TURNER – With most of the crowd and all but a few teams gone from the track at Leavitt High School, the Winthrop girls wore looks of dejection on their faces.

It appeared that for only the third time in 15 years, the Ramblers would not win the Mountain Valley Conference track meet.

Then, Coach Norm Thombs noticed something.

“I don’t think they scored all of the pole vault,” Thombs said.

When he brought the issue up, meet organizers discovered that he was correct, and with the extra six points from placing girls fourth, fifth and sixth the Ramblers edged Dirigo, which had already taken a victory lap, by one point to hold on to the title. The final score was 108-107.

“I am so proud at the work ethic that these girls have shown all year,” Thombs said. “We’ve asked all of these girls to run in events they probably wouldn’t normally run because the team is so small this year, and they all did it without too much complaining.”

Normally, Winthrop fields a team of between 25 and 40 athletes. This year they struggled to reach 15.

“We had to work really hard to fill out all of the events,” said Winthrop runner Marissa Nguyen.

Nguyen helped the team with first place finishes in both hurdle events, and together with the rest of her teammates placed first in the 4×400 relay. In all, Winthrop took 44 points in the two hurdling events alone, and added 17 more in the pole vault.

“That came down to a jump-off,” Winthrop vaulter Mackenzie Demkowicz said. “We haven’t had a place to practice all season, and we’ve only had three or four meets, so to do this well is just awesome.”

The loss continues a string of heartbreaks for Dirigo, and the team thought for sure that it had finally broken through.

“Since we were freshman, it’s always been Winthrop in the MVCs,” Dirigo senior Amanda Law said.

Had Dirigo broken through, coach Donna Gilbert had promised to allow the girls to dye her hair a color of their choosing. They were joking around about colors (someone even suggested pinstripes) when the news hit that Winthrop had actually won.

“You all did such a good job,” Gilbert told the team. “We’re all still so proud.”

A stunned team lined up on the track to congratulate Winthrop as they ran a half-lap to celebrate victory.

Katharine Gagne led the Cougars with a victory in the 1,600-meter run, while Alexa Kaubris took a first place in the javelin. Kassi Putnam pulled out what may have been the biggest upset in the meet for Dirigo, coming from a 20th seed to place fourth in the javelin. Her throw of 83-feet, 10 1/2-inches was nearly 20 feet beyond her previous personal best.

In team competition, Lisbon took third with 92 points with strong performances by Narissa Gross, Mindy Sullivan and Emily Poliquin. Poliquin placed first in the long and triple jumps, and took second in the 100-meter dash.

Boothbay and Livermore Falls rounded out the top five.

Falcons hold on

Even a disqualification in the 4×100-meter relay couldn’t derail Mountain Valley.

Paced by Tyler Jasud’s better-than-expected showing in the 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs, and by key wins in the 100 and 200-meter dashes, the Falcons avenged a 1/2-point loss at last year’s MVC meet, upending defending champions Lisbon 128 1/4-102 1/4.

“When Tyler kicked it in and took second place in the 1,600, that seemed to lift the team,” Mountain Valley coach Al Cayer said. “He kicked it in with 200 left and passed two people and it really showed the rest of the team, I think, that they could do it.”

Jasud was seeded fourth in both of those events.

Elsewhere, Dylan Cayer, the coach’s son, took top honors in both the 100 and 200-meter runs, while Ed Booked came up with a second place in both the long and triple jumps.

“They did what they needed to do to win,” Lisbon coach Dean Hall said. “They needed to pick up points in key events, and did that.”

As expected, Lisbon’s Troy Clark took first place in the racewalk with a time of 6:33.9. Clark also took first in the 800-meter run and ran a leg of the 4×800-meter relay that placed second.

Winthrop came in a distant third with 73 points in the boys’ meet, while Hall Dale and Mt. Abram rounded out the top five.