The Leavitt boys track and field team excelled in the rain and now will try to win its first state championship indoors.

Saturday’s state championship meets took place in constant rain that sometimes turned into downpours. The Class B meet, held at Freeport High School, had to postpone the boys and girls pole vault and boys high jump competitions to another day.

Those events, according to Leavitt coach Jamie Juntura, will be held indoors at Bates College on Tuesday at noon.

The York girls have already wrapped up the team title, with a 36-point lead heading into the final event. The boys team title is still up for grabs. Leavitt leads with 79 points, followed by York with 73.

“I’m glad we’re going into this with a six-point lead,” Juntura said Monday.

Now all the Hornets need to do is hold off the Wildcats, which won’t be easy.

On paper, York has the highest-seeded high jumper, Gavin Davis, who has a seed mark of 6 feet, 4 inches. The Hornets have the fifth-seeded jumper, Stephen Pierre (6-0).

If both finish as they are seeded, the Wildcats will earn 10 points and the Hornets will receive four. Those results would even the score at 83-83.

In the pole vault, York’s Charlie Newton is seeded fifth and Leavitt’s Cole Johanson is outside of the points at 10. Those results would give the Wildcats the state title by a score of 87-83.

That’s only on paper, though. The high jump and the pole vault can be tricky events and the actual results can vary from the pre-meet seeds. There are also athletes from other schools who can affect the scoring.

For instance, in the high jump, between Davis and Pierre are Old Town’s Corbin Flewelling (6-2), Ellsworth’s Drew Pierson (6-1.25) and Freeport’s Henry Horne (6-0).

Flewelling won the long jump and triple jump state titles Saturday — repeating in both events. Horne not only won the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs on Saturday, he also is the defending state champion in the high jump, having jumped 6-2 at last year’s Class B meet.

“We’re really rooting for our guy, but we’re also rooting for Freeport to do some big stuff,” Juntura said. “And that’s kind of the thing, like, at these meets … I’ve seen the best high jumper in the competition not clear a height. And then, all of a sudden, the field breaks wide open. And then people can tie.”

Ties can also be a factor, with the higher points going to the jumper who reached the height in fewer attempts. Tied with Pierre and Horne at 6-0 are Cony’s Conor Morin and Old Town’s James Cote.

Pierre, a sophomore, has already earned runner-up finishes in the 110-meter hurdles and the long jump, and placed fourth in the 300 hurdles.

On Tuesday, he’ll be able to focus solely on the high jump. He also has been better at jumping indoors.

“In indoor, he hit 6-2. In outdoor, he hasn’t quite hit that, but we’re going inside tomorrow, so we’re feeling pretty good about that, actually,” Juntura said. “He loves jumping inside.”

COOL TO CONTEND

How ever Tuesday’s events turn out, the Hornets are excited to still be in contention.

Leavitt track has made strides since Juntura began leading the programs. Before 2017, the Hornets hadn’t won a conference title, and now they have several. They placed second to York at last year’s state meet, but it was a distant second, 97-57.

“We’re pumped. I mean, York is a great team. They have a great program and there’s a lot of history there,” Juntura said. “So the fact that we’re — I mean, I hope we’re making them sweat a little bit. And the fact that we’re here, like the fact that we’re even like contenders as of this point … it’s nice to be from a small town in the woods of Maine and pushing up against this, like, southern juggernaut. … It’s pretty fun.”

UNFAZED, MOSTLY

The Leavitt track and field teams went into Saturday’s meet knowing that the rain was going to have an impact. Their goal was to be less affected than other teams.

“A slogan on our team is, ‘Weather’s not a factor,’” Juntura said. “So what we do is we mentally prepare for the disgusting weather, we physically prepare, we make sure we have changes of clothes. We make sure that weather isn’t a factor, so that we can still perform at our best. With teenage kids, you never know how that’s going to go, but they, they pulled it off. They pulled it off as well as I think they could have. They did a great job on Saturday.”

The Leavitt boys and girls exceeded expectations at the meet. Landon Myers finished second in the boys discus after entering the state meet seeded fifth. The boys 4×800 relay team wasn’t expected to reach the podium, but finished fifth.

Abbie Simpson placed fourth in the girls javelin by surpassing her personal record by 11 feet, throwing a 95-08.

Serae Fish had a standout meet for the Leavitt girls, highlighted by third-place showings in the 100 and 300 hurdles. She also placed fourth in high jump while teammate Emma Couturier tied for sixth.

Of course, there was a lot of rain Saturday, and even the best-laid plans sometimes have their limits.

“After a couple of, like, the downpours, though, all of our preparations were starting to melt away,” Juntura said. “You only can bring so many dry clothes.”

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