By Dave St. Hilaire,Staff Writer

BATH – Colby Brooks didn’t just beat the rest of the field Saturday. He blew it away.

The Edward Little senior won all four of his events in dominating fashion to lead the Red Eddies to their third consecutive conference title at the KVAC Track and Field Championships on Saturday.

The Red Eddies held off the Lewiston Blue Devils by a 170-161 margin. Mt. Ararat was a distant third with 73 points.

Brooks easily won his specialties as he knocked off Lewiston’s Kurt Thibeault in both the 100 and 200 meter dashes. He turned in an 11.01-second time in the 100 and won by .59 seconds as he finished well ahead of the pack. In the 200, he crossed the finish line at 22.59 to beat Thibeault by more than a second.

Brooks also helped the Red Eddies’ 400-relay team to a victory. But perhaps his most impressive race was the 400. His first race at that distance came a week ago and his time gave him the top seed Saturday. After starting in a light jog, he slowly accelerated past the field of runners to turn in an impressive time of 50.01 to beat Thibeault again.

“I ran an excel,” said Brooks. “I just gradually go until I start sprinting. I’ve been practicing. I know what to do.”

“He put a nice exclamation mark on his KVAC career, that’s for sure,” said Edward Little coach Ryan LaRoche. “Colby did what most sprinters in Maine only dream about.”

Edward Little was helped out by first-place finishes from Brian Despres in the discus (136-feet, 2-inches), Tom Esponette in the 1,600-meter race walk (he also took second in the 3,200 run), Garner LaValley (16.0) in the 110 hurdles and the 1,600-meter relay team.

The Blue Devils hung close to the Red Eddies all day long despite losing Jeff Lucier early in the day to a sore hamstring. They received big days from Toby Poirer and Bashir Mohamed who both collected a pair of individual wins. Poirer won the high jump (6-0) and javelin (172-7) while Mohamed took home the long distance double by winning the 1,600 (4:34.37) and 3,200 (10.05.92).

In the 1,600, Mohamed kept a low profile before pulling out in front to stay at the halfway mark.

“I usually don’t start off fast,” said Mohamed. “I like to draft and I wanted to kick at the 800 (mark). I had to give it my all.”

The Blue Devils grabbed the top spot in two other events, as Jared Turcotte beat his personal best by two feet in winning the long jump (21-0 ) and Hossain Naji won the 300 hurdles (43.47).

Brunswick won the Class A girls team title by a 103-93 score over Mt. Ararat. Edward Little (85.5) was third with Mt. Blue (58) coming in fourth.

Edward Little captured four first-place spots as Teresa Ranucci won the race walk (9:01.13), the 400 and 1,600 relays and the 300 hurdles. Kelsey Pettengill was the hurdle winner and ran key legs on both relay teams.

“The (hurdle) race went well,” Pettengill said. “My coach has been pushing me to go out hard. Once I get past the first four hurdles, I’m all set.”

Lewiston freshman Kim Archibald won the discus with a personal-best 91-11.

Waterville took home the top Class B team honors in both the boys and girls. The Purple Panthers beat Maranacook by a 169.5-67.5 margin. The boys won 125.5-106.5 over Belfast. Leavitt finished fourth in both divisions.

Leavitt’s Jeff Ramos set a new KVAC mark in the high jump with a winning leap of 6-8. After barely missing on his second attempt at that height, he nailed his third jump.

“I couldn’t get 6-6 all year,” said Ramos. “It felt good hearing fans cheering for me that don’t know me. The adrenaline usually gets me on the third jump.”

Leavitt also picked up wins in the 800 (2:08.4) by Justin Fereshetian and by Ryan Fitzsimmons in the race walk (7:41.06).

The Hornet girls had a first place finish from Amanda Adamen in the triple jump (33-2). Maranacook’s Abby Pullen grabbed the top spots in both the 1,600 (5:18.84) and the 3,200 (11:35.3) while Alyssa Neptune took the 100 (13.22) and 200 (27.67) double. Livia Gaewksy won the race walk (8:20.73) for the Black Bears.

dst.hilaire@sunjournal.com