Once April’s page is ripped from the calendar, most spring high school sports teams start becoming obsessed with their won-lost record.

Lisbon track and field, perennial scourge of the Mountain Valley Conference, couldn’t care less.

“That’s the hard part. Kids think the wins and losses thing means a lot, and it really doesn’t,” said Lisbon coach Dean Hall.

“It’s about qualifying kids for states and getting ready for MVCs.”

Oh, don’t get the Greyhounds wrong. Few teams in the state, particularly Class C, flaunt their depth and the passion for competition.

Rather than pick on rivals its own size and usually much smaller, Lisbon traditionally tests its mettle against schools with rosters and enrollments twice as big.

It doesn’t allow the Greyhounds to fatten the win column during the regular season. But it almost always pays off at season’s end, when Lisbon will be a heavy favorite to defend its Mountain Valley Conference championships and contend for the Class C state crown, as well.

“Having only a dirt track,” said Hall, “we like to go out and train at places where they actually have lines.”

Lisbon has competed the last three Thursdays against a cyclone of Class A and B competition.

In their season opener, the Greyhounds defeated Oxford Hills, Leavitt and Cony in both the boys’ and girls’ meets, trailing only Lewiston.

Kyle Huston (high jump), Erik Metzger (400 meters), Tyler Campbell (racewalk) and Cam Bubar’s 4×400 relay squad logged event victories for the boys. Rebekah Sullivan topped the girls’ discus field.

School vacation week took the Greyhounds to the Tom Foley Invitational at Falmouth, a showcase stacked with WMC, KVAC and SMAA opponents.

Metzger and Bubar went one-two in the boys’ 400. Huston posted three top-three results, including another high jump triumph. Campbell again was a racewalk winner, with Tara Metzger (second, long jump) and George Clement (second, triple jump) also shining brightly.

“You know what you’re going to get out of Rebekah Sullivan, out of Kyle Huston, out of Cam Bubar,” said Hall. “To have Erik Metzger take it to another level and Junior Clement become a force in three jumps, that’s what you want to see.”

Lisbon got to see the powerful Edward Little girls up-close in its most recent meet, finishing third behind the Red Eddies and Blue Devils on April 30.

Sullivan captured the shot put by almost three feet against the Class A field and was second in the discus to EL’s Emily Blackwood.

“You go to some of these meets and see EL enter 25 people in the 200. OK, it was 24. I lost count,” joked Hall. “It’s hard (even) in events when you have one athlete and the other team has five, but you’re making yourself better.”

Due to Tuesday’s inclement weather, Lisbon’s rugged schedule will include back-to-back meets this week at Wiscasset on Thursday and Gardiner on Friday.

Passing the baton

Having won two straight championships and set a state record with seven different athletes, Edward Little’s latest new-look 4×100 boys’ relay team is starting to look every bit as potent as its predecessors.

The grouping of Steven Giorgetti, Brandon Gruver, Buddy Foss and Taka Ranucci won its event in a meet against Lewiston and Lisbon last week.

Giorgetti and Foss are veterans of last year’s state meet. Foss is the only holdover from the foursome that set the Class A state standard in 2007.

“We’ll be competitive,” Edward Little coach Ryan LaRoche said cautiously. “Looking at the whole team, sprints are possibly our weak spot.”

Foss (200), Gruver (110 hurdles), Jeremy Theriault (800), Dylon Therrien (discus) and Jacob Dubois (shot put) also picked up individual event wins in the April 30 competition.

Four-ocious

Derick Roy nearly hit a midseason grand slam Tuesday afternoon.

Roy, a force in the field events for Lewiston, won the pole vault, triple jump and long jump for the Blue Devils in their meet at Leavitt Area High School.

Leavitt’s Lauren Turner denied Roy a possible fourth win, edging him in high jump.