AUGUSTA — There was none of the exaggerated hollering, hugging or jumping into teammates’ arms that usually prevail after an elite team completes its routine at a championship meet.

Lewiston was reserved, maybe even a little glum, after entertaining the masses Saturday night at Augusta Civic Center.

Perhaps the Blue Devils are their own worst critic. They’ve set the bar high for years, and this year’s Eastern Class A championship routine wasn’t the cleanest of that dynasty.

But it was plenty good enough.

Lewiston set the mood with a Janet Jackson soundtrack and a declaration that “it’s all about control,” then went about the business of taking precisely that.

The Devils defended their title with ease, rolling up 155.5 points on a scale of 175. Second-place Bangor was more than eight points back.

“All our competitors in the West are hitting clean routines and we’re getting the same scores,” Lewiston coach Lynnette Morency said. “It’s just little fluky stuff. If we could just hit a clean routine. I think we’re saving it for states.”

High energy, high difficulty and its usual dazzling choreography carried Lewiston to the top.

Senior tri-captains Tiana Lacombe, Shae Godbout and Krista Thomas are the strongest links to the 2011 Devils, who swept conference, regional and state titles and set an all-time scoring record in the process.

“There’s always room for improvement, but I’m proud of my team. We accomplished what we needed to,” Lacombe said. “We’re going to keep working harder so that when it comes time for states, we’re going to bring it. We definitely are familiar with winning, so I hope that our team comes together and I think that we’re going to.”

Lewiston’s regional score was its highest to date after wins at the KVAC and Kora Temple Shriners meets.

“It’s a completely different team,” Morency said. “I have 10 new people. And even with the 10 veterans, four of them were freshmen and they basically had to hold on.”

Edward Little (fourth, 132.9) and Oxford Hills (116.2, sixth) also made the six-team cut for the state meet, to be held here Saturday, Feb. 11.

Saturday was nearly a clean sweep for schools within a stone’s throw of the Androscoggin River.

Lisbon captured the Western Class C crown, while Leavitt took second to Medomak Valley on the Western B stage.

Five seniors provided the cornerstone for Lisbon’s championship effort, although that’s down from nine a year ago.

Faced with that turnover, a few of the Greyhounds even admit to thinking this would be a building season.

“We won (the Mountain Valley Conference) and had a great team with lot of tumbling,” said senior Cody Donovan. “We kind of thought this year wasn’t going to go that well.”

Dropping enrollment allowed Lisbon to drop from Class B to Class C, however, and that distinction didn’t hurt them a bit.

The Greyhounds’ “disco fever” routine featured a higher degree of difficulty than most of their eight opponents could muster.

“Coming into the MVCs, we didn’t have as much experience,” senior Hannah Hall said. “We didn’t have our tucks in there. We didn’t have the twist double. We kind of dulled it down to keep it safe for MVCs, and we stepped it up today.”

Lisbon’s highlight came in the middle of its routine, when Russell hoisted the diminutive Hall high into the air and made the effortless catch as his twisting classmate descended to the mat.

The 2011 Lisbon team boasted three boys on its roster. Russell was the only male competitor in the entire Class C meet Saturday.

“I wish I tumbled,” Russell said with a smile, “but I’m happy.”

All the Greyhounds were elated — even relieved — after a championship effort that wasn’t without adversity throughout the rehearsal season.

“They’re great, hard-working kids. Through injuries, through grades, they just persevered through everything,” Lisbon coach Kristina Doughty said. “Everything went well. They just needed to stay focused and do nothing more than they do at practice.”

Winter weather disrupted the Greyhounds’ schedule leading up to both the league and regional meets.

“We pulled it together last minute. We had a rough week,” Hall said. “We had to pull it together Thursday because we didn’t have practice Friday.”

Lisbon outdistanced Madison by a count of 122.1 points to 117.8. Monmouth (third, 103) and St. Dom’s (102.4) also qualified for the state meet.

Leavitt was runner-up to Medomak for the second year in a row, but that doesn’t even scratch the surface of the Hornets’ story.

The KVAC champions were two days away from challenging for the regional title when a member of the squad sustained a season-ending injury at practice.

“It happened Thursday, and then Friday we had the snow day. We had to re-do our whole routine,” Leavitt coach Brenda Perry said.

Being assigned to the first half of the afternoon/evening session gave the Hornets at least a short window of time to strategize. Leavitt met at the school at 8:30 a.m. Saturday for practice.

“We lost a tumbler. It wasn’t a full practice, but we moved people around into the positions there were supposed to be in,” Perry said.

They’ll have two weeks to prepare for the state meet. On such short notice, though, the Hornets couldn’t make enough changes on the fly to match Medomak’s energy or level of difficulty.

The Panthers parlayed their Beatles-themed routine into 142.9 points, reversing the result of the KVAC championship 12 days ago.

Leavitt (134.6 in second) won its first conference title in 20 years in the KVAC Class B competition.

“Today says a lot about the type of kids they are,” Perry said. “We’ve had a great season.”

Mountain Valley was fourth and Gray-New Gloucester fifth, transferring into the state meet.

At Bangor Auditorium, Buckfield added its name to the list of local state qualifiers by finishing fourth in the 12-team Class D super regional Saturday.

koakes@sunjournal.com

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