BRUNSWICK — Billy Albertson knows he has the talent and skill to break records. The biggest barrier this season, he said, has been a mental one.

At times, the senior on the Skowhegan indoor track team has overthought things both on the track and in the jumping pit. That didn’t happen Monday, and was rewarded in the form of long jump and 55-meter Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A championship meet records at Bowdoin College.

“It’s been a mental struggle for me; I wasn’t doing what I was expecting of myself based on what I was capable of and what I did last year,” Albertson said. “Today, I just told myself, ‘When you jump, just jump, and when you run, just run.’ I was open-minded, and I had so much adrenaline going through me.”

Mt. Ararat claimed the boys team title, racking up 161 points to easily top Brunswick and Lewiston, who tied for second with 112 points. The Eagles also won the girls event, overtaking Brunswick in the final event to claim a razor-thin 175.5-175 team win and make it a sweep of the conference championships.

Albertson posted a distance of 22 feet, 9 3/4 inches to break a long jump record of 22-9 3/4 that had stood since 1989, Albertson ran the 55-meter dash in a blazing 6.57 seconds to break a 13-year-old mark. He later won his third of the event of the day in the 200-meter dash (22.95 seconds).

In the 55-meter prelims, Albertson had posted a time of 6.71 seconds to finish second behind Brunswick’s Justin Corporon. Corporon pushed Albertson in the finals with a time of 6.60, but the latter had just enough push to come in first in a tight race that also included Lewiston’s Josia Katroli (6.64).

“After Justin Corporon ran a 6.61 in the prelims, I said, ‘OK, I have to get faster now,’” Albertson said. “When we got to the finals, I was way more locked in than the prelims; I was ready to go. He had me in the acceleration phase, but eventually, at the very end, I went right by him. I couldn’t believe it.”

Lewiston’s Makenna Drouin also had a three-win day that included a new KVAC Class A mark in the girls 55-meter dash (7.21 seconds). The senior also defended her titles in the 55-meter hurdles (8.49 seconds) and 200-meter dash (26.45). She won all three events as a junior at Edward Little last year.

Drouin’s 55-meter dash performance broke her own record of 7.22 seconds from last year, a run she said felt awfully similar to Monday’s. She had to power through injury to get that record as well as her win in the 200 after injuring her leg in her 55-meter hurdles final earlier in the meet.

“I have a swollen leg right now, but I did better than I thought I would after I hit it,” Drouin said. “It hurt really bad after; I had to sit for a bit, and I was crying because it was really painful. I didn’t know if I was going to run or not after that, to be honest, but I had to for my last KVACs.”

Ethan Palmer of the Mt. Ararat boys set the fourth and final KVAC A record of the evening with a distance of 46-9 1/4 in the triple jump and also took first in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 8.11. The champion Eagles also got wins in the 400-meter dash (Aidan Greenleaf, 52.75) and pole vault (Bryce Holden, 13-7).

“Ethan always shows up for us,” said Mt. Ararat head coach Cuyler Greene. “He loves a good championship meet, and he’s an incredible competitor that will do anything for his team. He’s totally reliable, and he always brings the fire for us. He did outstanding today.”

The Mt. Ararat girls excelled in the field events with Aubrey Pelletier (shot put, 30-7 3/4), Lydia White (pole vault, 9-6) and Hanna Killion (triple jump, 33-0 1/2) all earning wins. Grace Keleher added a win for the Eagles in the 2-mile run with a time of 13:27.70.

It was Killion’s jump that secured the victory for the Eagles. Anything less than first place would have seen Brunswick edge Mt. Ararat for the title, but with a personal record on the very last of her four jumps, the senior was able to give her team the victory by the narrowest of margins.

“It just showed that, every girl on the team, everything they did out there mattered,” Greene said. “We were not seeded first by any means, so we had to fight and scrap for every point we could get. We spent a lot of time strategizing how we were going to get back some points, and they all stepped it up.”

The Brunswick girls, who had a 4 1/2-point lead on Mt. Ararat entering the triple jump finale, got a pair of wins from Maeve Woodruff in the 800-meter run (2:29.88) and 1-mile run (5:46.96). Ben Klingle won the 800 (2:06.33) and mile run (4:37.41) for the Brunswick boys.

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