BATH – Paced by an unprecedented 64 points in the three throwing events alone, and by 38 individual points from Emily Dodge – including three first-place finishes – Edward Little surpassed its own lavish projections in the KVAC Girls’ Class A championship meet, reaching 282 points to run away with the title by 192 over second-place Brunswick (90), and a staggering 208 over second-seeded Mt. Ararat (74).

“We’re extremely overjoyed with the effort today,” EL girls’ coach Rebecca Hefty said. “I know the points are astronomical, but ultimately, it’s about getting better marks and getting more people in for next week at states, and trying different things for next week.”

The Edward Little girls’ throwers accounted for nearly one quarter of the team’s astounding total, something that has been the squad’s goal from the beginning of the season.

“Throwers take season after season of training to get better,” throwing coach Mike Smith said. “It’s very rare to have many underclassmen doing well in the throwing events, and we don’t have a lot of seniors, either. It’s staggered all over the place.”

Last year, the Eddies’ throwing group managed 28 points in the KVAC meet in the three events – javelin, discus and shot put. The 36-point jump was calculated, in a way, but even exceeded Smith’s and Hefty’s expectations.

“I told them the other day, there has got to be no other throwing team in this state that a) has this many kids going to the state meet, and b) is this technical,” Hefty said. “They stuck it out, through all the training, and this is what they have to show for it.”

Leading the way were sophomore Frankie Lally (tops in the javelin), junior Emily Blackwood (first in the discus) and senior Josie Lahey (fourth in shot put).

Also adding to the Eddies depth was team newcomer Kirsten Prue. A commitment to a basketball team didn’t allow Prue to finish out the season with the EL lacrosse team, but track and field’s more flexible dates have allowed her to continue to represent her school in athletics. Saturday, Prue placed fifth in the javelin with a personal best of 99 feet, 3 inches, and sixth in the shot put at 29 feet, 5 inches.

“She’s one of those kids, she’s just an athlete,” Hefty said of Prue. “You give her technique, and she goes and does it until she has it down right.”

EL fell .07 seconds short of its goal of sweeping the relay events, too, as Brunswick edged the Eddies in the day’s final track event, the 4×400-meter relay. The Eddies’ time of 4:12.73 was better than the previous meet record, but the Brunswick squad, anchored by all-state athlete Kristen Slotnick, out-kicked EL’s entry. Slotnick also won three individual events – the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes.

Lewiston had 19 points to finish in fifth position, earning four in the 800 from Toby Crispin, one in the 100-meter hurdles (Kate DeAngelis), seven in the three relay events, five from Maame Bonsu in the jumps and two from Nicole Court-Menendez in the racewalk.

More of the same

Not to be outdone, the Edward Little boys parlayed 72 points from their throwers – 28 from Dylon Therrien alone – and a resounding sweep of the relay events into an 80-point victory, 183 to 103, over rival Lewiston.

James Philbrook, known more for his prowess handling a basketball during the winter months, did his best juggling act in typifying the Eddies’ day, competing in three events simultaneously, and scoring well in each.

After qualifying for the finals in the triple jump, Philbrook was called on a final call to his heat in the 300-meter hurdles. He ran his heat, but barely had time to catch his breath before being summoned to take his jump at the high jump pit.

One jump later, it was back to the triple jump to finish up there.

His results? A third-place finish in the hurdles, a second in the high jump, and a third at the triple jump.

“It varies each year which events might run into each other, depending on how fast the meet goes,” EL boys’ coach Ryan Laroche said. “It just happened to work out that way for James this year. What a day to have with those circumstances.”

Josh Clark outdueled Brunswick’s Mike Slovenski for the second consecutive week in the pole vault for the Eddies to cap the meet.

Perhaps the surprise of the meet was a second-place finish for Lewiston. Seeded four points behind Brunswick to begin the day, the Devils more than made up that deficit and then some, edging the Dragons by 12 points to secure a team silver.

“With the way 90 percent of the boys performed today, I couldn’t be happier,” Putnam said. “I may not look happy all the time, and I may not sound it, but this was a good performance today. I’m very happy.”

Andrew Pulk led the Devils in the sprints and jumps with 24 individual points, while the Lewiston distance team accounted for another 24. In the field events, Lewiston went 2-3-5 in the long jump and 2-6 in the triple jump.

In the races of the day on the track, Mt. Blue’s Kelton Cullenberg set the pace in the mile before falling back to third, but made up for it in the two-mile with a thrilling victory over Brunswick’s Will Geoghegan.

“I really wanted to go for a good time,” Cullenberg said. “Will’s very good at pacing himself, so I knew that if I stuck right with him, I’d get a good time. It’s tough leading most of the race and then getting passed at the end, so I was glad I was able to get back for the two-mile.”

Going national

The performance of the meet in the field events came late in the afternoon, as menacing dark clouds began to drift toward McCann Field. Lewiston’s Josh Pelletier used a longer runway and a new javelin to launch a new personal best in the javelin, reaching 185 feet, 4 inches on his third of six throws.

“My shoulder’s never felt better,” Pelletier said.

His previous best was 177 feet, 4 inches. He took his first throw Saturday with his old javelin, reaching just more than 181 feet. He switched for his second and sent a wobbler sailing 182 feet, following that up with his best of the afternoon.

“After that first one, I knew I could let it all go,” Pelletier said.