one-two in the 400 and that has kind of been our thing,” Cheverus coach Steve Virgilio said. “We have kind of built this team around sprinting and they did awesome.”
Edward Little also has promising sprinters for the future, as both freshmen Lindy Hyndman and Ella Boucher placed in multiple events, including Boucher taking third in the 300 hurdles.
“I tried to run my events the best I could and put my best foot forward,” Boucher said. “It is a surprise. I wasn’t seeded as high so I was very excited with my results.”
The girls’ team had a state champion also with Lauren Berube winning the pole vault with a top-vault of 10-6.
“My goal was to beat the school record,” Berube said. “But my other goal was to win states and it’s still really nice. I have another opportunity at New Englands.”
Lewiston had a pair of second-place showings in the girls’ throw events. Sophomore Laila Bunnitt was the runner-up in the discus, and sophomore Benedict Citenga was second in the shot put. Noor Shidad was third in the boys’ 400.
Heading into the 4×400-meter relay to end the Class A outdoor championships, the girls’ team title had already been secured by Cheverus, its second title in a row. With a 25-point lead, the Stags couldn’t be caught by second place.
On the boys’ side, however, no one was able to celebrate as four teams were within striking distance of Thornton Academy, who was up five over Scarborough after 18 events.
In the second of three heats of the relay, Cheverus ran 3:36 by themselves, placing squarely in the middle of the podium. In the fast heat, it was Falmouth and Thornton squaring off to take home the title. Falmouth led after two handoffs with Bonny Eagle, but Bonny Eagle scraped together a win over Falmouth by .09 seconds. Thornton finished in fifth in the heat, which forced everyone to do mental math, and quick. Falmouth and Thornton coaches were telling their runners they had won, and with Cheverus’ time being third overall it meant both Falmouth and Thornton shared the title.
“Landon Heidrich passed a guy on the last straightaway of the 4×400,” Thornton coach George Mendros said. “Without him we don’t win, so that was huge.”
Falmouth coach Danny Paul was on edge the entire relay.
“That was absolutely frightening,” Falmouth coach Danny Paul said. “I had been through this in similar circumstances, it’s my 40th year coaching … but never as a smaller A (school), and it was a really special thing.”
Falmouth put itself in position to win through with its distance runners. John Auer finished in second in the 1,600-meter run and third in the 800, while Conner Piers was fourth in the 3,200.
Thornton’s path to victory went through Jason Montano, who won the discus and shot put, and Travis Snyder, who won the pole vault and the 300- and 110-meter hurdles.
Some other notable finishers on the boys’ side of things were Lisandro Berry-Garcia of Mt. Ararat, who won the distance double with victories in the 1,600 and 3,200. Berry-Garcia was pushed for most of each race by Oxford Hills’ Dominic Sclafani, who fell off the pace on the last lap of each race, finishing in fifth and third, respectively.
Matt Syphers wins the racewalk state championship for Edward Little at the Class A state track and field meet on Saturday. (Adam Robinson/Sun Journal)Lauren Berube of Edward Little vaults over 10 feet, 6 inches during the Class A state track and field meet at Morse High School. Berube won the state championship in the event. (Adam Robinson/Sun Journal)Nyagoa Bayak of Westbrook sets a new state high jump record with a height of 5 feet, 11 inches at the Class A state track and field meet Saturday. (Adam Robinson/Sun Journal)Jon Knight triple jumps for Edward Little at the Class A state track and field meet Saturday. (Adam Robinson/Sun Journal)Oxford Hills’ Dominic Sclafani battles Mt. Ararat’s Lisandro Berry-Garcia in the 3,200-meter run at the Class A track and field state championships Saturday. (Adam Robinson/Sun Journal)Alex Thompson of Edward Little comes out of the block to start the 4×100-meter relay at the Class A state track and field meet Saturday. (Adam Robinson/Sun Journal)
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