WINDHAM – This wasn’t the run-of-the-mill outdoor track and field state championship meet. There weren’t any clear-cut favorites from the start, and no one team emerged as a guaranteed front-runner as the meet ran its course.
But in the same fashion of many title meets, both the boys’ and girls’ competitions at the Class A championships went down to the wire.
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The Bonny Eagle boys and girls needed points in the final events of the day to sweep the titles Saturday at Windham High.
“It speaks to how well the track teams are run at our school,” Bonny Eagle sprinter Joey Collins said of the sweep.
“It’s just awesome to have both teams win, my senior year. We won it in my sophomore year, but this just means a lot more, to win it my senior year.”
Trailing Edward Little by two points (90-88) in the boys’ competition prior to the 1,600 relay, Bonny Eagle needed at least a fifth-place finish and Edward Little to finish no better than sixth to win its second Class A title in three years. Edward Little did not place, and the Scots finished third in the final heat, behind defending state champion Sanford and South Portland, to win the team title with 94 points.
“Edward Little had a great day,” Collins said. “It was really surprising, going into that last event, knowing we had to score some points to actually win the meet.
“We only needed three points … and we got six.
“But it seems to always come down to the 4-by-4 (relay).”
Behind Peyton Dostie’s record-setting performance in the 300 hurdles (44.67 seconds), the Scots won the school’s first Class A girls’ title with 82 points, ahead of Scarborough (78) and Edward Little (50) in the 27-team field. Bonny Eagle’s second-place finish in the 1,600 relay ensured the Scots of the state title.
“All of the hard work has paid off, finally,” Dostie said. “I wanted to come back this year and try to do something, that was my goal.
“I had the whole state title in my head, and I wanted our team to win, so I’m trying to do my share in helping them do that.”
Dostie set one of five Class A records Saturday. In addition to winning the 100 dash, Scarborough’s Nicole Kirk set a record of 25.49 in the 200 and ran a leg of the Red Storm’s record-setting 400 relay, teaming with Emilia Scheemaker, Andrea Tolman and Morgan Rodway in 49.65.
“Everyone did a great job really coming through,” said Scheemaker, who won the triple jump and finished fourth in the long jump. “We needed .2 seconds off the best time on each leg to break the record.”
Biddeford’s Maria Curit set a record of 18 feet, 13/4 inches in the long jump, hitting the state-best mark on her first attempt of the day.
“I worked really hard in long jump this year, so it feels like it really paid off,” said Curit, who also won the 400.
Keila Grigware, Curit’s teammate, set a record of 131-10 in the javelin.
“I hadn’t been thinking too much about the record,” said Grigware, who finished third in the shot put and fifth in the discus. “But I knew that this season, so far, I hadn’t hit my full potential and I was kind of building slowly. But this week I cleared my head of everything and came in with the mind-set that I wanted to throw what I haven’t thrown yet this season.”
Kennebunk’s Abbey Leonardi won the 1,600 and 3,200. Her two-mile time of 10:42.63 was .31 seconds off her state-record set in 2010.
Cheverus’ Jack Terwilliger won all three boys’ distance events — the 800, 1,600 and 3,200. Terwilliger had what he described as ideal conditions for the 800 and the mile at the start of the day, but had to run through the wind in the 3,200, one of the last events.
“I got boxed in a little bit at the start, and then I was going to try to go for the record,” Terwilliger said. “Then at the mile I realized I was going to die, and it was not possible. I just wanted to see if I could do it, but then I just wanted to see if I could finish in front of the next guy.”
Staff Writer Rachel Lenzi can be reached at 791-6415 or at:
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