BATH — The product was as good as advertised.

Those words are too seldom said these days, but Saturday at McMann Field the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference girls outdoor track championship lived up to its top billing in Class A.

With four events to go, three teams were separated by less than one point. Edward Little High School ultimately survived the back-and-forth affair to claim the title with 109 points. Brunswick and Lawrence followed with 106 and 87.70 points, respectively.

“As far as today was concerned, I came in with no expectations as far as placement, just because it’s one of those things I just don’t do,” Lawrence coach Tim Alberts said. “I hoped for the best obviously and we had some really good performances.”

Leading the way on that front was Alexis Chamberlain, who won the long jump (15-feet, 10-inches) and placed second in the 200. Kiana Letourneau was second in the 400 and third in the 800, while Abby Weigang had the same finishes in the 100 and 300 hurdles, respectively. Crystal Crowell and Sydney Emery each picked up seconds in the shot put and discus, respectively.

Individually, it was a big day for Messalonskee’s Amanda Knight. The Eagle soared to wins in the 200 (26.69) and 400 (59.83), as well as a fifth in the 100. Overall, not a bad showing for someone who has been nursing a right hamstring injury since indoor.

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“It was in the middle of one my races in indoor state championships,” Knight said of when the injury first started. “It wasn’t too bad in the middle of the season but now it’s starting to come back a little bit.”

Knight’s teammates, Taylor Lenentine and Kaitlin Eschenbrenner, notched wins in the pole vault (10-0) and javelin (114-10), respectively, to help Messalonskee to a fourth-place finish with 76.40 points.

Skowhegan’s Madeline Price and Jaycee Cushman turned in an impressive one-two performance in the 100 as well.

On the boys side, Mt. Blue’s growing program snatched third place with 76 points, coming in behind Lewiston (163) and Edward Little (88).

“Extremely happy,” Mt. Blue coach Kelly Cullenberg said. “The boys this year, it’s been such an amazing season.”

The Cougars may have even had a shot at taking second had it not been for an unfortunate accident in the 4×100 relay.

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“The guys were looking great, we were seeded third,” Cullenberg said. “We had a guy that was gaining on Lewiston in the third leg and I’ve never seen anything like this before. His new Aasics totally blew out on him.

“When I say blew out, I mean this hole thing ripped up and all of a sudden he had no support and he fell and hurt his hamstring and didn’t finish the race.”

Nate Pratt-Holt scored Mt. Blue’s lone win in the triple jump (42-5 1/2), while the Cougars got a series of second place finishes from Josh Horne (1600 and 3200), Colin Richards (discus) and race walk (Steven Minns).

Skowhegan’s Jacob Coombs flashed some consistency, matching his seed time to win the 110 hurdles.

“I haven’t been consistent at all this season,” Coombs said. “Last week I was able to pop 17.26, so I had no idea of the outcome of tonight at all. I went in, I did my best. I didn’t stride out, I didn’t lose my speed until the last two hurdles so I felt overall I did a lot better.

“… Now I’m consistent at least.”

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In the Class B meet — which Waterville swept for the ninth straight season — Maine Central Institute rode a strong day in the throws to a fourth-place finish with 77.50 points.

Curtis McLeod and Eric Hathaway went one-two in the shot put and two-three in the discus, and Hathaway also notched third in the javelin. Katie Hughes took second in the shot put and discus on the girls side.

“We have an awesome group of throwers,” McLeod said. “Eric did awesome today, he threw 141 in disc which is really good. He just broke his own school record. Today I threw 130 in disc, which is a 15-foot PR.”

In the girls meet, Bethany Winkin led the way as Winslow took fourth place with 61 points.

“I think we did exceptionally well,” Winslow coach Ken Nadeau said. “We probably could have done a little bit better in the jumps but our distance girls have done really well with coach (Chris) Bertolaccini at the helm. She does a phenomenal job with them.”

Winkin teamed with Madison Morneault, Sarah Wildes and Jessica Greeley to win the 4×800 relay (10:36.14) by 17 seconds, while individually she won the 800. Teammate Audrey Jones took first in the race walk (8:27.43), while Autumn Poulin notched second in the javelin (106-2).

Erskine’s Jade Canak held onto her title in the long jump (16-1/4), took second in the triple jump (34-10) and teamed with Jordan Jowett, Abby Haskell and Christina Belanger to win the 4×100 (52.68).

Evan Crawley — 621-5640ecrawley@mainetoday.comTwitter: Evan_Crawley


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