LISBON — Shen Black had an unfamiliar feeling in the pit of her stomach when she stepped in for her third and final discus throw at the Mountain Valley Conference outdoor track and field championships on Thursday.

It was pressure, and, as it turns out, the Carrabec senior seems to thrive under it.

“I was just able to calm myself down,” she said. “I’ve never had this kind of competition at any other meet before. It’s a whole different mental state.”

Black beat her personal and school record with her throw of 104 feet, 10 inches, to defend her discus title. Coupled with her season-best 30 feet, 8 1/2 inches while winning her first shot put title, she had a pretty good day at Lisbon High School.

The Lisbon Greyhounds had an even better day on their home track, sweeping the girls and boys team titles.

It was the 11th conference title in a row for the Lisbon boys. It was redemption for the Lisbon girls, who were denied their 10th straight conference by 1/2 a point by Monmouth Academy last year.

Lisbon dominated with 134 1/2 points to recapture the girls’ title, with Monmouth as the runner-up with 93 points. Boothbay (87), Hall-Dale (47) and Dirigo (44) rounded out the top five.

“We were missing a few girls (Thursday),” Monmouth coach Tom Menendez said. “Maddie (Amero) is up on stilts and we’ve got another girl on crutches, so we were missing some key performers. Considering we started out short-handed, they did a very good job.”

Sidney Wilson led the Mustangs with three gold medals — an individual title in the javelin and two as part of Monmouth’s winning 4×400 and 4×800 relay teams.

Led by Lilly Ly (second in shot put, third in discus), Sabrina Freeman (tied for first in pole vault), Dani Sweet (second in javelin) and Julia Stahlnecker (fourth in javelin and shot put), Hall-Dale enjoyed one of its strongest showing in recent history

“I’m super-proud of our girls (Thursday). It’s been awhile since we’ve finished that high at the MVC meet,” Hall-Dale coach Jarod Richmond said. “They did really well across the board. At the beginning of the season, I told them they could be a top-five team at this meet and they went out and did that (Thursday), behind some real powerhouse teams in Lisbon, Monmouth and Boothbay.”

Lisbon (122 1/2) pulled away late to win the boys title, topping Mountain Valley (86 3/4), Boothbay (65), Monmouth (60) and Hall-Dale (60).

Brandon Dixon gave Carrabec a double winner on the boys’ side, taking gold in the 200 meter dash (23.61 seconds) and shot put (40 feet, 11 inches). Ben Ames, of Winthrop, won the triple jump (41 feet, 1 1/2 inches). Jarrett Bearor, of Madison, won the pole vault (13 feet).

Hall-Dale’s Jon Whitcomb finished second behind Bearor in the pole vault and won the high jump with a jump of 6 feet, three inches below his personal best.

“I was a little disappointed with it but it was a win so I’ll take it,” Whitcomb said. “I ran the hurdles right before I came over to jump, so my legs were a little bit tired. But, really, after I won it at 5-8, I didn’t have the drive to go for a PR.”

William Vance, of Winthrop, edged Monmouth’s Luke Thombs in the day’s most exciting finish, winning the 1,600 meters in 4:47.48, 35-hundredths of a second ahead of Thombs.

“Luke started making a move at the last 300 (meters), and Nick Harriman, from Lisbon, started following right behind him, so I was like, I have to go now or else I could lose this,” Vance said. “I stayed with him in that last 200 and went as fast as I could. I could hear him behind me and it was rough, but I kept pushing until the end.”

Monmouth shattered the old meet record set by Hall-Dale in 2004 by 10 seconds to win the boys 4×800 over Lisbon. Winthrop’s girls won the 4×100 by five-hundredths of a second over Mountain Valley.

Winthrop’s Ben Ames (41 feet, 1 1/2 inches) won the triple jump.

Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638

rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com

Twitter: @RAWmaterial33

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