DOVER-FOXCROFT – For a team that wasn’t anywhere near winning an Eastern Maine championship last year, the John Bapst girls track and field squad had a relatively easy time in Saturday’s Class C regional meet.

But for the Crusader boys, who have been an EM Class C powerhouse for the past two years, the situation was far different.

Whether they had the lighter route or had to work a lot harder, the John Bapst teams of Bangor swept the regional championship meet at Oakes Field and will contend for Class C state championships at the final meet June 1 at UMaine in Orono.

The Crusader boys scored 68 points for the championship, their third straight, holding off Hall-Dale of Farmingdale, which earned runner-up honors with 58 points. Bucksport and Narraguagus of Harrington were right behind the Bulldogs with 57 points and Dexter finished in fifth place with 50 points.

“In the past three years we’ve worked so hard to get here,” Crusader senior Ian Connole said. “Every year we’ve come together more and more as a team.”

In the girls meet, Bapst racked up 144 points to easily take first. Narraguagus was the runner-up with 841/2 points and Orono scored 74 to finish third. Hall-Dale was fourth (43) and Foxcroft came in fifth (40).

The Crusaders finished fifth last year.

“We basically have some really strong seniors who have been working hard for years, and then we just got this incredible freshman class all of the sudden,” said John Bapst senior Kara Gaston, who won the 3,200.

The top six finishers in each event get berths in the state meet at the University of Maine in Orono. Those athletes will go up against the top six finishers from Western Maine Class C.

Early in the boys meet it was apparent the Crusaders would need a lot of big finishes. Bapst was second in the first event, the 3,200 relay, but trouble set in.

Connole, whom the Crusaders needed to provide points in the hurdles and relays, ran a leg of the 3,200 relay and then had to compete in the next event, the 110 hurdles. But because the schedule had the boys hurdles semifinal heats immediately after the relay – normally the girls would have run their two hurdles heats before the boys – Connole had no recovery time and did not qualify for finals.

Officials decided to have the boys who finished out of the top four of that first heat run again after the girls, and Connole qualified for the finals. Then, officials decided to rerun the entire event, and take the top six finishers overall. So after three heats of the same race, Connole finished sixth.

Then it was on to the 300 hurdles, where Connole had scored in the two previous regional meets and hadn’t finished lower than second all season. Exhausted from the 110 hurdles, Connole fell on the backstretch of the 300, got up and worked himself back into contention, but fell again with about 40 meters left.

“At that point I didn’t really have anything. I was totally exhausted. I just couldn’t get my legs over the hurdles. So I just tried to push it. … I spent a lot of time resting and getting in fluids, so I was ready to go for the [1,600] relay.”

The Crusaders were clinging to a five-point lead with two events left. Bapst’s Sean Lena finished fifth in the 3,200 and the Crusaders got a pleasant surprise in freshman David McCourt. Seeded ninth, he spent much of the race in seventh before passing Orono’s Craig Jones in the final 50 meters to grab sixth.

“I really had it in the back of my head because that one point was going to help us win,” McCourt said. “I just tried to keep my pace and stay with Sean.”

John Bapst was second in the 1,600 relay to seal it. Crusaders Brandon Ryder (racewalk), Troy Trejo (discus), and Matt Jamerson (300 hurdles) picked up firsts.

Bucksport’s Gunner Siverly blazed to wins in the 100, 200 and 400 and anchored the winning 1,600 relay. The Golden Bucks were in fourth when Siverly got the baton, but the speedy junior quickly got into third, and then passed John Bapst and Foxcroft runners with about 200 meters left.

“I had to catch up and I had no idea how I was going to do it,” he said. “I figured if I exploded out and got up to [the Foxcroft runner] as much as I could I might frighten him and make him drop back and I guess it worked.”

Caleb Paul led Narraguagus with wins in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200.

In the girls meet, John Bapst opened the meet with a win in the 3,200 relay and didn’t look back. The Crusaders picked up two more firsts later in the day as Casey Ryder won the racewalk and Gaston took the 3,200, but the key to the win was in depth.

Bapst took five individual runners-up finishes and was second in two of three relays. Senior Logan Rich was third in three individual events, and the Crusaders had four different athletes finish fourth in an event.

“[John Bapst coach Bruce Pratt] stressed a lot just keeping our seeds,” Rich said. “I was kind of worried about that in the jumping events and especially the 100 hurdles because I knew there were a lot of fast girls out there.”

Narraguagus and Orono battled for second place for much of the meet, and the Red Riots held a 11/2-point lead after the 400, in which Orono’s Olivia Alford and Carole Perry of Narraguagus went 1-2.

Alford’s teammate Maria Millard, who had won the high jump earlier, captured the 300 hurdles to help Orono pull ahead by 131/2 points.

Knight junior Shelby Howe cut Orono’s lead down to 31/2 with a come-from-behind win in the 800 and Perry took the 200, which put Narraguagus over the top for good. Howe next finished second in the 3,200. Orono won the final event, the 1,600 relay, but Narraguagus’ third held off the Riots.

Howe also won the 1,600. Her 800 victory was a thriller because she passed top seed Casey Davis of Central in the final stretch.

“That made me happy because I went from third to first,” Howe said. “I was boxed in the first lap and I thought I was a goner.”