BRUNSWICK — Cody Whitcomb wasn’t satisfied with his times, but the Gardiner Area High School senior certainly enjoyed his victories Saturday.

Whitcomb won the 800-meter run and the mile at the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B track and field championships at Bowdoin College.

“Overall, I’m really happy,” he said. “I look forward to the state championships. I was a little disappointed in my mile time, but I’m happy with the victory.”

So, too, was Cony junior Lindsey Folsom, who won the pole vault by clearing 11 feet.

“I’m happy with it,” she said. “I’ve wanted to go 11-6 all season, but I’ll take it.”

Waterville swept the KVAC B meet in dominating fashion.

The Waterville girls scored 192 points to easily win the KVAC B title. Winslow finished second with 91. The Waterville boys, meanwhile, scored 141 points to beat Erskine, which finished second with 79.

The Brunswick girls and Edward Little boys won KVAC A titles.

“We have a lot of veteran kids but we left a few points unaccounted for out there,” Waterville coach Ian Wilson said “If we want to win state championships, we’ll have to be better.”

The Waterville girls won nine events. Bethanie Brown (800-meter run, 1 mile), Georgia Bolduc (200, pole vault) and Olivia Thurston (400, 55 hurdles) led the way with victories in two events.

“Our goal was to get 211 points,” Thurston said. “No Waterville team had done that. We just had to keep it in perspective.”

While Waterville cruised to team titles, there were an abundance of impressive performances that highlighted the day.

Cony senior Luke Deng won the 55-meter spring in a terrific race with Mt. Ararat’s McKenzie Gary. Dang finished in 6.75 seconds, edging Gary by one one-hundredths of a second.

“In the last couple of meters I pulled ahead,” Dang said. “It felt great.”

Whitcomb won the 800 in 2 minutes, 8.03 seconds and the mile in 4:51.12.

“I had a lot of energy left,” he said. “I think I had some separation in the (800), but I was still pushing it in the end.”

Indeed, Whitcomb won the 800 by three seconds over Morse senior Ben Wright.

Folsom, meanwhile, cleared 11-6 in the pole vault at the beginning of the season, but had been stuck on 10-6 recently. She cleared 11 feet on her last attempt Saturday.

“I was so nervous,” she said. “My hands were shaking. It was a relief, a good feeling.”

Messalonskee senior Harlow Ladd won the KVAC A mile and 2 mile. He would’ve won a third the event but he stumbled out of the gate in the 800 and ultimately finished second.

“I was so upset with my 800 that I wanted to make a statement in the two-mile race,” he said. “I had a bad start in the 800. The gun went off and I fell. But for what I am training for, I’m happy.”

Ladd won the mile in 4:26.31 and the two mile in 9:25.55.

Erskine junior Zac Lee won the 55 hurdles in 8.42.

But this day belonged to the Panthers.

While the boys did most of their damage in the field events, the Waterville girls cleaned up on the track.

Six of their nine first-place finishes came in track events.

Brown won both her distance events by at least six seconds, winning the 800 with a time of 2:17.33 and the mile 5:08.09.

“I wanted to go out easy and see how I felt in the mile,” Brown said. “But then I decided to push the pace. It seemed too slow.”

Brown won the mile by more than 22 seconds over Brittany Bowman of Camden.

Thurston was just as dominant.

She won the 400 in an impressive 59.74 seconds. She edged Parrilli in the 55 hurdles, winning with a time of 8.77. Parrilli finished in 8.83.

“Olivia is just awesome,” Wilson said. “She is just a veteran competitor.”

Burgess helped set the tone for his day by winning the long jump with a leap of 18 feet, 5.75 inches.

“I came into the day confident that I would warm up well, get the jump I wanted and get the job done,” he said. “It felt good.”

Bill Stewart — 621-5640

bstewart@centralmaine.com

Copy the Story Link