AUGUSTA —  It was just a few years ago that the Lisbon boys’ track team watched the state championship meet come down to the final event.

That was 2009 and the Greyhounds came up short in the pursuit of a Class C state title.

“I still wake up screaming over that,” said Lisbon coach Dean Hall.

Saturday, the Greyhounds suffered a similar fate. Lisbon led for much of the day and went into the final relay with the lead. The Greyhounds had 59 points. Sacopee Valley had 58.5 and NYA had 54.

Lisbon’s hopes were dashed in that relay. The Greyhounds didn’t place while NYA and Sacopee Valley each earned points to surpass Lisbon.

“You just hope to be going into the last event and be ahead by half a point,” said Hall. “You want to be in that situation where you only do your best and we did.”

The Sacopee boys won the meet with 64.5 points while NYA finished second with 62. Lisbon was third with 59. Orono and Maranacook rounded out the top five with 55 and 37 points, respectively.

“I only had the boys coming in with 60-odd points,” said Hall. “We ended up with 59. Everybody kind of beat into each other today.”

Lisbon actually had higher expectations on the girls’ side, but the Greyhounds finished fourth overall. Orono won the meet with 126.75 followed by John Bapst and Traip, tied with 72. Lisbon ended with 59 followed by MCI with 39.75.  St. Dom’s finished in the top 10, tying for eighth with 22.

“They had great competition today,” said Hall. “We didn’t give up. It’s going to be awhile to be in that same situation again. It’s a great senior group. It’s disappointing, but when you get to this place with 50 odd teams and your in the top five, you should be proud of that.”

The Lisbon boys were in the lead for much of the day. Paced by Morgan Reeves and his two wins and  second-place finish and three finishers in the racewalk, the Greyhounds knew they were flirting with the lead.

“It was a strong day,” said Reeves. “We knew what we had coming in. We were seeded fourth today overall and were close. We had aspirations to gain first. It was right there. So I just wanted to try my hardest.”

Lisbon had the lead until NYA tied them late in the meet at 51 points apiece. Sacopee Valley was still within striking distance as well. After Reeves took second in the triple jump, Lisbon’s lead went to 59-51 over NYA.

“It’s been very exciting,” said Reeves. “It was very nerve-wracking. We’re always counting points. We’re always looking for coach. Coach is looking at points.”

Entering the final 4×400 relay, Lisbon was up by the half point. The Grehounds were seeded fifth coming into the relay with a time of 3:45.54. Sacopee Valley was the top seed with a time of 3:36.50 followed by NYA at 3:37.41.

In the race, Lisbon got off to a slow start and trailed the field after the first leg. C.J. Adams and Quincy Thompson made up some ground but the Greyhounds just couldn’t challenge the leaders. NYA finished second in the heat followed by the Hawks. Mattanawcook won the event with NYA second and Sacopee third.

“The heat before that ran our time,” said Hall. “So we knew we had to exceed that. We had to get in the mix with NYA and Sacopee, but they’re 10 seconds faster than us.”

Reeves won the long jump and the pole vault. He struggled with nerves and fouls in the long jump but finally prevailed with a leap of 21-05.

“After the fourth foul, I said, ‘I’m going to beast mode this,’ and I jumped the last one,” said Reeves.

He thought the pole vault would be a tough win against Orono’s David Frederick. The junior from Orono jumped only 11-06 while Reeves leaped 12-06.

“The kid from Orono had a bad day and I had a good day,” said Reeves, who added a second in the triple jump with a 41-02.25.

Another big event for the Greyhounds was the racewalk. Sophomore Tyler Bard won the event in 7:07 while teammate Ben Kates took second in 7:33.62. Alex Hall took sixth in 8:23.21.

“I was still worried,” said Bard, who was the top seed in the event. “You can’t just go by the seeds. I wanted to try for a PR. You just work your hardest so there’s no regrets and there were no regrets.”

Placing three in the event was a big early boost for the Greyhounds. Bard credited the coaching from Hank Fuller.

“It’s all to coach Fuller,” said Bard. “He’s a great coach. He wont’ tell you he’s a great coach. I definitely thought we could get three on the podium.”

Lisbon also got a sixth in the 300 hurdles from Kyle Sheehan and a seventh in the long jump from Aaron Halls.

Other locals in the boys’ meet included Winthrop’s Kam Souza with a win in the 800 and a fourth in the javelin.  Teammate Zach Nadeau placed third in the shot. Dirigo’s Bryan Blackman placed in two events, taking second in the 100 and 200. Telstar’s Josef Holt-Andrews placed third in the 3,200 and 1,600. St. Dom’s Patrick Lachance took third in the racewalk.

In the girls’ meet, Lisbon got a win from Lindsey Whitney in the racewalk in 8:20.80. Teammates Olivia Bulgin took fifth while Ashley Field was seventh.

The Greyhounds also got a second from Brianna Moore in the discus and a fifth from Justice Fraser-Gagnon in the same event. Mia Durgin took fourth in the pole vault. Gabby Ouellette placed third in the high jump and sixth in the long jump. Kaitlyn Doustou added a seventh in the high jump. Allie Bubar took seventh in the discus while Angelica Bulgin placed third in the javelin with teammate Kayla Angelico placing fifth in the javelin.

Other locals included Mt. Abram’s Sadie James placing second in the 3,200 and third in the 1,600. St. Dom’s Marley Byrne was third in the 200, fifth in the 100 and third in the triple.

Monmouth’s Tiffany Pease was fifth in the 300 hurdles with teammate Melissa Brassard placing seventh. Dirigo’s Silvia Lutick was fifth in the 200 and fourth in the 400. Telstar’s Katie Blaszczak was seventh in the 200 and sixth in the 400. St. Dom’s Ellen Tuttle placed sixth in the racewalk. Dirigo’s Kayla Gaudin was fourth in the shot.Winthrop’s Rachel Ingram took fifth in the triple jump.

kmills@sunjournal.com

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