SACO — Many people may think of track and field as an individual sport, and for the most part, they’re right.

But at the Class A indoor track and field state championships back on Feb. 18, Thornton Academy senior Charlotte Pierce showed it can be a team sport as well.

Pierce easily could have entered just the one- and two-mile races at the meet, two events she had dominated all season and won easily at the SMAA championships two weeks earlier.

But for the good of the Golden Trojans, who knew they would be in a tight race all the way with Bangor and Bonny Eagle, Pierce also entered into the 800-meter run to maximize the points for her team.

Pierce won the mile by nearly 10 seconds and then finished a strong fourth in the 800, but ran out of gas in the final lap of the two-mile and finished second, just .74 of a second behind winner Kiera Murray of Cheverus ”“ running in her only race of the day.

Instead of scoring just the 20 points if she’d won both the one- and two-mile, Pierce’s first-, second- and fourth-place finishes earned Thornton 22 points and nearly put the Trojans over the top for the team championship, which Bangor ended up winning by just half a point.

For her sacrifice for the team, in addition to her numerous achievements on the track that included finishing eighth in the one-mile at the New England championships last Saturday with a personal best time of 5:05.90, Pierce has been named the Journal Tribune Girls Indoor Track and Field Athlete of the Year.

“Charlotte I think would have preferred just to do the mile and two-mile,” said Thornton coach Lisa Huntress, “but we knew that the two teams that were going to be there with us were going to be strong. I had to put her in the three events.

“It’s not a question of could she do it, it’s a question of whether mentally she could prepare herself to do it, and I have to say that Charlotte was tired, but I thought she went out and did an outstanding job.”

A tri-captain on a team with just two seniors, a good deal of the leadership responsibilities also fell on Pierce’s shoulders, something that Huntress knew would be an added burden for the distance runner. But as her gutsy performance at the state meet proved, Pierce was more than up to the challenge.

“Personally I think Charlotte grew a lot both as an individual and as an athlete this season,” Huntress said. “You look at leaders in all different shapes and sizes, and in her case, I think her strength is in doing.

“Charlotte leads by example, I think that was her strongest attribute to our team. She’s just such a hard worker and she’s dedicated, and I think that speaks a lot in itself.”

Pierce will continue running next fall when she attends Columbia University in New York City, where she’ll be on both the cross country and track teams.

First, though, she’ll get a little practice running in the city this Saturday when she runs the mile in the New Balance indoor national championships at the Armory in Manhattan.

“To have a plan back in November and see it play out up to this point has been pretty fun just to watch,” Huntress said. “We’re always so proud, and it’s fun to know that somebody’s out there and their roots are out here, back in Saco.”

— Contact Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar at 282-1535, Ext. 323.