Mt. Ararat boys edge Panthers for crown Tebbets twins spark Waterville girls’ title

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BATH – When Ian Wilson’s boys 3,200-meter relay team was disqualified in the first event of the day on Saturday, some may have dismissed the incident as one of those minor stumbles that occur throughout the course of championship meets.

Six hours later, as the final scores for the Eastern Maine Class A Championship were tabulated, the Waterville team’s DQ loomed larger than that.

Though hundreds of points were up for grabs in 19 events contested at McMann Field, the math was pretty simple:

Mt. Ararat of Topsham scored 86 points and won the regional title. Wilson’s Purple Panthers had 79. And they lost eight points when their second-place relay team was disqualified. A runner stepped inside the inner line of the track for three or more strides in a row.

Even before the final points were announced, Wilson had the math figured out.

“That was an enormous loss, and I think that will probably be the margin today,” Wilson said. “We know in our hearts we ran well enough to win, but sometimes mistakes happen and you get disqualified for stuff. That’s part of the sport. And there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Cony of Augusta finished third with 76 points while Morse of Bath had 64 and Brewer scored 52. The rest of the 14-team field: Oxford Hills of South Paris (51), Bangor (47), Gardiner (40), Mt. Blue of Farmington (36), Nokomis of Newport (21), Brunswick (21), Lawrence of Fairfield (11), Messalonskee of Oakland (6) and Skowhegan (2).

In the girls meet, the Waterville girls received 40 points in individual events from senior twins Lauren and Elise Tebbets, won all three relays to score 30 more, and tallied 32 in the three distance races en route to the title.

The Panthers scored 112 to Mt. Blue’s 861/2 and Brunswick’s 81. Brewer was fourth with 68 and Bangor got three individual wins and 34 points from senior star Emily Capehart en route to 49 points and fifth place.

The rest of the girls field: Skowhegan (46), Mount Ararat (38), Oxford Hills (341/2), Messalonskee (30), Gardiner (15), Lawrence (12), Nokomis (11), Morse (11), Cony (1).

In the girls meet, Wilson’s senior class ended its Eastern Maine run in style, winning their third straight regional crown.

The Tebbetts twins, along with Sarah Bard and Alison Cole, were the catalysts, Wilson said.

“Those are four seniors that are going to be sorely missed,” he said. “They’ve been the heart and soul of the program for three years now, and they’ve done a great job leading younger kids around and teaching them how to win.”

With three events remaining – the pole vault, 3,200 and 1,600 relay – the Panthers had a 15-point lead over the Cougars, but Mt. Blue looked poised to take a huge chunk out of the deficit.

Erin Archard, Rachel Yates and Elena Yates ran 1-2-3 for most of the 3,200, while Waterville’s Cole and Bard lurked 15 meters back in fifth and sixth.

But over the final 800 meters of the race Cole moved up to third, Bard slid into fourth, and the Panthers managed to deflect a potentially monstrous point swing. Mt. Blue did score 20 points in the event, but Waterville managed 10.

Lauren Tebbetts won the pole vault shortly after that, and the 1,600 relay team also won.

Bangor’s Capehart was one of the day’s big individual stars, winning the long jump (16 feet, 9 inches), the triple jump (35-63/4), the 300 hurdles (48.08 seconds) and was fourth in the 200.

Capehart was pleased with her marks, and is hoping to peak for next week’s state championship.

“This is the point of the season where everyone’s really looking to come through [as a result of] all the hard workouts,” Capehart said. “It’s starting to taper off, and it’s nice to come here and have some good performances.”

In the boys meet, senior Chris Laffferty’s stirring win in the 3,200 served as an exclamation point on Mount Ararat’s victory.

Lafferty tracked state cross country champ Aaron Norton of Morse for seven laps before closing the race with a 62-second final circuit en route to a 9:37.86.

Lafferty said he didn’t expect the Eagles to contend for the team title.

“Personally, I didn’t think we had a chance at all,” Lafferty said. “[Our conference meet] was cancelled [due to rain], so I was pretty bummed about that. I knew that would be our chance. But this was a shot out of the dark. I had no idea that this was coming.”

Midway through the day Don Gray predicted a tight bunch at the top of the team competition, and that’s exactly what happened: Four teams finished within 22 points of each other.

Gray said the 1-3 finish of Lafferty and Eric Johnson in the 3,200 was a big key.

“[Lafferty] ran a heck of a race. That really sparked us at the end,” Gray said. “We had to score in the 3,200 to stay in it, and both him and Eric Johnson pulled through.”

Mt. Blue senior Adam Staier had the performance of the day when he pared almost 40 seconds off the existing state record in the 1,600 racewalk … and established what may become a national scholastic mark in the process.

Staier entered the meet aiming for 6:10-6:12, but ended up with a 6:04.59. The time still needs to be certified as a national record, according to meet officials.

Staier said the key to walking fast – and setting a personal best by 13 seconds – is being aggressive and letting the technique take over. Race walkers must always have one foot on the ground, and the knee must be straight when it is planted.

At the speeds he’s walking, it’s a fine line between remaining legal or getting disqualified, he said.

“I just forget the judges, and if I get DQ’ed, I get DQ’ed,” he said. “Everyone gets disqualified. Olympians get disqualified.”

Oxford Hills senior Tyler Wilson completed an impressive throwing triple, winning the discus (143-6), shot put (49-91/4) and javelin (197-11).