LISBON — Adrian Blake entered his final Mountain Valley Conference South track and field championship meet seeded first in two of his four events, so his goal to start the day was to one-up it.
Mission accomplished, and then some.
Blake was seeded third in the 100-meter dash but overtook the top two seeds and finished with a time of 12.39 seconds and a gold medal around his neck.
Blake went on to win the pole vault, tying his personal record of 9 feet, 6 inches, and then help Lisbon/Oak Hill to a win in the 4×100-meter relay (48.41).
“Once I won my third, I figured why not get the fourth,” Blake said.
The fourth event, the 200-meter dash, may have been the most difficult because Blake stumbled out of the blocks when the starting gun went off. The senior composed himself and finished in 25.52 seconds, enough for his fourth gold of the day.
The Lisbon/Oak Hill boys team produced strong performances across the board and won the meet with a point total of 209. Mountain Valley was second with 101 points, and Buckfield was third with 91. Dirigo (80) finished in fourth place, followed by Wiscasset (63), Spruce Mountain (34) and Telstar (nine).
The Lisbon/Oak Hill girls team also took first with a total of 291 points, followed by Mountain Valley (82.5). Dirigo (52) edged Telstar (50) and Wiscasset (48) for third place, followed by Buckfield (29) and Spruce Mountain (25.5).
In the distance events, Lisbon’s Hunter Burkhardt reigned supreme with wins in the 1,600-meter run (4:58.01), 800-meter run (2:03.80) and as the anchor leg of a come-from-behind 4×400-meter relay win (3:55.83). His big day earned him the boys athlete of the meet award.
In the 1,600, Burkhardt planned on saving himself for the 800, his favorite event, so he stayed on the shoulder of the leader throughout. Once the leader kicked with 150 meters remaining, Burkhardt went all out for the final stretch to earn the win.
He saved enough for the 800, and after running a 2:01 earlier in the year, Burkhardt had high hopes. However, the conditions at Lisbon High School on Thursday made things difficult.
“I don’t think it was the time in between, but the heat. The heat was not kind to me,” Burkhardt said.
To finish the track events, Lisbon cranked out an impressive 4×400 win.
“I was a little scared, at first, when I saw how big of a lead Buckfield had,” Burkhardt said. “Once we started catching them a little bit I knew I had to go as hard as I could.”
Burkhardt ran a split of about 55 seconds, he said, which is two seconds off his PR of 53, to take the win for Lisbon/Oak Hill.
MOORE SUCCESS
Lisbon/Oak Hill’s Sarah Moore was a cut above the rest on the girls side. Moore won the long jump with a distance of 16-7.5; the high jump, with a 5-02, which ties the MVC record; the 100 (13.41) and was the runner-up finish in the triple jump (33-05.5).
Moore was named the girls athlete of the meet.
“So much excitement,” Moore said of preparing for her 5-02 high jump attempt. “It was a big relief to finally hit 5-2, and I just — thanks to the coaches, I couldn’t have done it without them.”
Moore also had her best jump ever in the long jump and leaped up a spot in the rankings to take home the win. Her nerves were highest prior to the 100.
“I was super nervous,” Moore said. “I didn’t know what my competition was, so I ran my fastest and I was super excited.”
Dirigo’s Chase Nelson was a big contributor to the Dirigo boys team, with a win in the shot put (39-02). Nelson said it was a personal record by 4 feet.
“To be honest, I went into it looking to have fun,” Nelson said. “When I let go (of the winning throw) I just knew it was going to soar.”
Spencer Jaques earned another win for the Cougars, taking the boys 1,600 race walk with a time of 9:04.51. Lisbon/Oak Hill’s Amelia Mooney won the girls race walk, finishing in 9:27.24.
Buckfield’s Elijah Chasse finished first in the triple jump with a top leap of 39-07.5. He also took third in the 100.
Telstar’s Nyla Scott earned three victories, taking first in the girls 1,600 (5:44.71), the 800 (2:41.83) and the 3,200-meter run (12:56.82). With less time in between races due to the small number of competitors in each, Scott had to focus on each event as it came.
“First of all, I knew that the second-seeded people were far behind me in all three events,” Scott said. “I knew I was going to be running my own race, so I trained for that. I really wanted PRs, mostly in the mile, but I ended up getting PRs in all three.
“I tried to pretend I wasn’t tired and it worked.”
Lisbon’s Emmett Mooney, competing in his first conference championship meet, put together a list of finishes that made him seem like a seasoned vet.
The freshman said he was experiencing some nervousness, but no more than anyone else.
“I’d say at the beginning of the meet I showed up and didn’t know what the competition was like,” Mooney said. “Nerves are something all athletes have to overcome. I just wanted to do my best, wanted to PR, and that’s what’s important to me. And, of course, everyone wanted to take first.”
Mooney took first in the 110-meter hurdles with a personal record of 17.99 seconds, was runner-up finish in the long jump (19-01.5) and then earned another convincing win in the 300-meter hurdles (44.11). He later added a fourth-place finish in the triple jump.
Mountain Valley’s Robert Leveillee took first in the boys long jump with a mark of 19-05, while teammate Riley Bedard was third (19-01.5). Bedard (5-06) and Leveillee (5-06) placed first and second, respectively, in the high jump. Bedard also came in second in the 100-meter dash (12.48 seconds).
Lisbon/Oak Hill’s Sarah Haggerty finished first in the 4×400-meter relay (4:53.60), the discus throw (79-06), the javelin (86-01) and was runner-up in the shot put (23-05.75) to Dirigo’s Megan Fletcher (27-08.25).
Fletcher also placed second in the javelin (80-01) and discus (65-07).
Kiana Goldberg broke the Lisbon High School school record in the 100-meter hurdles with a blistering time of 16.36 seconds, and also won the 300-meter hurdles in 50.50 seconds. Teammate Gabby Chessie won the 200 (27.26) and the triple jump (34-03). Chessie and Goldberg were both on Lisbon/Oak Hill’s champion 4×100-meter team (52.59).
The runner-up Mountain Valley girls were led by the second-place finishes of Brooke Buotte (1:11.23) in the 400 and Kara Jasud (2:59.18) in the 800.
The Buckfield girls had third-place finishes by Maya Austin (400), Olivia Buzwell (800) and Kylie Carrier (javelin).
Spruce Mountain’s highest finish was Nate Tibbets’s second-place showing in the boys 110 hurdles. He also was fourth in the 100-meter dash. Caleb Parlin was third in the high jump, fourth in the long jump and sixth in both the 100 and the discus. Ava Moffett placed third in the girls 1,600 run.
Wiscasset had a pair of individual second-place finishes, Bryan Gagnon in the 200 (25.98 seconds) and Connor Robertson in the 400 (57.70). Josie Harrington earned three third-place showings for the Wolverines: the girls 100-meter dash, 100 hurdles and high jump.
Whyatt Lilly earned all nine of the Telstar boys’ points, taking third in the 800 and fifth in the 3,200.
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