‘Guagus, Bapst win PVC titles Two events rained out

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DOVER-FOXCROFT – As the skies finally opened up in earnest and coaches huddled nearby on Friday night, Theresa Alvarez took temporary refuge under the makeshift lean-to formed by a pile of high-jump pits and waited for two events she’d never run.

The Penobscot Valley Conference Small-School Championships – or at least the final two events of the day – had been rained out.

“Although it’s cold and I don’t really feel like running, I’d at least like to finish my events,” said the Orono distance runner. “They’re my favorite two events, and we were ranked first in both of them.”

The “We” Alvarez referred to was the rest of her 1,600-meter relay teammates, who would have teamed with her after she completed the 3,200 on her own.

But after a quick meeting of the assembled coaches, an overwhelming majority voted to scrap the remainder of the meet and award team awards based on point totals with the 3,200 and 1,600 relay remaining.

Alvarez had an inventive solution: “I’m seeded first by like 25 seconds and our relay’s first by about 30. … they could still give us the points for the standings,”‘ she said with a laugh.

More than 45 minutes later, when tabulations were completed, the importance of those points became apparent: The Narraguagus of Harrington girls won the meet with 92.5 points. Orono – with 20 potential points remaining – finished with 87.33. Foxcroft Academy was third with 81.33 and John Bapst of Bangor scored 66.

Narraguagus received a record-setting racewalk win from Anne Favolise, victories from Brittany Howe (300 hurdles) and Carol Perry (200), and consistently scored throughout the evening en route to the team victory.

In the boys meet, John Bapst topped a 16-team field of Class C track schools with 104 points. Narraguagus finished with 65, Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln had 55 and Penquis of Milo scored 54.

Orono got a pair of impressive wins from junior Maria Millard (5 feet, 3 inches in the high jump, 1:00.89 in the 400), two more from Ellen Vollmers (discus, pole vault), and one each from Erin Lynn (100 hurdles) and Alvarez (1,600) in the meet.

Orono coach Diane Vinal voted to end the meet, but admitted that she didn’t know if her team was ahead or behind when she voted.

Her big concern: If the Red Riots did hold the lead, she wanted her team to find out as soon as possible.

“I’d like to know what the team scores are,” she said. “We have quite a bit, and if we won it, I want the kids to enjoy that.”

As it turned out, by the times the scores had been tabulated (and the Red Riots had come up short), the Orono bus had left.

And (don’t tell the coaches) … the rain had stopped.

Vinal said she voted to scrap the end of the meet for one reason. Though a thunderstorm had passed through the area, the rain remained.

“It is dangerous. It’s wet out and these kids are gonna start sprinting,” Vinal said. “We’ve got regionals next week and I don’t want them getting hurt. I think we can go pretty far.”

Foxcroft Academy coach George Rolleston said he was confident that the right decision was made.

“I think it was fair,” Rolleston said.

“Nobody knew what the scores were, so calling it without knowing it is the fairest way to go.”

In the boys meet, John Bapst won the 3,200 relay and the 400 relay, got a school record win from Reagan LeBlanc in the javelin (177-6) and had blown open an initially close four-team race by the time the meet was called. The versatile LeBlanc also finished second to Piscataquis’ Keith Dawson in the 400 and took sixth in the long jump.

The Crusaders parlayed their middle-distance strength into two places in the 800 from Ian Hunt (4th) and Ian Connole (5th), and got a win from Matt Jameson in the 300 hurdles.

The rain, thunder and lightning ended Foxcroft Academy’s first championship meet at its new track facility prematurely, but Rolleston said he thought the meet went well, considering the weather problems.

“I think in the interest of safety and the health of the kids we did the right thing,” Rolleston said. “But overwhelmingly I heard the coaches say it was a great meet, that they loved it, and that they want to come back. That’s a good sign. We all agree. But we don’t have any control over the weather.”

The Stearns girls got off to a fantastic start behind sophomore star Ashley Boynton, who won the triple jump (35-6) and long jump (16-9) and came in second in the shot put.

But Boynton and the Minutemen girls entered the meet knowing that repeating their PVC small school championship would be tough.

“We really weren’t expecting to do that great because there are only four of us girls down here,” Boynton said with a laugh.

The most vivid illustration of the uphill climb Stearns faced: When Boynton wrapped up her second victory – and final event – of the evening, the long jump, she celebrated a successful meet with a smile and a declaration: “I’m done for the day. I’m definitely done for the day.” The problem: Stearns had already scored the bulk of their points so early that only a couple of sprint finals had been contested at that point.