TOPSHAM

The wet conditions at Saturday’s Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Track and Field Championships may have not been ideal, but that didn’t stop hundreds of athletes from showing off their skills with their peers from around the conference.

After hosting meets for 45 years, the meet marked the last to be held at the current track at Mt. Ararat High School, as the track will be dismantled as the new high school begins construction.

Both the Edward Little boys and girls teams claimed the top spot in Class A. Following the 178 points the girls from Edward Little scored, were Messalonskee’s 125.50, Mt. Ararat’s 98 and Oxford Hills’ 69. Lewiston (62), Skowhegan (54.5) and Brunswick (44) rounded out the scoring.

On the boys side, after EL’s 177 points, Lewiston tallied 137, Mt. Ararat scored 83, just ahead of Brunswick’s 82, and Skowhegan followed with 77. Oxford Hills (41) and Messalonskee (33) finished the top seven.

While a lot of athletes put up individual bests, collectively, Mt. Ararat was able to score the points for third-place finishes.

“The kids that were here were phenomenal,” said Mt. Ararat co-coach Stu Palmer. “We didn’t score as high as we would have liked, but we were without a few kids this week. I think we would have scored more points if we had them. We may have jumped to second, but we would not have caught EL in either the boys or girls.”

As has been the case all spring, the runners on the girls team provided most of the points. The first event of the day went to the 4 x 800-meter relay team. The team of Karli Leighton, Anna Harbo, Josie Miller and Camile Ciembroniewicz beat the field with a time of 10:17.36. The 4 x 400 team of Sara York, Katie Lynch, Sadie Skinner and Ciembroniewicz scored valuable points, finishing second (4:23.26) behind the team from Messalonskee.

Individually, Ciembroniewicz finished second in the 1,600 (5:36.52) and third in the 800 (2:29.17). York also came in second in the 400 (1:04.58), while Lynch finished a close second behind EL’s Ella Boucher (48.90) in the 300 hurdles with a time of 49.05. Fay O’Donnell (1:05.64) joined York in the 400, placing third for the Eagles.

Scoring for the Eagles in the field events, Emily Smith finished fourth in the pole vault, while Cassandra Kane (second) and York (fourth) placed in the high jump.

Despite the steady rain, Kane’s jump of 4-10 tied her personal best.

“The mat was very wet, when you landed you got wet,” said Kane when asked if the wet conditions affected her jump. “I tied for my best, which I just jumped this past week. I’m looking to do better.”

Brunswick’s Maddie Wayne was tops in the 800 (2:27.40), while Isabella Pols finished fourth in the 1,600 (5:38.25), Anna Kousky third in the long jump (14-08), and senior Anna Rider third in the pole vault (8-06) for the Dragons.

It was Rider’s best jump in the pole vault, a personal record.

“It’s exciting it happened today, being my senior year and all,” Rider said. “It was a PR, but I think I can do better. I am looking forward to states next week.”

The Class A State Championships will be held at McMann Field Complex in Bath this upcoming Saturday.

Rosalie White finished fifth and sixth in the shot put (29-04.25) and discus (82-00) for the Dragons.

Boys

The Mt. Ararat boys also had a successful day.

Lisandro Berry-Gaviria swept the three events he ran on Saturday. He won the 800 (2:03.12) and 3,200 (9:44.02) in convincingly fashion, but in the 1,600 (4:27.44) he had to put it into another gear down the final stretch, staving off Dominic Sclafani of Oxford Hills (4:27.86).

“I thought I might have left him behind, so I looked back to check on him and he was coming up,” said the three-time winner on the day. “So I had push a little there at the end to hold him off. It was my second best time of the spring and looking forward in doing better next week.”

“Very committed kid, he’s very driven and does exactly what he’s told to do,” Palmer said of the runner. “He warms up right, warms down and gets ready for the next race.”

Joining Berry-Gaviria on the podium in the 3,200 were teammates Andrew Chamberland (fifth, 10:29.20) and Jace Hollenbach (sixth, 10:41.97).

Tyler Bernier (51.74) placed first in the 400, while teammate Jason Holiday placed fourth in the 100 (11.67) and sixth in the 200 (23.84). Caden Pond took second in the shot put with a throw of 38-10 for the Eagles.

The 4 x 800 relay team, consisting of Devin Hoskins, Chamberland, Hollenbach and Nate Cohen, placed third (8:57.43).

“We’re going to take a number of kids to the states, but more importantly, it’s for these kids and what they can accomplish,” Palmer said.

Finishing one point behind third place Mt. Ararat, Brunswick had its share of standouts. Sam Cenescar finished in first place in the high jump, with an outdoor PR of 6-04.

“There was a lot of competition that I wasn’t used to,” Cenescar said, referring to some of the other schools he doesn’t compete against often, including EL’s Connor Jackson. “I knew I’d be competing with him. I wanted it a little higher, but I’ll take it and on to states next week.”

“He had a great day all-around today,” said Brunswick coach Dave DeLois. “He’s been working hard for this.”

The 4 x 800 relay team of Daniel Lyons, Tyler Patterson, Cameron Ashby and Andrew Chingos ran to a second-place finish behind Lewiston with a time of 8:35.98. And the 4 x 400 team of Mitchell Leinert, Jack Harvey, Donald Bromley and Hunter Parker came in third (3:44.28).

William Shaughnessy placed third in the 1,600 (4:39.99) and 3,200 (10:14.97) while finishing fourth in the 800 (2:07.09). Parker sprinted to a third-place ribbon with a time of 52.45 in the 400, while Owen Richardson’s shot put throw of 38-09 was good enough for third place.

Class B

On the Class B side of things, Morse took home some top finishes, as well as the Don Matheson Award, given to a boy and girl athlete in each class in the field events. The boys finished in 10th place and the girls in 14th.

Morse’s William Carrolton earned the Don Matheson Award in Class B. Carrolton won the shot put with a distance of 41-04.75 and came in second in the discus (126-11).

“It was pretty rainy,” said Carrolton of the conditions. “Today wasn’t my best, it’s kind of hard to throw the ball when it’s wet. I am looking forward to the state meet next week.”

Austin Baltazar placed third in the 100 (11.86) for the boys, while Emma Gould jumped to a second-place finish in the girls long jump with a distance of 31-11.50.

“I thought it was going to be a lot worse as we were looking at the weather forecast during the week,” Gould said, stating the rain didn’t really bother her any. “It’s not raining that bad. My footing felt good. It (the jump) wasn’t what I wanted, but it will get me ready for next week.”

Cony won the girls meet with 92 points, while the boys title went to Lincoln Academy with 91 points.

The Shipbuilders next compete in the State Class B Championships, slated for this Saturday at Foxcroft Academy.