DOVER-FOXCROFT — Three central Maine boys were double winners at the Class C track and field state championship on Saturday, while the Lisbon High School boys, a perennial contender, won their first state title.

Madison’s Ron Helderman won the 100 meter hurdles and pole vault. Monmouth’s Marcques Houston won the 200 and 400, and also anchored the Mustangs’ winning 4×400 relay. Eric Hathaway of Maine Central Institute won the discus and javelin.

The boys meet came down to the final event, the 4×400 relay. Lisbon held a two point lead over Orono going into the event, and clinched the title with a third place finish. Lisbon had 67 points to Orono’s 61, while North Yarmouth Academy was third with 60 points.

Orono won the girls meet easily, scoring 102 points, well ahead of second place Traip (74 points) and third place Seacoast Christian (43).

Helderman finished the 110 hurdle prelims as the second seed for the finals, behind Orono’s Brandon Crocker. In the finals, Helderman pulled ahead of Crocker early and won with a time of 15.82 seconds.

“I heard (Crocker) right behind me, so I knew had had to stay low and keep my steps consistent, and it worked. I know he’s a good hurdler. I saw him in prelims, and he’s fast,” Helderman said.

Helderman won the pole vault with a vault of 13 feet, three inches, more than a foot better than second place Brandon Crenner of Sacopee Valley.

Houston pulled away from the field midway through the 400, and set a personal record with a winning time of 51.24 seconds.

“The first 100 I passed the person I thought would be close to me (NYA’s Xavier Bartone). Then I looked coming around the last 200 and didn’t really see anybody close, so I just kept going.

I was not planning on PRing by that much. I just wanted to win,” Houston said.

Hathaway won the discus with a throw of 139-09, then followed that with a winning throw of 164-02 in the javelin. Hathaway felt good early in the discus, he said.

“It was my second throw of the first round,” Hathaway said of his winning discus throw.

Maranacook and Kents Hill each had a pair of winners. Jolene Potter won the girls pole vault for Maranacook with a vault of 9 feet. Potter entered the meet tied for the top seed with Orono’s Allison Pickering,

“I really just was focusing on the technique a lot. I was tied for first with Allie Pickering of Orono, so I had to focus on myself on not think of what other vaulters were doing,” Potter said. “Everything really just clicked together, and I went over it pretty easily.”

A focus on fundamentals helped Maranacook’s Kelby Mace win the boys long jump with a leap of 21-8. After faulting on his first jump, Mace made what became the winning leap on his second attempt.

“We’d been talking in practice about going straight up. In the past, I’ve been jumping too far instead of up,” Mace said. “You have to let your momentum carry you, come in with speed and jump straight up and let your momentum carry you.”

Anne McKee won the 3,200 for Kents Hill with a time of 11:46.25, while Leila Alfaro won the 300 hurdles for the Huskies. McKee said she followed her plan to assess herself midway through the race and then push herself.

“When I was coming through the mile, I just felt like I had to hang on,” McKee said. “Then I realized I could make a move once the pace slowed a little bit. I just took the chance and went for it.”

Alfaro ran a steady race, pulling ahead over the final hurdles to win with a time of 48.58 seconds. Down the stretch, Alfaro began to feel she had the race won.

“My competition was really good,” Alfaro said. “I start out really hard, see where that takes me, then do whatever I have to over the last 100.”

Carrabec’s Emma Pluntke won the shot put with a throw of 37 feet, 6 inches. Her winning throw set a school and personal record.

“I was feeling really determined to win,” Pluntke said.

One state record was set by North Yarmouth Academy’s Michael McIntosh, who won the 100 with a time of 11.39.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM

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