SOUTH PARIS – Regular-season track meets have an added significance this season with the elimination of regional meets as the primary qualifying races for state competitions.

For many teams, that means that in some meets, instead of the experimenting with new relay combinations or with new sports for young athletes, coaches now have to worry about assuring state qualifying times.

For a team like Leavitt, the added early-season pressure starts bringing out the best in the athletes more quickly, and on Friday three other KVAC schools saw just what the Hornets have to offer.

The Leavitt girls’ team extended its record to 8-0 against different opponents this season and qualified nine more runners, jumpers and throwers for states as the Hornets posted 108 points for a 28-point win over Oxford Hills in a four-team meet at Oxford Hills.

The Leavitt boys, not to be outdone, also nearly qualified 10 athletes on their way to a 113-82 win over the Vikings.

“They had the numbers today,” said Oxford Hills coach Craig Jipson of the Leavitt. “It’s hard to compete against a team that big at this stage of the season.”

Oxford Hills finished the girls’ meet with three first-place finishes and were able to keep pace with a deep Leavitt team.

“Our main competition when it comes down to KVACs will be in Class A anyway,” said Jipson. “In that regard, we are fortunate because Leavitt is just so deep.”

The Vikings’ boys team, paced by strong jumpers and sprinters, took nine first-place finishes, but again lacked the depth to outplace Leavitt.

The performance of the meet came from the Leavitt girls, who posted eight first-place finishes and five seconds in 18 contested events, and swept all five places in the 3,200-meter run.

“That’s where our strength is for sure,” said Leavitt coach Tina Meserve. “In the distances and in the jumps, we keep getting faster and faster. It’s been a long time since we’ve had this many girls qualify for states.”

Running the 3,200-meter race for the first time this season, Nicole Rodrigue finished with an automatic qualifying time of 12:30, while Meg Dumais ran her first 800-meter race of the season and also qualified, taking that race in a time of 2:30.

“I always run hard anyway,” said Rodrigue, “but you have to set the standard higher earlier because of the way we have to qualify for states this year.”

“Last year, you had all season to peak,” added Dumais. “This year, it’s almost like you have to do it, and then be able to hold it, like doing it twice.”

On the boys’ side, Dan Magoon won both the 100- and 200-meter races while Jared Maher took both the triple and long jumps to help secure Oxford Hills’ hold on second.

Skowhegan finished the girls’ meet with 51 points in third place, with Gardiner taking fourth at 22. In the boys’ meet, Gardiner bested Skowhegan 61-36 to take third.

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