BRUNSWICK — After stepping off the first place podium for the third time on Saturday, Lawrence High School senior Kiana Letourneau apologized for briefly stumbling over her words.

“There’s so much adrenaline,” Letourneau said.

With the day she had at the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference indoor track and field championship at Bowdoin College, Letourneau earned a pass to collect her thoughts. Letourneau earned conference titles in the 55, 400, and 200 meters, winning Class A girls athlete of the meet honors.

On the team side, the Messalonskee boys won their second straight Class A championship, with 101 points, while the Messalonskee girls used their depth to win their first-ever KVAC team title with 105 points. On the boys side, Brunswick (93.5) edged Lewiston (93) for second place. The Mt. Ararat girls took second (90), well ahead of third place Lawrence (61).

In Class B, the Waterville boys eked out the title with 94 points, just ahead of Belfast (91). Winslow placed third with 66 points. The Belfast girls won easily, with 114 points, while Lincoln (87) was second and Waterville (58) third.

Letourneau’s big day began with the 55 sprint, where she got out of the blocks well, took the lead quickly, and won in 7.6 seconds. The 400 was Letourneau’s next event, and she held off Mt. Ararat’s Wyley Fitzpatrick for the win, in 1:01.47. Letourneau felt the 400 was her best race of the day.

“I made a goal for myself to get a good time, and I made sure I made it. That last lap, I just gave it all I’ve got,” she said.

Letourneau capped her impressive day with a win in the 200. Letourneau held off a late push by Lewiston’s Jennifer Martin, beating Martin by a tenth of a second with a time of 27.52 seconds.

The Messalonskee girls won the Class A team title with depth. Freshman Emma Concaugh was the only individual winner for the Eagles, who consistently placed multiple athletes in events. In the 800 for example, won by Concaugh (2:24.13), Messalonskee also placed Avery Brennan fourth, Haley Lowell sixth, and Alexa Brennan seventh.

Concaugh was the top seed in the 800, and said her goal was to stick with second seed Katherine Leckbee of Mt. Ararat throughout the race. Over the final 100 meters, Concaugh pulled away, beating Leckbee by just over two seconds.

“By the end, I had a little bit left and I felt like I could do it, so I went all out, and it paid off,” Concaugh said.

Conaugh’s win in the triple jump was more of surprise. Concaugh was seeded third, behind Skowhegan’s pair of strong jumpers, Leah Savage and Chloe Thorndike. On her fourth jump, Concaugh leapt 33-7, and it held up for the victory.

“I really wasn’t expecting that at all. By the third jump, I felt a lot better,” Concaugh said.

The Messalonskee boys earned a pair of wins from Zach Hoyle, who took the 400 and 800. Hoyle pumped his fist in celebration as he crossed the finish line in the 400 with a time of 51.76 seconds.

“I was a little nervous for my 400, but I just powered through. Faith, blood and sweat got me through it,” Hoyle said.

With very little rest time between the 400 and 800, Hoyle and his coach, Vanessa Holman (Letourneau’s older sister, coincidently), were concerned he wouldn’t have enough energy to win the 800. For most of the race, those concerns appeared warranted. With one lap to go, Hoyle sat third behind Cameron Meier of Mt. Ararat and Lewiston’s Abbas Muktar. With 150 meters to go, Hoyle made his move, kicking to the front and winning in 2:01.06, comfortably ahead of Meier (2:02.96).

“I was able to pull it together. Really, it was the last 100 where I took it out. I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect it,” Hoyle, who also took second in the 2 mile, said.

Waterville’s Nick Dall also was a double winner, in the Class B mile and 800. As the start of the final lap of the mile, Dall was boxed between Lincoln teammates Sam Ross and David Barnum. Dall made his move, passing Ross to take the lead and the win in 4:47.18.

“I just wanted to stay in second the whole race and kick it in at the end,” Dall said. “I knew I had to start moving because they were starting to box me in and taking off. I knew I had to make my move.”

Dall won the 800 in 2:09.39, and finished his day with a third place finish in the Class B 2 mile.

Despite a strained Achilles tendon on her right leg, her push off leg, Waterville’s Sarah Cox won the Class B girls shot put with a throw of 36-0.75 feet. Cox took off a protective walking boot to make her throws.

“I got a very good throw. It definitely hurt when I threw, but if you love the sport, it’s something you push through,” Cox said.

Messalonskee’s Tanner Burton defended his title in the Class A 55 hurdles, with a time of 7.82. Burton was crossing the finish line while his closest competition, Messalonskee teammate Dylan Labun, was going over the final hurdle. Burton said he felt good about the race as soon as he was over the second hurdle.

“I really came down fast. In my peripheral vision, I could really see no one other than Dylan. Once I’m in that position, it’s just me and the hurdles, and I just run my race,” Burton said.

Winslow’s Ben Smith defended his Class B titles in the 55 (6.94 seconds) and 200 (23.54), winning the 200 by more than a second over Black Raider teammate Max Spaulding (24.73). Other central Maine winners included Messalonskee’s Cam Bickford in the Class A boys shot put (46-0.25), Gunnar McAllister of Lawrence in the Class A boys pole vault (12-6), Waterville’s Isaac Pellerin in the Class B pole vault (11-6), Savage in the Class A girls high jump (5-0), and Erskine’s Chris Weymouth in the Class B boys triple jump (39-6.75).

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM

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