BATH – Who says winning is everything? Belfast’s second place in the girls’ Class B 4X400 relay proved to be the most important result of the meet.
The Lions’ relay team helped lock up the girls’ Class B KVAC Championship, narrowly edging Leavitt, 122-119, at the conference meet held at McMann Field Saturday.
Belfast walked away with both KVAC titles as the boys also beat out the Hornets but by a more comfortable margin of 229-125.
Maranacook finished fourth in both competitions.
In Class A, Mt. Blue claimed the girls’ crown with a solid win over Mt. Ararat, 152-101, and Waterville cruised past host Morse on the boys’ side, 133-85.
The suspense for the day was all packed into the Class B girls.
Entering the final event of the day, the 4X400 relay, three teams had a chance to win it all. Belfast held a five-point lead over Leavitt and Mt. View.
“It will be tough for us,” said Leavitt coach Tina Merserve before the final event. “Not only do we have to win, but Belfast has to finish no better than fourth.”
In the end it was Leavitt, Mt. View, and Belfast in that order, giving the Lions the win. Officially, Mt. View was disqualified and Belfast was moved into second place. It was all moot by that point.
“I’m glad they didn’t finish fourth and we thought we won, then have it taken away from us,” said Merserve. “We talked about that.”
“I told them I was proud of them,” said the coach. “They did what they had to do and that was win the race. They couldn’t control what happened behind them.”
While the final event of the day brought suspense, it wouldn’t have happened at all without the effort of Leavitt’s Nicole Rodrique.
Rodrigue overtook Belfast’s Rosie Hughes in the final 10 feet of the 3,200-meter event to give Leavitt the extra points. The Hornets clogged the medal stand with three runners in the event. Kira Beeckel was third and Martha Enos was sixth.
“I was not planning on passing any of them,” said Rodrigue. “I was so tired, but my parents are here and they aren’t at a lot of my meets so I decided to kick it in. With about half a lap left, I thought I had a chance for second but on the final straight the other girl didn’t look like she was going that fast.”
“She ran against Rosie in the mile and I told her that it didn’t look like Rosie was having a real good day,” said Merserve. “She really went after her.”
David Berry was the KVAC champion in the high and triple jump, and also finished fourth in the long jump. Kyle Libby and Josh Murphy took the top two spots in the boys’ 1,500-meter racewalk for Leavitt while Kyle Davis finished second in the 100 hurdles. Davis was also third in the 300 hurdles. Josh Randlett took the third place ribbon home for his effort in the 200 meters and Steve McCathy was third in the 1,600 and 3,200. Jared Doyon and Josh Libby placed second and fourth respectively in the 800.
Megan Dumais won the 800-meter race, with Allison Kenney and Taylor Leavitt close behind in third and fourth place. Jordan Beall was third in the 100. Desiree Dufault was second in the long jump and fifth in the triple jump.
Maranacook’s relay team in the boys’ 4X800 took top honors and Dan Stern claimed fifth place in the 200. Stephen Monsulick was second in the 1600 as well as the 3200.
Brittany Harrington won the high jump and triple jump competition for the Black Bears. Jordan Dunne was third in the girls’ racewalk. Lia Prysunka was first in the 100 and 300 hurdles.
Class A
Mt. Blue’s Shannon Yates was the meet’s only three-time winner helping to propel the Cougars to the girls’ Class A KVAC championship.
The junior took top honors in all three jumping events to give Mt. Blue a solid foundation.
“I had a pretty good day,” said Yates. “I fell a little short of setting new personal records for myself but I had three firsts. This is awesome though. We have worked so hard this season and its awesome. We struggled to get firsts last year and this year we’ve gotten a lot of them.”
Mt. Blue Kelly Cullenberg decided beforehand not to put any extra pressure on her crew.
“I didn’t tell them anything coming in in terms of expectations,” said Cullenberg. “I figured it out, and I did it as conservatively as possible, and I had a good feeling going in that all they had to do was what they were seeded and things would work out OK. It still is very nerve-wracking. We had a girl who is one of our best track runners get sick and have to withdraw and we had a guy who was in all three throwing events and he just didn’t show up. Looking at the distances, I know he would have done well.”
The Cougar girls won the 4X800 relay while Carly Lochala and Jessie Smith filled the top two spots in the racewalk. Mt. Blue owned the event as Aaron Whitten won the race on the boys’ side.
Heather Groder took home three ribbons with seconds in the 100 and 300 hurdles, and a third in the 200. Tess Perry finished second behind Yates in the long jump and triple jump and took home a fourth place in the 100. Emma Carlson was second in the shot put as well as third in the discus.
Jared Maher claimed the only event championship for Oxford Hills with a first-place finish in the boys’ triple jump. TC Cole was third in the girls’ shot put.
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