BRUNSWICK - It was an opportunity to see just what Toby Crispin could do.

Having qualified for the states in the 800 last week, the Lewiston junior was given a try in the mile Saturday morning. It turned out to be a pretty worthwhile experiment.

Crispin had her debut and victory lap all in the same race.

"Toby is turning out to be an outstanding distance runner," said Lewiston coach Ray Putnam. "She's doing very well. She's going to be a star, I think."

Crispin competed in the mile in outdoor track, but her only indoor experience at that distance was part of a relay team.

"I've never run an open mile in indoor before," she said. "So I wasn't sure. (Coach) told me to stay with the leaders and try to outkick them in the last two legs. When I came around to start my fourth lap, he said, 'If you can go, go.' So I went. It was great."

Crispin finished in 5:46.80, beating Waterville's Kate Croswell in 5:47.84. It was the best time the Lewiston athlete had ever run.

"It was hard, but it was great," said Crispin, who was eighth in the 800. "The meet before, I had qualified for the 800. So he wanted to see if I could qualify for the states in the mile. So he put me in the mile."

Both Lewiston teams finished third overall in the KVAC meet at Bowdoin College Saturday. The boys, with 125 points, finished behind Brunswick (255) and Waterville (147). The girls totaled 64.50 points and followed Waterville (150) and Brunswick (121.50).

Lewiston was without some top runners because of injuries. So the goal for the Blue Devils wasn't so much about winning a meet Saturday but to continually fine tune in preparation for the Class A championship next month.

"Right now, it's a lot like playing chess and trying to figure out what I can do with the pieces for when the big meets come," said Putnam. "We don't have a full team. There's no Hossain Naji. Jeff Lucier, we had to pull early. There's no Kate DeAngelis. We're a big meet team. Most of these teams have three for every one of our kids. When we get to the big meets, we'll be in it."

Lewiston's best finishes came in the long-distance running events. Mohamed Noor won the two mile and the 800. Behind him in the two mile was Sadam Abdi in third and Matt Driscoll in fourth. In the 800, Lucier took second while Shobow Saban was sixth.

In the mile, Driscoll nearly claimed first but was eked out at the finish by Brunswick's Will Geoghegan. Driscoll ran the mile in 4:39.05.

"It was pretty fast," said Driscoll. "It started with (Liam) Cassidy leading and then Shaun (Selberg), Will and me. Then with four laps to go, me and Will just kind of took off."

Lewiston also had a fine showing in the shot. Adrien Fundes took second with Ryan Coleman and Kevin Rankin in fourth and fifth respectively.

Other boys' highlights included Chris Garcia in fourth in the triple jump and fifth in the long jump. Noor Ali was fourth in the 400. Craig Thibeault was third in the 55 hurdles with Abdullahi Musse in fourth. Thibeault also placed fifth in the high jump. Lewiston's 4x800 relay team of Faisal Abdillahi, Noor, Abdi and Josh Horton took second. In the Junior Division, Tyler Roy won the shot.

"Brunswick and Waterville have much bigger teams than we do," said Driscoll. "So beating them in a small meet like this is tough. So what we're doing is trying to get times for the state meet."

In the girls' meet, Lea Morin claimed the top spot in the girls' 55 meter dash in 7.70. She was expecting a showdown with Brunswick's Kristin Slotnick, but that didn't materialize.

"She's my main competition right now, but she was sick I guess," said Morin, who also finished fifth in the long jump and took third with the 4x200 relay team. "So I didn't have as much competition as I normally would. So I just went out and ran it as hard as I could."

Morin also took second in the 200. Messalonskee's Jessie Labreck edge her out in the final lap for the win.

"Lea's got the fastest time in Class A in the 55," said Putnam. "She just got beat out in the 200. The Labreck girl is no slouch. She lost it on the turn. She kind of stumbled and tried to recover. It was about 15 meters of her coming to a stop and trying to get back into it."

Other highlights for the girls' included Erin Glann taking fourth in the 400 and seventh in the 55. Sarah Manyell was sixth in the mile and two mile. Achol Chol was fourth in the two mile. Allyson Page finished third in the 800 with Chol, Chelsea Brousseau and Crispin following in sixth, seventh and eighth respectively. Saba Naji was seventh in the 55 meter hurdles and sixth in the triple jump. Carly Yeung took seventh in the shot. Alex White was sixth in the 400. The relay team of Brousseau, Hannah Turmel, Linda Rand and Stephenie Waterman took third in the 4x800 relay.