LEWISTON – Bent to near the breaking point, Matt Cyr’s pole recoiled perfectly, sending the Lewiston vaulter high into the neon sky.
The sun had faded quickly behind the church spires, in the distance, causing the lights to come on at Don Roux Field. More than 50 Waterville athletes sat watching, as Gabe Remillard also continued to compete, while a scattered few Lewiston athletes also hung by the pit, anxiously awaiting the results of the final event.
Cyr won, and Lewiston’s Toby Poirier claimed third, pushing the boys’ point total to 70.5. The number was greater than in years past against Edward Little, but it was still not enough.
Paced by Colby Brooks and Garner LaValley in the sprints, Nick Kazar and Raynor Large in the distances and a sweep of the podium in the long jump, Edward Little upended the Blue Devils by six points, 76.5-70.5, at the Franklin Athletic Complex Friday. Waterville took third in the three-team meet with 52 points. All three schools are top-four contenders for the KVAC championship this Spring.
“The field events saved us from being totally embarrassed,” said Lewiston coach Ray Putnam. “We were honestly dreadful today. No one supported each other. We want everyone here to support each other. We’re not there yet. Until we win this meet, this is a monkey on our backs. When we win this meet I will call us legit. This meet is our litmus test.”
The mood in the Edward Little camp was much lighter.
“It’s always good when the kids work hard and when that hard work pays off,” said EL boys’ coach Ryan LaRoche. “With the distance team, it’s the extra Saturday workouts, the tempo runs, and you see it pay off like this. You see kids come on strong in the final 200 of a mile, passing other kids with 30 yards to go.”
One of those surprises for EL was Raynor Large, who competed in just two events because of a prior school commitment. In those two events, he took first (4×800 relay) and third (1,600-meters).
“He had never run before this year,” said LaRoche. “I had Raynor in JV soccer for two years, and I knew he was a good athlete, but I could never have dreamed that this year he’d be a top-caliber distance runner. We knew he’d give everything on the track, and we knew he has an intelligent, hard-working personality, but for him to be leading by example in a great bonus.”
Brooks flirted with two school records in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, missing each by less than a second, and also won the long jump event. Chris Ash had a solid day with two first-place finishes as well for Edward Little.
Toby Poirier led Lewiston point-getters with a second-place finish in the javelin (teammate Christian Reilly took first), a win in the high jump, a fourth in the triple jump and a third in the pole vault. The Lewiston 4×400-meter relay took first place, and the Blue Devils also swept the top two places in the 800-meter run.
“Toby did well in his events,” said Putnam. “Hossain Naji, as just a freshman, had a great meet too. (Kurt) Thibeault will be a little sore, but we worked hard today and earned that.”
EL’s girls edge Panthers
Edward Little just keeps on winning in the regular season. Despite losing ground all day in the speed events, the Eddies came on strong in the field, especially in the jumps and the throws, and topped Waterville 95.5-84.5.
“The score might not even show how close it was,” said EL coach Rebecca Hefty. “Waterville has a great team, a great distance team and we had huge performances all across the board. We added some qualifiers for KVAC’s and for states today, which is good.”
As expected, Lindsey Visbaras continued her strong jumping with wins in the long jump and triple jump, but what surprised some people was her time in the 100-meter dash – 12.8 seconds. It was the first race in that discipline this year for the senior chosen recently by Channel 6’s Bruce Glasier to the Channel 6 Varsity Club.
“That was a great time for her,” said Hefty,” and she hadn’t run it since last year in a meet, so that is amazing. Rachel Barlion had a great hurdle day. She went from the 18’s last year to 17.7 last week to 16.9 (Friday), all personal bests. Amanda Burgess had a great anchor leg of her relay, catching up to the Waterville girl with 50 meters to go. Carolyn Large set a 13-second PR in the two-mile, and we had big throws all day, too.”
Kristin Keene led the Eddies throwers with a 99-foot, 1-inch throw in the discus and a 26-foot, 9 1/4-inch throw in the shot put, both good for first-place finishes. Keene also finished second to Visbaras in the long jump.
Tchotcho Teko led Lewiston, which finished a distant third with 18 points, with a first-place finish in the javelin, while Tiffany LeBlond took five points for a first-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles, and another two points with fourth-place finishes in the 100- and 200-meter dashes.
Waterville’s Krista Fleming took first in the 200, while Amanda Rancourt grabbed top honors in the 400. Cynthia Hunter won the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs and Taylor Carey came out ahead in the racewalk.
EL moved ahead for good in the meet, though, when it took three places in the high jump, with Joli Frost taking top honors there.
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