BATH — When endless winning or championship streaks finally do fizzle out in sports, it’s usually a skin-of-the-teeth proposition.

And to 10-time reigning KVAC boys’ track and field champion Edward Little’s credit, it did go down swinging Saturday at McMann Field, finished second. But close and dripping with drama, it wasn’t.

Lewiston won its first outright conference championship by a staggering margin of 75 points. Led by multiple winners Isaiah Harris, Hassan Mohamed and Osman Doorow, the Blue Devils nearly swept the running events and accumulated 163 points. EL (88) edged Mt. Blue (76) and Brunswick (75) for runner-up laurels.

“It makes up for last year, because last year we should have won but we had a couple of guys wuss out,” Lewiston coach T.J. Niles. “Today nobody really did that. Everybody stepped up.”

Lewiston also walked away with a piece of the 2012 title, finishing in a tie with Edward Little.

This time it was no contest. Mohamed won the 100 and 200 meters. Harris conquered the 400 and 800. Doorow dominated the 1,600 and 3,200.

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Ibrahim Mohamed and Corey Martin went one-two for the Devils in the 300 hurdles. The only thing preventing Lewiston from a sweep of the relays was an illegal baton exchange between the first and second legs of the 4×800.

“We push each other,” said Hassan Mohamed, who edged EL’s tandem of Trey Rogers and Hunter Martin in both sprints. “Our coach motivated us on the bus. That meant a lot to us today, seriously.”

Niles openly acknowledged that the Devils were the odds-on favorite, but he tried to use psychology in hopes that it would blur his team’s vision of the mathematics.

And yes, a disappointing loss to Brewer in the River City Rivals meet on home turf a week ago probably helped the coach’s cause.

“I tried not to talk too much about how big our lead really was. We had an 85-point lead in the virtual meet, but we’ve removed some scorers through the season, so I figured we’d win by 40,” Niles said. “I told them we have a good lead, but they still needed to go out and PR (set personal records) and get ready for states, because states is what we’re shooting for. I was hoping.”

Sheon James gave the Devils a win in long jump with a lifetime best of over 20 feet.

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Hassan Mohamed, Harris, Ibrahim Hussein and Daud Idow applied the exclamation point by shattering the meet record in the 4×400 with a time of 3:28.01. Harris ran the anchor leg and won by more than a full straightaway.

Lewiston’s middle-distance ace also defeated Idow by nearly two seconds to win the 400 in 49.6 seconds and went a mildly disappointing (for him) 1:57.57 to rule the 800.

“I was happy with the 400 time. The 800 I’m happy with the win,” Harris said. “I was just looking to get a faster time. Doing them back-to-back, I’m not too upset.”

Martin and Rogers each had a 30-point day for EL. In addition to their individual sprint efforts, they led the Eddies’ 4×100 and 4×400 teams to second place.

Cole Butler and Brandon Henry each went more than 10 feet beyond their best previous distances to finish first and third, respectively, in javelin.

“I think we did good as a team,” Butler said. “We definitely talked the past couple weeks about how we need to bear down as a team to win rather than work individually. It is an individual sport, but we need to come out and work for it together. Coach has made that pretty clear.”

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Sophomore Spencer Dunn successfully defended his title in the race walk for EL.

“We knew we just didn’t have the depth,” EL coach Ryan LaRoche said. “All you need to know about this meet is the second heat of the 200, where Lewiston went 1-3-4-5, plus they won the fast heat. So not only do they win but they have five of the top 12. But if this is a down year, I’ll take it.”

A freak incident may have cost Mt. Blue a chance to nip EL for second.

While running in the top three in the third leg of the 4×100 and gaining on Lewiston, J.T. Williams felt one of his sneakers completely come apart. He lost his balance and fell to the track, suffering a hamstring injury.

In addition to keeping the third-seeded Cougars from scoring sure points in that event, Williams’ misfortune also caused him to be scratched from the 200 meters and shot put.

“That could have potentially been in our favor and we could have placed second, but what do you do?” Mt. Blue coach Kelley Cullenberg. “He’s an amazing kid. Such a good kid. It’s killing him.”

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Nate Pratt-Holt, a sophomore who transferred to Mt. Blue from Spruce Mountain this school year, won the triple jump. He also tied for third in long jump on his way to winning the Don Matheson Award as the outstanding boy in Class A field events.

Steven Minns (race walk), Colin Richards (discus) and Josh Horne (mile and two-mile) each finished second in their events for Mt. Blue, whose roster more than doubled this season with the opening of a new track at the refurbished high school.

“We’ve got some new add-ons, recruits,” Pratt-Holt said. “It’s really strengthened the team a lot.”

Powerful Waterville maintained its grip on the Class B boys’ title by a count of 147-117 over Belfast. Maranacook (80) was third.

Leavitt, led by Isaish Trask (third, 200), Reilly Burgess (fourth, javelin) and Harrison Knowlton (fourth, 3,200), finished eighth.


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