BAR HARBOR — The Waterville girls track and field team spent much of an overcast Saturday overwhelming competitors and setting a few records in a dominant performance at the Class B state championship meet.
The Waterville boys, meanwhile, spent Saturday at Mount Desert Island High School trying to catch Falmouth and hold off York.
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In the end, it was a bittersweet day for Waterville, which came away with a girls state title but a third-place finish for the boys.
Falmouth and York shared the boys title with 93 points. Waterville finished third with 84.
“It’s a weird feeling,” Waterville coach Ian Wilson said. “I’m excited the girls won but disappointed the boys came up short. I’m really proud of their effort, though. But it’s a little tough. You have to console your senior boys and congratulate your girls.”
The Waterville girls, who had five individual winners, finished with 145 points to win their sixth consecutive Class B title. Greely finished second with 85 while Lake Region was third with 45.
The York boys, who won their first state title since 1986, won the 4×400 relay — the last event of the day — to pull into a tie with Falmouth.
“To have this scenario fall together is kind of bizarre,” Falmouth coach Danny Paul said. “But the way it played out, we knew before the meet started it could go right to the end.”
Waterville junior Bethanie Brown set Class B records in the 1,600- 3,200-meter runs.
She finished the 1,600 in 4 minutes, 55.23 seconds to easily break the previous mark of 5:01.10, which Melissa Blackstone of Presque Isle set in 2001.
“I’m pleased,” Brown said. “That was the plan going in, to get that record. I was hoping to go a little faster but I was nervous and that killed my first lap.”
She ran the 3,200 in 10:34.79 to eclipse the previous mark of 10:39.43, which Old Town’s Cassie Hintz set in 2004.
“It feels pretty good,” Brown said. “I didn’t think I could do it in the (3,200) after running the (1,600). It’s fun to be on a team winning championships. In the end, all our hard work paid off.”
Added Wilson: “It’s just a real testament to her mental toughness.”
Olivia Thurston won the 300 hurdles and finished second to teammate Alex Jenson in the 100 hurdles.
“I was aiming to break the state record (in the 300 hurdles) but it was a little hard to deal with the wind,” Thurston said.
Jenson won the triple jump with a leap of 35-7.75. She also anchored the victorious 4×100 relay team that finished in 50.83. Georgia Bolduc, Sarah Shoulta and Lydia Roy rounded out the relay team.
“We set our goals very high,” Wilson said. “In a lot of ways, we performed very, very well.”
Wilson said entering the meet his boys team would need to score well in the field events and improve seeds elsewhere. The Panthers did, but it still wasn’t quite enough.
With two events left in the meet, York was ahead with 82 points while Waterville (80) and Falmouth (77) followed. However, the Purple Panthers didn’t score enough to grab the lead in the 3,200 and 4×400 relay.
“We’re disappointed but very proud,” Wilson said. “We had a dog in the hunt.”
Nick Margitza set a facility record in the shot put with a throw of 51 feet, 3.5 inches. Waterville also picked up key points in the pole vault. It was seeded to place first and fourth, but took home first, third and fifth. Junior Devin Burgess won the event by clearing 13-6 for the first time this spring.
“It’s huge,” Burgess said. “We needed every point we could get. We knew every point would count.”
Junior Sam Zarfos finished third and sophomore Tommy Samson, who was seeded 13th, finished fifth.
“I had a (personal record) by a foot,” Samson said. “It felt good because we definitely needed the points.”
Also Saturday, Nokomis senior Marissa Shaw won the javelin with a throw of 108-0.
“It’s awesome,” she said. “The last two throws I was like, ‘Here we go,’ but it felt good.”
Nokomis sophomore Zach McFarlin won the high jump by clearing 6 feet.
Erskine junior Bridget Humphrey finished second in the discus (101-8) and fourth in the high jump (5-0).
Gardiner senior Cody Whitcomb finished fourth in the 800 (2:01.10). Gardiner senior Olivia Reny finished fourth in the 100 hurdles (16.50) and fourth in the 300 hurdles (48.17).
Lake Region freshman Kate Hall won three events, including the 100 in Class B state record time of 12.33. She also won the 200 (26.12) and long jump (17-1.5).
Bill Stewart — 621-5640
bstewart@centralmaine.com
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