BRUNSWICK – The Edward Little boys’ team lost three valuable points at Saturday’s Class A track and field championships.
Lewiston won the team title by just three and one-half points.
With only the 3,200 run and the 1,600 relay remaining, and less than two points separating the Red Eddies and the Blue Devils, every point mattered.
The Blue Devils held a slight edge in the 3,200 with Bashir Mohamed entered as the fifth seed. The Red Eddies countered with Tom Esponette and Nick Kazar. Although neither was seeded in the top 10, both of them brought big-race experience.
“I think we’ll get points by (both of them),” EL assistant coach Dan Campbell said prior to the race.
While Kazar quickly fell toward the back of the pack, Campbell’s hunch on Esponette began to take shape. He found Mohamed’s outside shoulder and kept his most important competitor in view.
With two laps remaining, Mohamed began falling off the pace and it was evident he wasn’t going to score any points for the eventual state champions.
Esponette was in position to score points, but he wanted to give himself a stronger finish. Campbell noticed his runner was boxed in and shouted instructions to Esponette as he ran by.
“Tommy was inside and Coach Campbell hollered for him to get outside,” said EL coach Ryan LaRoche. “He’d been elbowed two or three times and decided it was his turn.”
While the initial elbows went unnoticed, Esponette’s retaliation came on the wrong side of the track.
“He did it right in front of the head official,” said LaRoche.
Esponette initially finished in fifth place before being disqualified.
Moments later an announcement came over the loud speaker informing coaches to leave the infield.
“We know who you are,” said the announcer. Coaches are not supposed to be on the infield.”
Outside the officials tent on the infield was LaRoche, looking for an official to find out about the disqualification. He didn’t receive the answer he was hoping for.
It took a few minutes for the Blue Devils to realize what had happened.
“Coach Putnam told us about it about 10 minutes after the race,” said Lewiston’s Abdirazak “Speedy” Mohamed whose first leg in the relay race helped the Blue Devils win the state title.
“That’s when we knew we had a chance to win.”
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