BATH — Taylor Watson wanted to make an impact at the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B meet Saturday, and he wanted to bring some impressive seed times with him to the Class C state meet the following week.
The Maranacook Community High School senior did just that, winning the 110-meter hurdles and 300 hurdles against some tough competition at McMann Field.
Additional Photos
“I was hoping to get the times I did,” said Watson, who ran the 110 hurdles in 15.35 seconds and the 300 hurdles in 40.70. “I wanted to go to states with some fast times. Psychologically, it was big for me.”
Watson’s victories helped Maranacook finish fifth behind Belfast, Camden Hills, Medomak Valley and seven-time defending KVAC B champ Waterville.
Heavily favored Waterville swept the KVAC B meet for the seventh consecutive year, turning in one dominating performance after another.
The Waterville girls finished with 237.5 to crush the field. Winslow was second with 88.5. Belfast (50), Maine Central Institute (49.5) and Medomak (37) followed.
The Waterville boys finished with 137 points to easily get past runner-up Medomak (89). Camden Hills was third with 69, while Belfast (61), Maranacook (43) and Erskine (40) followed.
“We always consider the conference meet as a tuneup for the states,” Waterville coach Ian Wilson said. “It’s a dress rehearsal of sorts. We want everything to go exactly right.”
Edward Litle won the KVAC A girls title with 163 points. Messalonskee finished fifth while Cony finished sixth. EL and Lewiston shared the boys title with 125 points. Cony finished fifth.
Chris Paradis and Lindsey Folsom each won pole vault titles for the Rams. Paradis cleared 11 feet while Folsom cleared 10-6.
Cony sophomore Chris Murphy finished second in the javelin (146-6) while teammate Julian Hubbard was second in the high jump (6-0). Luke Dang was third in the 100, second in the 400 and third in the 200.
At the KVAC B meet, Gardiner’s Cody Whitcomb won the 800 (2:05.84) and finished second in the 1,600.
Last season, Watson stumbled in the 110 hurdles at the Class C state meet. He’s since used that fall as motivation for the championship meets this season.
“Absolutely,” he said. “I am focusing on running my races. This is a good way to round out the season. It was nice to do what I expected to do.”
Both Waterville teams also did what they expected to do.
“Winning a championship is hard to do,” Wilson said “The first thing you have to do is not beat yourself.”
Bethanie Brown set the KVAC meet record in the 1,600 (4:53.51) and the 3,200 (11:05.06). She would’ve set the 800 record, too, but Lawrence junior Erzsie Nagy ended up with the fastest time in that event — 2:16.27.
KVAC meet records are combined from Classes A and B.
“I was pleased,” Brown said. “I was pleased to go out there and get some good times. It’s a confidence boost.”
Added Nagy: “The 800 was the one I wanted to break. I was pretty close to the school record and I wanted to come out and kill it (Saturday). I wanted to run it as hard as I possibly could. It was a good race.”
Georgia Bolduc, Olivia Thurston and Alex Jenson also enjoyed big days for the Purple Panthers.
Bolduc won four events, including the 100 (12.50), 200 (26.06) and pole vault (9-0).
She also anchored the victorious 4×100 relay team, which set a conference meet record with a time of 50.45.
“I reached 9-6 in the indoor season but I’m happy with the (9-0),” she said. “I just really tried to focus on my mechanics in my events. I don’t try to shoot for place; I just want to do things correctly.”
Jenson won the 100 hurdles (14.87), the long jump (16-9), triple jump (35-11.75) and ran on the 4×100 relay team.
Thurston won the 300 hurdles (45.41) and anchored the 4×400 relay team, which set a meet record with a time of 4:09.90.
“I was really pleased with our performances,” Wilson said. “They’ve all been on the big stage before. They are all really focused. It’s just awesome to not have to be nervous about these kids.”
Nick Margitza, Devin Burgess and Nick Danner paced the Waterville boys.
Burgess won the long jump with a leap of 20-2. He then easily took the pole vault title when he cleared 13 feet.
Margitza won the shot put (51-2.25) and was second in the discus.
“There’s always great competition here,” Margitza said. “The KVACs are just as important as states. Winning gives us an edge. It’s always nice to face competition we’ve seen all season.”
Danner won the javelin with a throw of 180-4.
“I hit a big one,” he said. “It felt really good. It’s nice to get this one under our belts.”
Also Saturday, Messalonskee senior Harlow Ladd won the 1,600 (4:25.71) and the 3,200 (9:43.40) despite running on a leg he injured in a softball game the day before.
“I thought I had enough to push through,” he said.
Messalonskee senior Andrea Eschenbrenner won the discus (95-9) and senior teammate Megan Pelletier won the high jump (5-2).
Bill Stewart — 621-5640
bstewart@centralmaine.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.