BATH – Garner LaValley is far from being an expert at running 800 meters.
The Edward Little runner had competed in the 800 just once – in his team’s final regular season meet. His time of 2:08.74 in that race seeded him seventh Saturday, which would not have earned the team any points.
The 2:02.69 that he ran at Morse’s McMann Field, however, gave the Red Eddies six points that they had not counted on. LaValley’s time, along with strong performances by Nick Kazar in the distances, Colby Brooks in the sprints and Nate Chantrill in the throws helped EL to a 97-94 win over Waterville in the 2005 KVAC championship meet.
“We knew coming in, by seeds, that if we did what we were capable of doing, that we could win the meet,” said EL boys’ coach Ryan Laroche.
Travis Horner swept the hurdle events and set KVAC records in both events for Waterville, and also won the triple jump to earn 30 points for the Purple Panthers. Will Yankowski, seeded seventh in the 110-meter high hurdles, rose to second place and stole eight points, which at the time put Waterville ahead of EL.
“We had to try and rack up the points early and often,” said Laroche. “We knew the distance events, the sprints, the throws and the relays, were our bread and butter, and we buttered our bread.”
The Eddies’ hopes almost crumbled in the day’s first event when Brooks, competing in the long jump, felt his ankle give.
“It’s kind of nerve-wracking when your star athlete’s ankle goes crack,'” said Laroche. “And then you see two hours later he’s flirting with the school-record in the 100-meter dash. That’s what it takes to be a champion.”
The Lewiston boys, expected to be top contenders, finished fourth with 56 points, 15 points behind Mt. Blue.
“The kids gave it their best considering the distractions they had,” said Lewiston coach Ray Putnam. “There was a lot of pressure on them today to focus only on track and not on their prom, but they’re kids, and they want to focus on prom, too.”
Lewiston performed well in two of the relay events, finishing first by a large margin in the meet-opening 4×800-meter relay and second behind Edward Little in the 4×100-meter relay. EL, with Brooks as the anchor, set a new KVAC record at 44.91 seconds.
Mt. Blue’s top performers included Noah Paytas and Vincent Smith, who took second and third, respectively, in the 400-meter dash, and Adam Deveau, who won the 3,200-meter run ahead of Kazar, and finished second to the EL freshman in the 1,600. The Cougars’ 4×400-meter relay squad took first place.
Oxford Hills’ runners Dan Magoon (sprints), Jeff Tifft (hurdles), Josh Grenier (racewalk) and Ray Hayes (distance), and thrower John Pottle combined to give the Vikings 54 points, good for a sixth-place finish.
Mt. Ararat soars
Riding stellar performances by twins Beth and Jessie Wilcox, and Krystal Douglas and Rose Lebel, Mt. Ararat got past Edward Little by 14 points, 117-102.
In a surprise move that may have swung the momentum in her team’s favor, Mt. Ararat coach Diane Fournier entered Jessie Wilcox, primarily a distance runner, in the 200-meter dash against EL star Lindsey Visbaras. Visbaras still won, but Wilcox nabbed second, and evened out the points in that event.
Edward Little, meanwhile, had several athletes set personal best times and distances, including Visbaras, who set the KVAC record in the long jump at 17-feet, 9-inches. Visbaras won all four events in which she was entered, scooping up 40 points for the Red Eddies.
“Overall I think the team had a fantastic day,” said Visbaras. “Some people won’t think this feels as good as winning, but we ran our hearts out. We knew coming in we were underdogs, really. Mt. Ararat’s just loaded.”
EL was down by more than 40 points with just three events to go, but made giant leaps in the discus (18 points) and the triple jump (16 points) to pull closer. Mt. Ararat nailed the door shut with the last event on the track, winning the 4×400-meter relay in a meet-record time of 4:14.09.
EL took a win in the 4×100-meter relay, and Kristin Keene and Michelle Bernier went 1-2 in the discus.
Mt. Blue, meanwhile, put on a solid display of its own with a smaller team, scoring 73 points to finish third. Tess Perry scored in two of the sprinting events and took second in the triple and long jumps, Lisa Hartung took second in the 400 and Amanda Gunter took second in the 300-hurdles to pace the Cougars.
Carly Lochala led a strong charge for Mt. Blue in the racewalk when she, Sarah Peak and Heather Cyr finished 2-3-4.
Mandy Ivey (distances) and TC Cole (throws) led the Vikings to 33 points and an eighth-place finish.
The Class A State Championship Meet will be on Saturday, June 4 at Windham High School.
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