AUGUSTA —  When the Lisbon track team arrives at the Class C state championship meet Saturday, it will have a familiar feel for the Greyhounds.

The meet is at Cony High School, where Lisbon produced a clean sweep of the boys’ and girls’ Mountain Valley Conference championships a week ago.

“We’ve got to build on that,” said Lisbon coach Dean Hall. “This is the third week we’ve been here. It’s kind of like our home away from home.”

Familiarity and comfort on the track to which they are accustomed will help the Greyhounds, but there’s still many unknowns.

“You still have to go against some of the best competitors in the state of Maine,” said Hall. “You look around Class A, B and C and some of the C times are comparable if not better than some of the A and B times.”

Despite the string of seven straight conference titles for both boys’ and girls’, Lisbon is without a state title. The Greyhounds expect to be in the thick of it Saturday.

“This is the strongest girls team in many years,” said Hall. “It’s a top one. It can be a little frustrating, too, because you have a strong team, but you have to go against the other strong teams. So it’s hard to gauge.”

The Lisbon girls expect to be in the hunt with the defending champions from Traip, as well as Orono and John Bapst. In the boys’ meet, Sacopee Valley, Orono and NYA are among the favorites.

“We’ve seen most of the teams, but we haven’t seen John Bapst and we haven’t seen Orono,” said Hall. “So, you don’t know.”

The Lisbon girls’ have senior Lindsey Whitney as the top seed in the racewalk. Kayla Angelico, who won three events at the MVC meet, is among the top contenders in the 300 hurdles and javelin. Briana Moore won two events at the MVC meet and could be a force in the shot and the discus. Gabby Ouellette is one of the favorites in the high jump. Olivia Bulgin (racewalk), Kaitlyn Doustou (high jump) and Angelica Bulgin (javelin, 800) are all seeded among the leaders in their events.

Also in the girls’ meet, St. Dom’s Marley Byrne is a contender in the 100, triple jump and 200. Mt. Abram’s Sadie James is a favorite in the 1,600 and 3,200. Monmouth’s Melissa Brassard is seeded among the leaders in the 100 hurdles. St. Dom’s also has Ellen Tuttle seeded high in the racewalk. Dirigo has contenders in Silvia Lutick in the 400, Miranda Shurtleff in the javelin and Kayla Gaudin in the shot.

In the boy’s meet, Lisbon’s Morgan Reeves is coming off three wins at the MVC meet. He’s a favorite in the long jump, triple and pole vault. The Greyhounds also have Tyler Bard and Ben Kates among the contenders in the racewalk as well as Kyle Sheenan in the hurdles.

Dirigo’s Bryan Blackman is among the top seeds in the 100 and 200. Telstar’s Josef Holt-Andrews could place in the 1,600 and 3,200. Teammate William Lyman is seeded high in the shot. St. Dom’s has Patrick Lachance (racewalk) and Robbie Pallozzi (javelin) among the leaders while Winthrop has Kameron Souza (800) and Zach Nadeau (shot).

kmills@sunjournal.com

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