History repeated itself at the Class A state championship meet on Saturday. Just like they were one week earlier at the SMAA championships, Thornton Academy and Bonny Eagle’s boys track teams were separated by one point heading into the final event of the meet at Windham High School.

The results of the race were the same as the SMAA meet, with the Scots finishing ahead of Thornton in the 1,600-meter relay. But, unlike the previous week, the Trojans held onto their one-point edge to win their first state championship since 1990. Thornton finished with 79 points and Bonny Eagle finished with 78.

Brunswick was third with 60 points followed by Morse, Edward Little, Biddeford, Brewer, Bangor, Gorham, Scarborough, Cheverus, Windham, Lewiston, Noble, Mt. Ararat, Cony, Deering, South Portland, Mt. Blue, Lawrence, Marshwood, Portland, Messalonskee, Westbrook, Kennebunk, Oxford Hills, Massabesic, Sanford and Skowhegan.

“Last week I thought it would take 100 points and we scored more than 100 and got beat,” said Thornton coach George Mendros. “This week, I thought it would take at least 80 and we scored 79 points and won.”

It was apparent from the start that the meet would be close. But Thornton got two key wins from Andrew Lambert that made the difference in the end. In the SMAA meet last week, Bonny Eagle’s Jamie Ruginski won the 110-meter high hurdles and the 300-meter hurdles ahead of Lambert. This time, Lambert edged Ruginski in both races. First Lambert won the 110 meters by three one-hundredths of a second. Craig Milliard was third for Thornton and Tony Haeuser of South Portland was fourth.

“I get my nerves really built up before a race and I tend to be negative, and going in I knew Ruginski had a chance to beat me,” Lambert said of the 110. “But I couldn’t have asked for a better race. It wasn’t so much the fastest race-it was strategic. We were sharing elbows back and forth and trying to recover from a few stumbles. But after that, it set the tone for the rest of the day. I didn’t want to lose.”

Later in the day, the two faced off again in the 300-meter hurdles. Lambert trailed for the entire race until Ruginski ran into some trouble on the last few hurdles to allow Lambert to win. Biddeford’s Matt Martin was third.

“I honestly thought about letting him go in the last turn,” Lambert said of the race. “My foot speed isn’t as fast as his, it’s more my technique. Coming around the turn, I didn’t think I could get him but watching him in front of me, I could tell he was going to have trouble maintaining good steps in between. He was kind of hopping so I thought if I could keep my stride, I could catch him. At the last hurdle, I knew my stride was perfect and he hopped over it, it was an awesome feeling.”

Those two races made for a difference of just four points, but in a close meet those points were very important. Lambert was also third in the high jump and Mendros credits a bit of strategy for that strong performance.

“After running the 300 hurdles, we had (Lambert) pass at 5-10 in the high jump and we had him come in and jump at six feet…for extra rest,” Mendros said. “He ended up setting a personal record at 6-4 and he might not have made 5-10 if he jumped right away.”

Lambert’s finish in the high jump gave the Trojans a seven-point edge with two races left. But the Scots were right on their heels. Bonny Eagle’s Noah Schoneberg ran the race of his life in the 3,200 meters to erase Lambert’s high jump points. Schoneberg hung back a bit at the beginning of the race, but as the laps went by and other runners began to tire, he made his move. Schoneberg finished third to set up the finish.

Windham’s Patrick Ciez was the runner up in the high jump behind Noble’s Anthony Stanton, who set a new state record with a jump of 6-10.25. Scarborough’s Alex Dulac was fourth. Eric O’Connor was second in the pole vault for Windham clearing the bar at 13-6.

The Trojans and Scots ran in separate heats in the 1,600-meter relay. Thornton ran first and Lambert, Dylan Moulton, Steve Roberge and Derek Gaudreau turned in a time of 3:38.06. The Scots knew they needed to run as hard as they could and at least do better than 3:38.06.

Joey Collins ran the first leg and there was a miscue on the pass to Murphy Doughty. But Nate Doehler and Mao Ye made up for some of that lost time, and the Scots finished in 3:37.82. In the final heat, a few more teams posted faster times and bumped the Scots to eighth in the final rundown, one position out of the points.

Dan Smith also picked up some big points for Thornton in the discus and shot put. Smith won the discus with a throw of 162-6. Justin Gagne and Eddie Murphy, both of Biddeford, were second and third. Smith won the shot out with a throw of 56-3. Murphy was the runner up. August Ibekilo was third in the 100-meter dash. He was fourth in the 200 meters.

Ruginski won the long jump for the Scots with a jump of 21-4 1/4. Milliard was third and Doehler fourth. Ruginski also won the triple jump with a top jump of 43-1 1/4. Doehler was the runner up in the javelin behind Biddeford’s Justin Tarbox-Toussaint.

The Scots took third in the 4×800 meter relay. Collins, Doughty, Schoneberg and Tim Belanger turned in a time of 8:17.60. Matt Bolton was second for Bonny Eagle in the race walk, just ahead of Gorham’s Lucas Seiferth.

Scarborough’s Sam Chick was the winner in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:00.04. His teammate Nate Hathaway was third in the 1600 meter run with a time of 4:22.34.

Gorham’s team of Andrew Arena, Chris Esposito, Cam Stevens and Brandon Patten finished second in the 400-meter relay with a time of 45.29 seconds, just missing out on the title. Stevens later took second in the 400 meters.

The championship was the first for Thornton since Mendros took over the program. He was quick to credit former and longtime coach Paul Mondor for the success of this year’s team.

“Paul Mondor used to be the head coach,” Mendros said. “When he took over in the 70’s, the team was really down and he brought it back up. He retired and came back this year and worked with Lambert in the high jump. Paul has been a big part of the program for the last 30 years and I think he had as much to do with this as anyone.”

History repeated itself at the Class A state championship meet on Saturday. Just like they were one week earlier at the SMAA championships, Thornton Academy and Bonny Eagle’s boys track teams were separated by one point heading into the final event of the meet at Windham High School.

The results of the race were the same as the SMAA meet, with the Scots finishing ahead of Thornton in the 1,600-meter relay. But, unlike the previous week, the Trojans held onto their one-point edge to win their first state championship since 1990. Thornton finished with 79 points and Bonny Eagle finished with 78.

Brunswick was third with 60 points followed by Morse, Edward Little, Biddeford, Brewer, Bangor, Gorham, Scarborough, Cheverus, Windham, Lewiston, Noble, Mt. Ararat, Cony, Deering, South Portland, Mt. Blue, Lawrence, Marshwood, Portland, Messalonskee, Westbrook, Kennebunk, Oxford Hills, Massabesic, Sanford and Skowhegan.

“Last week I thought it would take 100 points and we scored more than 100 and got beat,” said Thornton coach George Mendros. “This week, I thought it would take at least 80 and we scored 79 points and won.”

It was apparent from the start that the meet would be close. But Thornton got two key wins from Andrew Lambert that made the difference in the end. In the SMAA meet last week, Bonny Eagle’s Jamie Ruginski won the 110-meter high hurdles and the 300-meter hurdles ahead of Lambert. This time, Lambert edged Ruginski in both races. First Lambert won the 110 meters by three one-hundredths of a second. Craig Milliard was third for Thornton and Tony Haeuser of South Portland was fourth.

“I get my nerves really built up before a race and I tend to be negative, and going in I knew Ruginski had a chance to beat me,” Lambert said of the 110. “But I couldn’t have asked for a better race. It wasn’t so much the fastest race-it was strategic. We were sharing elbows back and forth and trying to recover from a few stumbles. But after that, it set the tone for the rest of the day. I didn’t want to lose.”

Later in the day, the two faced off again in the 300-meter hurdles. Lambert trailed for the entire race until Ruginski ran into some trouble on the last few hurdles to allow Lambert to win. Biddeford’s Matt Martin was third.

“I honestly thought about letting him go in the last turn,” Lambert said of the race. “My foot speed isn’t as fast as his, it’s more my technique. Coming around the turn, I didn’t think I could get him but watching him in front of me, I could tell he was going to have trouble maintaining good steps in between. He was kind of hopping so I thought if I could keep my stride, I could catch him. At the last hurdle, I knew my stride was perfect and he hopped over it, it was an awesome feeling.”

Those two races made for a difference of just four points, but in a close meet those points were very important. Lambert was also third in the high jump and Mendros credits a bit of strategy for that strong performance.

“After running the 300 hurdles, we had (Lambert) pass at 5-10 in the high jump and we had him come in and jump at six feet…for extra rest,” Mendros said. “He ended up setting a personal record at 6-4 and he might not have made 5-10 if he jumped right away.”

Lambert’s finish in the high jump gave the Trojans a seven-point edge with two races left. But the Scots were right on their heels. Bonny Eagle’s Noah Schoneberg ran the race of his life in the 3,200 meters to erase Lambert’s high jump points. Schoneberg hung back a bit at the beginning of the race, but as the laps went by and other runners began to tire, he made his move. Schoneberg finished third to set up the finish.

Windham’s Patrick Ciez was the runner up in the high jump behind Noble’s Anthony Stanton, who set a new state record with a jump of 6-10.25. Scarborough’s Alex Dulac was fourth. Eric O’Connor was second in the pole vault for Windham clearing the bar at 13-6.

The Trojans and Scots ran in separate heats in the 1,600-meter relay. Thornton ran first and Lambert, Dylan Moulton, Steve Roberge and Derek Gaudreau turned in a time of 3:38.06. The Scots knew they needed to run as hard as they could and at least do better than 3:38.06.

Joey Collins ran the first leg and there was a miscue on the pass to Murphy Doughty. But Nate Doehler and Mao Ye made up for some of that lost time, and the Scots finished in 3:37.82. In the final heat, a few more teams posted faster times and bumped the Scots to eighth in the final rundown, one position out of the points.

Dan Smith also picked up some big points for Thornton in the discus and shot put. Smith won the discus with a throw of 162-6. Justin Gagne and Eddie Murphy, both of Biddeford, were second and third. Smith won the shot out with a throw of 56-3. Murphy was the runner up. August Ibekilo was third in the 100-meter dash. He was fourth in the 200 meters.

Ruginski won the long jump for the Scots with a jump of 21-4 1/4. Milliard was third and Doehler fourth. Ruginski also won the triple jump with a top jump of 43-1 1/4. Doehler was the runner up in the javelin behind Biddeford’s Justin Tarbox-Toussaint.

The Scots took third in the 4×800 meter relay. Collins, Doughty, Schoneberg and Tim Belanger turned in a time of 8:17.60. Matt Bolton was second for Bonny Eagle in the race walk, just ahead of Gorham’s Lucas Seiferth.

Scarborough’s Sam Chick was the winner in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:00.04. His teammate Nate Hathaway was third in the 1600 meter run with a time of 4:22.34.

Gorham’s team of Andrew Arena, Chris Esposito, Cam Stevens and Brandon Patten finished second in the 400-meter relay with a time of 45.29 seconds, just missing out on the title. Stevens later took second in the 400 meters.

The championship was the first for Thornton since Mendros took over the program. He was quick to credit former and longtime coach Paul Mondor for the success of this year’s team.

“Paul Mondor used to be the head coach,” Mendros said. “When he took over in the 70’s, the team was really down and he brought it back up. He retired and came back this year and worked with Lambert in the high jump. Paul has been a big part of the program for the last 30 years and I think he had as much to do with this as anyone.”