BRUNSWICK — Hunter Martin knew he had to do his part.

The Edward Little sprinter was favored in a number of events Saturday, and with that came the pressure of delivering for his Red Eddies.

“There was a little pressure on me,” Martin said. “My coach said that if I didn’t do what I could do in all my events, there was a possibility that we might not win this meet.”

That proved true in the KVAC indoor track championships at Bowdoin College. Edward Little won its third consecutive title — but not by much. The Red Eddies finished with 92.5 points, with Lewiston close behind at 85.

“Our team is very young,” EL coach Dan Pontbriand said. “Coming into this season we weren’t expecting too much. So this was a great surprise.”

The EL boys graduated three of its top all-time scorers. Though the KVAC meet was cancelled because of weather last year, the Red Eddies had won the two previous years.

“We had people that were seeded ninth or 10th that ended up seventh,” Pontbriand said. “We scored points in the shot put. We haven’t scored shot put points in five or six years. So that was nice.”

Messalonkee was third in the boys with 82 followed by Brunswick with 78. Mt. Ararat rounded out the top five with 60. Mt. Blue was seventh overall with 16 points.

On the girls’ side, Brunswick won with 120 points. Messalonskee was second with 103.5. Lewiston had a nice showing to take third with 72.5, followed by Skowhegan and Lawrence. Edward Little was seventh with 35 points.

The EL boys led for much of the meet, but Lewiston was within reach. After Lewiston won the 4×200 relay at the end of the meet, the Blue Devils were within just three points.

“We were up by 13 going into the relay,” Pontbriand said. “We dropped the baton and they scored 10 and we were up by only three going into the triple jump.”

Had EL not dropped the baton, Pontrbriand said the team might have produced some points to make for a little more buffer, but the meet came down the the triple jump.

EL’s Brad Morissette took third and Lewiston’s Jared Dumas finished sixth.

Martin certainly did his part earlier in the meet.

He won both the 200 and the 400 and finished second in the 55-meter dash.

“I was seeded first in all my events,” Martin said. “In the 55, I couldn’t hold on and I just let that one slip away. The 200 I couldn’t ask for a better PR than that, and I PRed in the 400. So I had a pretty good day.”

Lewiston’s Kwaber Akuffo-Anoff won the 55 in 6.77. Martin took second in 6.80. EL also took the next two spots with Trey Rogers in third and Tyler Blanchard in fourth.

In the 200, Martin won with a time of 23.48. Akuffo-Anoff was third for Lewiston and Daud Idow took sixth for the Blue Devils. EL also placed Rogers in fourth and Blanchard in seventh.

In the 400, Martin won with a time of 53.08.  Rogers placed third for EL. Lewiston had Idow take second and Abdifatah Mohamed placed fourth.

“We have a good group of sprinters,” Pontbriand said.

Morissette won the long jump with a distance of 20-00.0. EL also got a sixth from Jean-David Hurd in the event.

EL also had a strong showing in the pole vault. Brandon Binette took second. Charles Frahn was fourth while Brady Pleau and Chandler Burke also scored in a tie for sixth.

EL also got points from Izaac White with a fifth in the 800. Cameron Gage was fourth in the high jump. Noah Pelletier took seventh in the shot.

The Lewiston boys got a win and a third-place finish from Osman Doorow. He won the two-mile with a time of 10:11.75, running away from the competition down the stretch. Mt. Blue’s Aaron Willingham was second in 10:16.92.

“I didn’t want to take the lead, and I didn’t want to fall behind,” Doorow said. “So I was just trying to stay with the guy in the lead. Whoever took the lead, I was just going to follow.”

The Lewiston boys also got points from Abdi Shariff with a second in the 800. Corey Martin took fifth in the 55-meter hurdles. Alex Nazaroff took sixth in the shot.

For Mt. Blue, Willingham also took second in the mile finishing in 4:40.37.

On the girls’ side, Lewiston’s Adela Kalilwa battled a hip strain and some foul trouble in the long jump but still managed to win the event. She also took third in the triple, setting a new school mark.

“I didn’t ever think I’d do that good,” Kalilwa said of her long jump win. “In the final, my first jump was a foul as well. So then I just hit a big one.”

Despite her many fouls, she still managed to land a leap of 15-00.50.

She was also a member of the 4×200 relay team that won. She joined Heather Kendall, Jenny Martin and Olivia Norton to finish in 1:52.03, also a new school record.  Lewiston’s team of Taylor True, Mana Abdi, Farhiyo Alden and Faith Shaw won the 4×800 relay.

“We all had that goal to win it,”  said Kalilwa, who was battling a cold and fought off a sneeze during her leg. “I was so nervous. We didn’t know what was going to happen, but we wanted to win it no matter what happened.”

Kendall added a second in the 55 meter dash and a second in the 200.  Aden was fifth in the mile and third in the two-mile.  Shaw placed sixth in the 800 and seventh in the mile. Lewiston also got points from Isha Kasai with a sixth in the 55-meter dash. Martin took fourth in the 55 hurdles. Jacquelyn Dean was fifth in the high jump.

EL’s highlights included Anna Beaudet taking second in the triple jump, fourth in the 200 and fifth in the 55 meter dash. Katie Ferrara was seventh in the 55 and sixth in the long jump. Morgan Knowlton took fifth in the 400. Makayla Norcross was fifth in the 55 hurdles and fourth in the triple jump. Kailey Norcross placed third in the high jump. and sixth in the triple.

In the KVAC B meet, Waterville won both meets easily. They scored 177.50 in the boys’ meet. Belfast was second with 75 followed by Camden Hills in third with 44. In the girls’ meet, Waterville finished with 135. Belfast was second with 71. Erskine was third with 61.

kmills@sunjournal.com