With numbers on the rise at Lewiston, the Blue Devils’ track teams are starting to gain on perennial power Edward Little.

Anyone following high school track in Maine over the last five to 10 years could sum up the rivalry between Lewiston and Edward Little, traditional rivals in every other sports, in one word: Pathetic.

It’s not that the athletes from Lewiston were, on a larger scale, worse than those at Edward Little. In fact, Lewiston has produced some fine individual athletes over the years. The problem, however, has been the scale itself.

“There was a myth here once that track was an individual sport alone,” Lewiston coach Ray Putnam said. “Now, we are starting to breed a mentality that it truly is a team sport. It wasn’t that we were short on talent before, but it was that team attitude.”

Weighed heavily in favor of the Red Eddies for years, the numbers game has doomed the Blue Devils. In some years, one of the largest high schools in the state fielded a track team of 15 athletes – combined.

“I’d have to say that this is probably the largest team they’ve had since I have been here,” Edward Little coach Dan Campbell said of the Lewiston team. “Last year they started to have the numbers and lost a few. This year again they got a larger number of kids out and they are starting to retain them.”

A cursory glance at the results from last week’s track meet held at Lewiston High School and featuring the two cross-river rivals is cause for some optimism on the Lewiston side of the river. The boys’ meet was the closest in recent memory between the two schools, with Edward Little pulling out a 120.5 – 103.5 win. Gardiner finished that meet with 42 points and Skowhegan managed 34, but the story was the relative lack of distance between EL and Lewiston.

“The biggest difference, and you could see it, is the swagger,” Putnam said. “The EL boys go into a meet and don’t think they they will lose. It is that swagger that will develop over time. I think losing a meet close like this will only serve to fuel the fire inside of the athletes.”

On the girls’ side, the difference was considerable. Lewiston lost to the Red Eddies by 90.5 points, and finished third behind EL and Skowhegan, which had 84.5 points. EL had 147.5 and Lewiston finished with 57.

So, if the Blue Devils still lost, why is that considered improvement?

“It starts with the numbers,” EL coach Steve Robertson said. “I didn’t see the significant increase that maybe I thought I’d see at this point, but what I did see was the kids laughing and having fun. That helps to make it a fun environment, which will help the numbers.”

This year, just more than halfway through the season, Lewiston still has more athletes competing than they had last year. The number of freshmen alone is staggering, and with a large crop of middle school track athletes practicing with the high school team every day, the numbers can only figure to grow.

Meanwhile, at EL, the revival of the Lewiston track program can only serve to better its own program.

“(Lewiston) could easily have beaten the (EL) boys on Friday,” Campbell said. “I was talking to some parents over the weekend who told me that some Lewiston parents were talking about the Lewiston team beating EL in track this year. To be able to do that, to be able to talk it up, that’s what makes a rivalry.”

jpelletier@sunjournal.com

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