BRUNSWICK – In recent indoor track seasons, the Lewiston girls primarily played a bit part, but that changed Saturday as they played a leading role at the KVAC championships.

The Blue Devils earned 50 points and finished fourth at Bowdoin College. It was a sizable leap forward for a group of girls that often play second fiddle in their own school.

“They’ve often got lost in the shadow of the boys, and this was their best performance they’ve had in school history,” said Lewiston coach Ray Putnam. “It shows they’re developing in the right direction. There’s no seniors. So they’re all returning next year. They’re just awesome. They did a great job, and I’m very proud of them.”

Brunswick won the girls’ meet with 114 followed by Mt. Ararat with 102. Edward Little took third with 102.

“We were seeded for 83 points,” said EL coach Rebecca Hefty, whose team entered the meet unbeaten. “We pulled enough points, but we didn’t score in four events. You can get by the outdoor season without scoring in an event and still win the meet. You can’t do that in indoor. It hurt us in the end.”

In the boys’ meet, Brunswick won convincingly with 250 points. Edward Little was second with 88. Lewiston was third with 70.

“Brunswick was expected to run away with it, and they did,” said EL coach Ryan LaRoche. “We were hoping for a second-place finish. Even with a mediocre day, we were able to still hold on.”

The Lewiston girls scored 30 points in last year’s meet, but have showed promise all season.

“The girls exceeded expectations,” said Putnam. “The girls had a great day. That’s a school record. The goal was to score 50 points, and they met that goal. I was really excited and really happy with the way they performed.”

Toby Crispin won the two mile for Lewiston in 12 minutes, 26.40 seconds. That came after a narrow loss in the mile to EL’s Danielle Paul, who won in 5:36.12. Crispin was on her heels in 5:36.14.

“I really had no idea what to expect,” said Crispin. “The two mile is not my favorite event, but apparently I’m pretty good at it. After I lost the mile by that little bit, I wanted to win the two mile.”

Lea Morin returned from injury to take second in the 55-meter dash and third in the 200.

“I’ve been out with my hamstring,” said Morin. “So I haven’t run in two weeks. I just came here and ran my hardest. I’m happy with the outcome. I (set a personal record) in the 200.”

Kate DeAngelis added a third in the 55 hurdles and a fourth in the high jump. Lewiston’s 3,200 relay team of Chelsea Brousseau, Hannah Turmell, Stephenie Waterman and Sarah Manyell took fourth. Morin, DeAngelis, Erin Glann and Allyson Lepage took fourth in the 4×200.

“It’s really exciting,” said Morin. “As a team, that’s our best score so far. Each year, our girls’ team gets bigger, and we can get more people into events that they can win and place in.”

In addition to winning the mile, Paul was also second in the 800 for EL.

“I knew it was going to be a tough race,” Paul said. “You have Toby from Lewiston and Caroline Webster from Brunswick. I’ve raced with both of them. So I knew it was going to be close.”

The Red Eddies had a number of girls place. Muriel Schwinn had a second in the long jump, a third in the 55 and a fourth in the triple jump. Emily Dodge was second in the 55-meter hurdles, second in the triple jump and third in the long jump. Hanna Mogensen was fifth in the triple and 400. Josie Lahey, Katharine Harmon and Ashley Butler took third, fourth and fifth in the shot put. The 4×800 relay of Alicia Large, Kelsey Blanchette, Lauren Bennett and Carmen Lasagna was second in 10:14.57.

“We picked up phenomenal performances,” said Hefty. “Dodge was second, second and third. Our 4×800 relay team smashed the school record. Our throwers were seeded fourth, fifth and sixth and we got third, fourth and fifth. We picked up points everywhere.”

EL’s Jacob Dubois won the shot put for the third straight year. His toss of 45-1 beat out Lewiston’s Ryan Coleman. EL’s Grady Burns was fifth.

“I thought I’d hit 48,” said Dubois. “I didn’t get that today, but I’m still pretty happy with what I got. It’s still pretty awesome for me. It’s the third year in a row. I’m pretty excited about that.”

Other highlights for EL was Garrett Wyman’s third in the high jump and fifth in the triple. Buddy Foss was second in the 200 and fifth in the 55-meter dash.

“We had a good meet,” said LaRoche, who lost sprinter Taka Ranucci to injury and had a team battling the flu. “If everything is good, we’re still not going to catch Brunswick, but we’d feel better about our day, but it’s hard not to feel good about a second-place finish.”

Mohamed Noor led Lewiston with a win in the two-mile and a second-place finish in the mile. Matt Driscoll was third in the 800 and fifth in the two-mile.

Mt. Blue’s Eric Marceau beat Noor in the mile – 4:29.90 to 4:32.64. Marceau also was fourth in the 800 and fifth in the high jump.

In the B meet, Leavitt was seventh in the girls with 17 points, while the boys’ were sixth with 20. Kathryn Rothe was third in the 55-meter dash and fifth in the 200. Elizabeth Everett had a third in the long jump and fifth in the triple. Ben Parkin led the boys with a win in the 55-meter dash and a fourth in the 200. Tim Stephenson was fourth in the 400 and fifth in the 200.