BRUNSWICK — Ashten Hackett knew full well what her seedings hinted at Saturday, but the Edward Little senior wasn’t dwelling on the what if’s.

She was seeded first in two events and was second in another, but barely thought about the potential for her day if all went well.

“That definitely was in my head, but it is hard to think of it that way,” said Hackett. “It’s all mental.”

Instead, she took a one-event-at-a-time approach and made that work for her. She won the 200, the triple jump and the hurdles to lead the Red Eddies to a strong performance at the KVAC Championships Saturday at Bowdoin College.

Brunswick won both the boys’ and girls’ meets. Team scores were not available Saturday due to a computer glitch and were being recalculated. Waterville swept the team scores in Class B.

“We were seeded third coming in,” said EL coach Rebecca Hefty. “Our expectations were to improve our marks and scoring in the events we were in.”

EL, along with Cony and Mt. Ararat don’t use junior division athletes, so that makes it hard to keep up with the better programs that do. Still, the defending KVAC champs had great highlights Saturday despite not having 17 athletes that graduated from last year’s title team.

“We have 17 brand new athletes on this team,” said Hefty. “Our team was the smallest it’s ever been. We started with 26 and ended the season with 20 and brought pretty much the entire team to the KVACs. We added points and scored in every event that they were in.”

Hackett led the way with her three wins. Her victory in the 200 was the first time an EL runner has won that event since 2004.

“I just gave it all I got,” said Hackett. “I knew this was it, and I had to go.”

In the triple jump, she overcame an early fall to produce great results.

“I fell on my first try,” she said. “The second jump was 35-1, and that’s my best ever by an inch. I jump 35-0 in outdoor last year.”

EL also flooded the podium with a variety of finishers. EL took first, second and third in the hurdles and four out of six spots in the triple jump. The Red Eddies added three more placements in the shot and a pair in the long jump.

“A lot of girls stepped it up,” said Hackett. “Ayumi Ranucci is a freshman. She wasn’t expected to place at all, and she finished fifth and sixth in sprint events. That was really exciting.”

Behind Hackett in the 200, Ranucci was fifth and Felicia Binette was sixth. Binette was also third in the 55 dash. In the hurdles, Chyla Hiott was second. She also had a first in the long jump and a third in the triple. Sam Lamson was third in the hurdles to go with her third in the pole vault. Katherine Harmon had a second in the shot and triple jump while Jessie Nyholm added a second in the long jump and fourth in the triple.  Ashley Butler and Bri Robbins were fifth and sixth in the shot respectively.

“They got healthy,” said Hefty. “They knew coming in that they were going to compete like hell, and they did.”

On the boys’ side, EL was hoping to try and match last year’s second-place finish but knew that was a tall order.

“We were seeded third behind Brunswick and Mt. Ararat,” said EL coach Ryan Laroche. “Lewiston was right behind us. Our high-end goal was to finish second, knowing Brunswick had too much, but as long as everyone had a good day, we’d be OK with third or fourth place.”

EL lost 12 seniors from last year, half that were big meet scorers. That’s forced a number of other athletes to step into larger roles. EL didn’t drop many points but did move up in some events.

“It’s a rebuilding season, but I’m very pleased,” said Laroche. “We had great times all across the board.”

Taka Ranucci was fourth in the 200 and had sixth-place finishes in the long jump and 55-meter dash. Michael Lucas was second in the hurdles and 400. Connor Harris had a first in the high jump and fifth in the triple to go with a third in the 200 in the junior division. John Ford also had a win in the shot while Cody Meserve followed in fourth.

EL also got second’s from Jeremy Theriault (800), Ryan Farrisey (200) and Faisal Noor (two-mile). Noor trimmed 21 seconds off his personal best to earn a spot in the state meet.

“That’s the kind of stuff you get excited about,” said LaRoche.

In the junior division, EL ‘s Nathan Blais placed in multiple events, taking fourth in the 400 and sixth in the 55.

“Good things happened all over the place,” said Laroche. “That’s the kind of day we wanted to have. We wanted to move up where we could.”

Lewiston’s boys had some fine finishes as well. Ali Hersi was fourth in the 400 and fifth in the mile. Derrick Roy had a pair of placements, with a second in the high jump and a fourth in the pole vault. Kyle Palmer (hurdles) and Hussien Ibrahim (two-mile) each took thirds, while Tyler Roy and Elliot Chicone were fifth and sixth in the shot, respectively.

Lewiston’s junior division athletes were led by Rudy Pandora, Leo Gaghan and John Peters taking second, third and fourth respectively in the shot. Drew Olesowski added a fourth in the 55 dash.

The Blue Devil girls got a second from Kristen Therrien in the pole vault while Carly Yeung was second in the shot. Elizabeth Dixon added a fifth in the 400. In the junior division, Jessica Lalonde and Morgan Lessard led the way with a pair of finishes each in the 55-meter dash and 200.

Mt. Blue’s Melody Lam earned a spot in the state meet with a second in the 800.