BAR HARBOR — Lexi Brent, a senior from York High School, crossed the finish line after completing only the second 300-meter hurdles race of her life.
She turned and embraced runner-up Charlotte Williamson, another York senior, and within moments expanded the group hug to include classmate Olive Gaetano. By placing 1-2-6, the trio of Wildcats all but secured the Class B outdoor track and field state championship Saturday afternoon at Mt. Desert Island High School.
“We’ve been really hungry for a win,” said Brent, who also went 1-2 with Williamson in the 100 hurdles and anchored two winning relays. “Every single state meet, it seems like we’re second or third and the boys win. It’s been hard to watch.”
Saturday turned out to be a banner day for the Wildcats, who swept both girls and boys state titles for the first time in school history. Both teams had been runner-up a year ago. In indoor track this winter, York’s girls finished second while the Wildcat boys won a state title.
“We have a really great group of seniors, so it’s very special to help them get this,” said York sophomore Cary Drake, who won the 1,600 and 3,200, placed third in the 800 and ran on the Wildcats’ winning 4-by-800 relay. “I’m happy I was able to contribute in my painful amount of events.”
The York boys outdistanced runner-up Leavitt by a lopsided margin, 97-57. Freeport took third at 47.5 followed by Greely of Cumberland (43), Yarmouth (40), MDI (39) and Old Town (36).
Leavitt was led by Robert Oliver’s victory in the javelin, runner-up finishes by Stephen Pierre (110 hurdles) and Logan Ouellette (1,6oo) and third-place showings by Pierre (300 hurdles) and Jack Boutaugh (shot put). Boutaugh also placed fourth in the discus.
Also for the Hornets, Jonathan Schomaker competed in the wheelchair competitions in the 800 and 1,600 runs and the shot put and discus, winning each event. His top throw of 34 feet, 7 inches in the discus was a new personal best.
Schomaker and Brent, who is headed to Providence College to run track, were the only two athletes to leave MDI with four gold medals.
The Poland boys finished ninth and Gray-New Gloucester placed 17th. The Knights got a win in the 110 hurdles from Nolan Garey, who also was second in the 300 hurdles. Seb Leighton led the Patriots with a second-place showing in the shot put.
Among the 24 schools competing in the girls meet, York finished with 113 points to 70 for runner-up Cape Elizabeth. Host MDI was third at 57 followed by Old Town (50), Cony of Augusta (46) and Gardiner (39).
At practice on Friday, York Coach Ted Hutch told his teams the seedings showed them 20 points behind. This was not true, and Hutch knew his athletes could go online and see the seedings themselves, but still.
“Scramble for every point you can,” he said. “Get us some cushion. Help us out. Just warm up for every event and work hard. Good things will follow.”
Brent’s winning times in the hurdles were 15.30 seconds in the 100 and 47.23 in the 300. She came from behind in the backstretch of the final lap of the 4-by-400 relay, giving York a one-second victory over Cape Elizabeth in 4:13.64.
“I am so happy,” Brent said. “I’m probably going to cry.”
“We had 11 girls and 19 boys who all scored points,” said Hutch. “So it was a definitely a shared experience.”
Junior Matt Charpentier led the York boys with a pair of individual victories in the shot put and discus. His final toss in the shot sailed 59 feet, one inch — landing three quarters of an inch shy of the meet’s 43-year-old standard set by Jim Dawson of Lawrence. Nobody else threw within 10 feet of Charpentier, whose 162-11 discus toss won by more than 30 feet.
In his two attempts prior to the winning shot put heave, Charpentier had fouled (the heavy ball slipped from his grasp while he rotated) and restarted after not liking his initial whirl.
“On the first one, I chalked up my neck too much,” he said. “So I wiped that off, then told myself to slow down, isolate my form, and my form will take me to that next level.”
The Wildcats also received individual victories from Christian Burke in the pole vault (12 feet, 9 inches) and Hunter Pruett in the 800 (2:02.07).
Leavitt’s girls placed 13th and Gray-New Gloucester 15th. Emma Couturier finished second for Leavitt in the long jump, while Molly Sirois was third in the race walk. Lorenza Piper had a pair of third-place finishes (discus, shot put) for the Patriots.
Miles Burr, a sophomore from Mt. Desert Island, set the day’s only meet record by winning his 100-meter dash preliminary race in 10.95 seconds. He won the final in 11.03 and later added the 200 title in 22.41.
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