Waterville girls, So. Portland boys take titles

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LEWISTON – A year ago, the Waterville Purple Panthers walked away from the Class A indoor track championships with a girls title, a youthful roster and a plan for the future.

“It was our goal to create a ‘dynasty,’ as we put it,” junior Nichole Nawfel said on Monday, punctuating the air with imaginary quotation marks to put emphasis on a word she recognized as lofty.

On Monday, the Panthers took another step toward that goal: You can now call them the two-time defending state champs. And there was no doubt about it.

Waterville patiently piled up points with a steady string of top-notch performances and put the finishing touches on the win with a 1-2 finish in the triple jump (from Nawfel and classmate Elise Tebbetts), en route to a comfortable 94-61 win over Edward Little of Auburn at Bates College. Deering of Portland finished third with 48, Brunswick had 43 and Bangor and Brewer finished a distant fifth and sixth with 29 and 22 points, respectively.

In the boys meet, South Portland went into the final two events trailing Waterville by three points but won the relay and took third in the triple jump while the Panthers mustered a second in the triple jump and were shut out of the relay.

That gave the Red Riots an 80-75 win. Brunswick tallied 41, Thornton Academy had 27 and Brewer took fifth with 25. Bangor scored 12.

Though Nawfel recognized the word “dynasty” as a bit premature, the Panthers do return enough talent to make them prohibitive favorites to win their third straight next February.

Nawfel won the hurdles and the triple jump – the event she set a state record in as a soph – while classmate Lauren Tebbetts set a state record of 10 feet in the pole vault, won the 200 and finished third in the 55-meter dash. Another junior, Sarah Bard, sprinted to a win in a riveting girls mile race.

Add the fact that Waterville’s best distance runner, Allison Cole, didn’t run all season because of stress fractures, and Ian Wilson’s squad also looks poised to challenge for a crown in the spring.

After battling injuries and illness all season, Wilson said his team rounded into shape just in time.

“Toward the end of the season they really started looking sharp again, so I got a lot more confidence,” Wilson said. “But I thought it was a pleasant surprise today. They exceeded even my expectations. And I have pretty high expectations.”

The Panthers also got a 2-3 finish from Carolyn Shea and Bard in the 2 mile.

Lauren Tebbetts tacked a foot onto the existing state record and defeated defending champ and state record holder Meghan Kohlmeyer of Edward Little. Kohlmeyer also broke the record with a vault of 9-6.

“I’d made [10 feet] a couple of times, so I wanted to break the record,” Tebbetts said. “I wanted to go higher today, but 10 is good.”

Danielle Zimmerman of Brunswick set a record in the girls high jump with a leap of 5-5.

Bangor scored costly points in the 55, as senior speedster Jana Savage finished second and tumbled a few steps beyond the finish line. She bruised her hip and wasn’t able to compete in the 200 or the relay.

Brewer got a second-place finish from shot putter Rachel Dowling and a 4-5 finish in a speedy girls mile race that summed up the Witches afternoon.

“I thought we ran pretty well, actually,” Brewer coach Dave Jeffrey said. “Some things could have gone differently, but when you run the fastest fourth- and fifth-place times ever recorded in Maine in (an indoor mile) … what can you do? You know?”

In the boys meet, South Portland continued the nearly complete dominance Western Maine teams have enjoyed over the years, rallying to take their third straight championship.

In 33 years of indoor track and field competition, Western Maine teams have captured 31 boys Class A state championships.

And as Jeffrey pointed out, when Eastern Maine’s best teams travel to take on their foes, the West’s streak is intact.

“Eastern Maine teams have never come down here and won. The two times Eastern Maine teams have won has been when we had the meet at [the University of] Maine,” Jeffrey said.

Those winners: Old Town in 1994 and Brewer in 1996.

“Our league is not as strong as the two other leagues, so we come down here and it’s shell shock, at times,” Jeffrey said.

The biggest event for the Riots was the 400, as Nicholas Mackin ran a 53.15 to win – from the slow heat – and Matt Libby, Jake Houser and Kevin Conley grabbed third, fourth and fifth. That whopping 22-point event erased an early Waterville lead and paved the way to the win.

“I knew it would be a dog fight. If you just look at the seeds on paper, we knew it would be very, very close,” Waterville’s Wilson said. “Usually it comes down to the team that has [personal records] and performs very well on the day of the meet.

“I have to take my hat off to South Portland because that’s what they did. Their kids were on fire today and they deserved to be the champions.”

Nate Holmes of Massabesic in Waterboro set a state record of 7.57 in the 55 hurdles (Troy Irvine of Waterville’s 7.64 also surpassed the previous mark).

Brett McIntire of Brunswick won the 200 and triple jump while Jeff Gaudette won the mile and two mile.