DOVER-FOXCROFT, Maine — The Class B boys outdoor track and field state championship came down to the final event Saturday — and even then nothing was decided.
When Mount Desert Island edged York by 4.09 seconds in the 4×400-meter relay race that concluded the title meet at Oakes Field on the campus of Foxcroft Academy, the two schools emerged as co-champions.
Each finished with 86 points as Brewer (66), Hermon (39), Lincoln Academy of Newcastle (32) and Belfast (28) followed in the 28-school field.
“The virtual meets said we were going to place either fourth or fifth,” MDI senior Croix Albee, who finished second in the shot put, discus and javelin, said. “We all wanted to place high, we all wanted to place first, but I think a lot of us had a little doubt.
“Just coming here and winning when we thought we were going to finish fourth or fifth is just unbelievable.”
Greely of Cumberland Center captured its second straight girls Class B state title, amassing 67 points to edge York (57) and Belfast (55).
MDI led Brewer by eight points and York by 12 entering the late stages of the boys meet before York freshman Aidan Martin scored a stunning victory in the javelin, topping his previous personal best by 11 feet to capture first place with a final throw of 159 feet, 11 inches.
“I just listened to my coaches, and they were telling me to relax and it worked,” said Martin. “The throw felt good, and once it was in the air I heard my coaches yelling and I knew it was going to go far.”
A subsequent second-place finish in the 300 hurdles by York teammate Zach Westman in the triple jump gave the Wildcats a 78-76 lead over MDI with just the 4×400 relay remaining.
Coach Aaron Long’s Trojans stayed ahead of York throughout the final event, with seniors Billy Kerley and Jose Chumbe combining to keep MDI second behind Belfast entering classmate Owen Mild’s third leg.
Mild took the lead midway through his leg, then handed off to senior Griffin Maristany, who pulled away to the meet-equalizing victory in a combined time of 3:32.19.
“I told my teammates that if you give it to me with the lead that’s how it’s going to stay,” said Maristany. “Once I saw Owen come down the back stretch I knew it was over. I just had to stay in my lane and run my race and do what I knew I could do.”
Maristany and Mild also were part of MDI’s first-place 4×100 relay team, with Maristany adding another victory in the 200 (23.12).
Westman joined Martin as an event winner for York in the 300 hurdles (40.24).
Yarmouth senior Luke Laverdiere was the meet’s dominant performer, winning the 1600 by nearly 12 seconds in 4:23.09 and the 3200 by a half-minute in 9:45.49.
John Bapst of Bangor’s Ben Cotton was the only other boys’ double-event champion, winning the 100 dash (11.28) and the long jump (20-9 3/4).
Brewer flexed its muscles in the field events, with Jacob McCluskey capturing the discus (147-10) and Garrett Graham winning the shot put (54-4 3/4).
Other champions were Enrico Echevarria of Mt. Blue in the 1600 race walk (7:52), Tahj Garvey of Yarmouth in the 400 (49.71), Travis Nickerson of Cony of Augusta in the 800 (2:01.84), Zachary Beaton of Hermon in the 110 hurdles (15.17), Connor McGuire of Gardiner in the high jump (6-2), Jack Hansen of Belfast in the pole vault (13-3), Jake Warn of Winslow in the triple jump (44-2 1/2) and Cony’s 4 x 800 relay team (8:29.64).
“We didn’t think it was going to end like this but we knew we were going to try our hardest,” Maristany said. “Going to practice every day has been such a delight, it’s a great group of guys who want to go out and grind every day and that’s what we did today. It was everyone getting a point here and a point there, that’s how we did it.”
Greely continued its recent dominance of Class B girls track, adding a second straight outdoor state title to back-to-back indoor crowns in 2017 and 2018.
“We talked yesterday about doing it for each other, doing it for the community and just all day we were screaming for each other, chasing each other around and supporting each other just because we were so united. This is so crazy,” said Greely senior Elizabeth Brown, who scored her team’s lone individual event victory in the high jump (5-0).
Greely’s endurance in the distance races also paid off, as Carolyn Todd and Marin Provencher finished 2-3 behind Freeport’s Lilly Horne in the 1600 and 3200 for 28 Greely points in those events.
“Distance has always done us really well in terms of accumulating points,” Brown said. “They’re always a really strong group and they showed up today.”
York scored its lone victory in the meet’s opening event, winning the 4×800 relay in 10:00.77, while Junne Robertson-McIntire’s victory in the 200 (26.67) and a win in the 1600 relay (4:07.49) propelled Belfast to its third-place effort.
Cony (45.2), Old Town (45) and Brewer (44.7) were next in the tightly bunched field.
Gabby Low won the javelin (111-11) to pace Cony, while Olivia Damboise won the pole vault (10-0) and triple jump (34-11) for Old Town and Brewer was led by second-place finishes from Hannah Hopkins (100), Sophia Inman (high jump), Kaitlyn Helfen (pole vault) and Ashley Tanguay (javelin).
Horne won the 1,600 in 5:13.28 and the 3,200 in 11:17.84, and along with Damboise were among four double-event winners in the girls meet as Darcy Cochran of Cape Elizabeth captured the 100 hurdles (14.94) and 300 hurdles (45.97) while Waterville’s Sarah Cox swept the shot put (41-5¾) and discus (118-9).
Other champions were Nicole Daigle of Leavitt of Turner Center in the 100 dash (12.56), Lincoln Academy of Newcastle’s Tahlia Mullen in the 400 (59.28), Kaylee Parker of China’s Erskine Academy in the 800 (2:20.70), Julia Hatch of Mt. Blue of Farmington in the 1600 race walk (8:57.21), Payton Goodwin of Lawrence of Fairfield in the long jump (16-5) and MDI’s 4×100 relay team (51.43).
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