Last year, it would have been easy to see how well Edward Little’s Lindsey Visbaras would do against Thornton Academy’s Jenna Pierpont. The two track stars would have faced each other at least twice already in three shared events: the long jump, 100- and 200-meter dashes.

This year, though, with Thornton and EL separated by the vast distance of separate conferences, they have yet to meet.

“It’s been tough this year, trying to find out about other teams,” EL coach Steve Robertson said. “We’ve had to rely on the information posted on the Internet, which has been spotty, but really this is the first time we even mention Thornton all year.”

Visbaras won four events at last week’s KVAC meet at Morse High School, the site for this year’s Class A state meet, while Pierpont won all three of her individual events and helped the 400 relay capture first place as well. On Saturday, the two will finally go head to head.

“It really will be a meet to watch,” Robertson said. “The three events where they overlap will be the key events in the meet, I think, and so will the two they run separately. It will be Lindsey’s triple jump against the 4×100 relay where Pierpont is running the anchor leg.”

The rivalry between the two girls’ teams was starting to blossom when EL shifted to the KVAC, and it will be one of the many sub-plots as the best athletes in the state meet one final time.

Thornton won its SMAA meet by 36 points over Scarborough, while the Eddies bested Mt. Ararat by 33 in the KVAC.

“Two years ago, we really feel like we lost the meet,” Robertson said. “Last year, it really felt like it was ripped away from us. There is a sense from our girls that they really want to take that back, but it’s going to be a challenge.”

Individually, there will be several local athletes to watch, mostly from Edward Little and Mt. Blue, which placed a solid third in the KVAC meet.

Carly Lochala, Lisa Hartung, Shannon Yates, Tory Gray, Tess Perry and Heather Groder all had solid performances in their events last Saturday and should help keep Mt. Blue in contention.

At Edward Little, Ally Thomas, Kristen Keene, Telma Rosquete, Lauren LaRoche, Brittany Roberge, Rachel Barlion will be among the several qualified athletes, along with Visbaras, looking to cash in for a fourth time in the last six years at the state meet.

Thornton Academy edged EL last year by less than two points to claim the crown.

Meanwhile, on the boys’ side of things in Class A, Edward Little pulled off a mild upset at the KVAC meet and ran away with an 80-74 win over Waterville. The defending state champions will face a wealth of talent from the teams in the southern tier of the state.

“For the first time in four or five years we are going down with no pressure,” EL coach Dan Campbell said. “We have no illusions of winning, and there is nothing up my sleeve. I am going down to watch some top teams battle it out and to support the kids that we have going, but we won’t be one of the top teams.”

Leading the charge from the SMAA is South Portland, followed closely by Deering and Portland. Those three schools combined for 12 wins in 19 events at the conference meet, and both Deering and South Portland figure to cut deeply into Edward Little’s heart and soul events, the distances.

“South Portland has the numbers,” Campbell said. “Deering and Portland are very solid teams, too. It should be a great meet.”

Individually, Lewiston had some stellar performances at the KVAC meet, and their 1,600 relay team remained undefeated with a win last Saturday. James Spaulding has run well in the sprints for the Blue Devils, and has also thrown and jumped well, qualifying in several events.

As a team, Lewiston will struggle with numbers and will likely not be a major factor, but several individuals have a chance to score well.

Oxford Hills has Jared Maher, this year’s KVAC champ in both the long and triple jumps. His jumps at the KVAC meet compare well with those from other parts of the state.

Greyhounds, Ramblers, Cougars hoping to roll

Dirigo and Winthrop may not have been rivals for very long, but after last weekend’s heartwrenching loss on a miscalculation, you can bet that the Dirigo girls’ track team will be out to prove a point on Saturday when they meet one last time in the Class C state meet in Dover-Foxcroft.

“They’ve been talking about it since last weekend,” Dirigo coach Donna Gilbert said. “They know and they are really hoping to come back and beat Winthrop at the state meet. We’ve done it before.”

Last week, Melissa Nguyen and Ashley Falcone led a charge in the hurdle events and four Winthrop girls placed in the pole vault to secure the Ramblers’ top spot. For Dirigo, the javelin and the middle-distance team proved to be its forte.

“The girls that are pretty strong in the middle distances are all very good girls,” Gilbert said. “They all do much better when they have competition, and there will be plenty of that this weekend.”

Around the state in Class C, Yarmouth and North Yarmouth Academy had strong showings among several Class B schools at the WMC meet, as did Cape Elizabeth. In the North, John Bapst looks as strong as ever. The Bapst girls decimated second place Orono 157-92 at the PVC small school meet Monday, while Greenville, the smallest school at the meet, came in third.

“We’ll just be happy to place in the top five, really,” Gilbert said. “We have some strong girls and they are all really determined.”

On the boys’ side, Lisbon will no longer have to deal with MVC nemesis Mountain Valley, which competes in Class B. Lisbon will have to deal with Class C nemesis Foxcroft Academy instead.

“We’re just going to go up there and have fun,” Lisbon coach Dean Hall said. “Foxcroft will be at home and will be tough because of that, John Bapst looks really strong as does Orono, and NYA is always tough, too.”

Foxcroft, the defending Class C champions, came in second at the PVC small school meet Monday after John Bapst placed three runners in scoring positions in the 3,200 to ice a victory.

In the West, Yarmouth and NYA look strong with finishes high among the Class B school at the WMC meet.

Class B

Belfast, Gorham, Old Town and York.

There is nothing very much in common among those schools, unless you happen to be involved in track and field.

Belfast dominated the KVAC B boys’ meet last weekend, while Old Town decimated the PVC large school meet. In the West, Gorham and York battled in a two-team meet for the WMC title, with Gorham winning by 61 points. York finished another 31 points ahead of the next closest team.

Those teams are on a collision course for the Class B title being handed out Saturday at Windham High School.

Locally, Leavitt finished a solid fourth at the KVAC B meet and will have some individuals looking to place among the elites, including Kyle Libby in the racewalk.

At Mountain Valley, a solid finish in the MVC meet is promising, but all their opponents compete in Class C, so it is hard to measure how well the Falcons will fare Saturday.

On the girls’ side, Leavitt clamored to a second-place finish behind Belfast in the KVAC-B meet last week.

Vanessa Fereshetian, Julia Crosby, Emily Jacobs, Alison Kenney and Sarah Rioux all had top individual finishes for the Hornets, while the 3,200 and 1,600 relays also struck KVAC gold.

Statewide, however, Gorham, Old Town and Belfast look to be the favorites.

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