BRUNSWICK — With the conference championship meets just a week away, Friday night’s Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference indoor track meet was the last chance for runners, jumpers and throwers to make their mark — both literally and figuratively.
The Lewiston boys did just that, finishing their regular season undefeated by edging out Brunswick, 152-141. EL was third with 113 points.
The EL girls tried to accomplish the same feat, but were beaten out by Mt. Ararat, 130.33 to 97.33. Lewiston was third, with 84.33 points.
Lewiston coach Paul Soracco said he was surprised by his boys’ team’s undefeated season. Friday night’s win might have been the most shocking, as both the Blue Devils and Red Eddies had gone three weeks without participating in a meet.
“I think they did a great job today. Probably the most (personal records) that we’ve had the whole season,” Soracco said. “I thought we’d be a little rusty having three weeks off, and not competing you don’t know what the mental state is of them, but I thought they did a super job.”
The Blue Devils boys graduated a few top scorers from last year’s team. So did the Red Eddies girls, who won the Class A state championship last year.
“Coming into this season, we were looking at the team and going, ‘You know, this is going to be a bit more difficult than it was last year,'” EL coach Ryan Getchell said.
Getchell was also pleased with how his team performed coming off a long break.
“It was difficult to come into this meet with having that three-week gap,” Getchell said. “But the kids all came into this meet in the right mindset. They all really were looking forward to competing today, and they understood the importance of this meet and how it’s kind of setting us up for KVACs and states the next few weeks.”
The EL boys’ team set itself up for the championships by setting a season-best in the 800-meter relay, with a winning time of 1:36.02.
“We were looking probably sub-1:36,” relay anchor Russell Allen said. “We had good hand-offs, we’ve been practicing that a lot. It’s all coming together slowly.”
Allen also set a season best in the 800-meter run.
Standing out for the Blue Devils on the girls’ side was Jenny Martin, who won the 55-meter hurdles, 400-meter dash and 200-meter dash.
“I feel good about it, but I’m definitely going to need a little bit more practice for technique,” said Martin, who called her 400 performance “iffy,” but felt really good about the hurdles.
The Lewiston boys were lifted by a handful of runner-up finishes. Abdi Abukar won the 400 dash, and teammate Ethan Solis was second. The Blue Devils also had the next four places behind Allen in the 800. Ben Musese won the triple jump with a season-best leap.
The Mt. Ararat girls got a boost from Katherine Leckbee’s dual wins in the 1- and 2-mile runs, as well as a 1-2-3 finish in the 80. The Eagles also won the 800-meter relay.
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
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