One perennial girls’ track and field powerhouse has proven mortal this year, while another has beefed up in size and annihilated all of its competition during the regular season.

On the boys’ side, one team got decidedly larger, both in size and in numbers, while another battled injuries all year.

Put it all together and Friday’s MVC meet at Leavitt Area High School in Turner could be an interesting and unpredictable meet.

“You never really know,” Lisbon coach Dean Hall said. “In a conference meet, you never know about false starts, you never know if someone will slip their blocks, if there will be a bad handoff in a relay. You just never know. Anything can happen.”

The regular season has proven Hall’s point. Winthrop, perennially a powerhouse in girls’ team competition, has its lowest turnout in years, and lost to two teams that can’t remember the last time they defeated the Ramblers.

Dirigo, plagued with low numbers for several years, returned its largest team in nearly a decade this year and has yet to lose a meet while outscoring its opponents by nearly 100 points per meet.

“I’m still a little skeptical,” Dirigo coach Donna Gilbert said. “I’m just hoping. All we can ask the kids to do is try to get their personal best and hope that it’s enough.”

Lisbon, also hit with low numbers, has battled the injury bug, while intangible teams such as Wiscasset and Boothbay could also be a factor.

“On paper, Dirigo and Boothbay could be within a few points of each other,” Hall said. “The whole meet may come down to which team’s athletes can hold the seeds they get at the meeting.”

Another factor in the meet will be timing. Instead of holding the meet on Saturday, because of meet director Bruce Bell’s commitment to his own Leavitt team, the event will be on Friday afternoon following what will be the last day of school for most of the seniors.

“There are special events planned for some of the seniors and their minds won’t necessarily be all involved in track,” said Hall. “It’s a whole new element to consider this year.”

Falcons may soar

Mountain Valley, Lisbon and Wiscasset figure to be the top boys’ teams when the final bell sounds on Friday.

At Mountain Valley, the addition of several athletes new to track and field has added depth that other teams at some of the smaller schools can only envy.

“It looks like, right now, Lisbon would have us on paper,” Mountain Valley Coach Al Cayer said. “They have a wealth of talent in the pole vault and in the racewalk that will make a huge difference, but we have better numbers in the jumping events where they are weaker, so it could be interesting.”

At the same time, Lisbon is defending its crown and has a host of solid distance runners and jumpers that could counteract that depth.

“We’ve been trying to downplay our chances all year,” Hall said. “We’re in decent shape, I think, but anything can happen.”

According to Hall, Wiscasset’s relay squads will give that team a needed boost, and those may make a big difference.

Several individuals from Jay, Livermore Falls, Mt. Abram and Telstar will have a chance to shine in the meet, but the overall lack of depth will hurt the majority of the teams in the MVC in such a large meet.

“Honestly, I think in the boys’ meet it’s going to be the first to 100 points that wins,” Hall said. “In the girls it might not even get to 100 points, but maybe the closest to it. It will be a meet to watch, that’s for sure.”

[email protected]