ORONO – Before the Belfast boys headed to Orono for one final spring track meet, Dale Nealey gathered them together on Saturday and focused not on the job ahead, but on the job they’d already done.

His seniors had gone four years without losing a regular season meet. They’d won four straight league titles. Four straight Eastern Maine Class B championships. As freshmen, they’d helped the Lions win a state crown. And Nealey told them how much he appreciated everything they’d given.

“I took my seniors off to the side and said, ‘Whatever we do today is just icing on the cake,” Nealey said. “I said, ‘Today is your day just to relax and have a good time. No matter what the score is, you’re champions.’

“And I guess that wasn’t good enough for them. They came through in a big way.”

The Lions received 20 points from thrower Reid Woodbury, 18 more from sprinter Colby Horne, and rolled to the school’s third state Class B crown at Beckett Family Track Complex at the University of Maine.

Belfast piled up 102 points to Greely of Cumberland Center’s 65. Ellsworth scored 64 to finish third while Gorham (483/4) and York (46) rounded out the top five.

In the Class B girls meet, Greely entered the meet as a heavy paper favorite and announced its intentions emphatically in the first event of the day: Kim Alexander, Gessy LePage, Christina Perron, and Mandy Bowden teamed up to set a state record of 9 minutes, 39.64 seconds in the 3,200-meter relay.

The Rangers never let up, winning all three relays and receiving individual points from 10 different athletes en route to their eighth win in coach John Folan’s nine years.

Greely scored 118 points to runner-up Hampden Academy’s 68. Winslow (60), Caribou (44), and Belfast (37) rounded out the top five.

The Belfast boys earned their title with an attack that showcased its strengths in the sprints and throws.

Woodbury won the discus, finished second in the shot, and took fifth in the javelin to help the Lions score 33 points in the throws, while Horne, Steve Matluk, Jeff Parenteau, and Caleb Barnaby scored 37 more in the 100, 200, and 400.

Matluk won the 100 in 11.50 and was sixth in the 200 while Horne took the 400 in 50.76 and took second in the 200.

The Belfast boys also displayed their sprint strength in the 400 relay, as Parenteau, Matluk, Barnaby, and Horne combined to run the race in 44.95 seconds and post a comfortable win.

Woodbury said he and his teammates were optimistic about their chances.

“I knew we could do it if we had a good day,” Woodbury said. “We had a good chance of coming out and winning the whole meet. We all felt pretty confident about that.”

The Lions’ versatility was the key, as they earned 45 points in individual running events, 33 more in the throws, 16 in the relays, and six in the jumps.

“We get points all over the place,” Woodbury said. “Jumps, throws, sprints. All over the place.”

Ellsworth received two wins from senior star Adam Macbeth (110 hurdles, long jump), but a combination of illness (800 ace Eric Rudolph had battled a fever for two days) and misfortune (Macbeth fell in the 300 hurdles before finishing second) hurt its chances for the runner-up spot.

Rudolph said the Eagles, who saw Belfast’s strength up close in the Eastern Maine championship meet a week ago, knew that the Lions were going to be tough.

“We knew they were the team coming into this,” Rudolph said.

Caribou senior Jeff Alden capped his high school career in style and provided two of the meet’s more stirring moments while winning the 1,600 and 800.

Alden ran on the shoulder of Ellsworth’s Stanford-bound star Steve DeWitt in the 1,600 for three record-pace laps before kicking away down the final stretch and setting a “B” record in 4:17.12.

Alden, who hadn’t beaten DeWitt since both were freshmen, made one move to pass on the backstretch, but DeWitt repelled the challenge. But coming off the final turn, Alden sprinted away from his rival.

“I went once and he held it off,” Alden said. “And as we were coming around the last turn, there were a bunch of Caribou kids screaming my name. I just took off.”

The record time was more than seven seconds faster than Alden’s previous personal best.

In the 800, Alden left nothing to the kick, defeating EM champ Rudolph by taking the field out in a sizzling 57-second first lap and holding on for the win in 1:56.87.

“Jeff was on fire today,” Rudolph said. “I gave it all I had, but I was happy for him to run a 1:56.”

In the girls meet, Hampden Academy coach David King entered the meet hoping for an upset win. But as the day progressed, he realized that the Rangers were a bit too strong.

“Greely might have a little bit too much wallop for us,” King said after the 300-meter hurdles. “Triple jump’s gonna be a big one for us. If we can clean house there, we’ll see.”

The Broncos did fare well in the triple jump, as MacKenzie Rawcliffe took second (34-33/4) and Sarah Peters finished third (33-33/4). But the Rangers had plenty of “wallop” to withstand that 14-point Bronco effort.

The Rangers’ Folan said that due to last week’s windy conditions, he had a hard time comparing Eastern and Western Maine times and knowing what to expect.

“We tell our kids to run to their abilities, and they can control nothing that anyone else does,” Folan said. “[We said] ‘Do your best, look in the mirror, feel good, and maybe it’ll pan out.’ And that’s what happened today.”

Jacki Jensenius was the lone individual state champ (javelin) for Greely, but Kate Cheney and Kim Alexander and Mandy Bowden accounted for 12 points each and Gessy LePage added 10.

Rosie Hughes of Belfast (1,600, 3,200) and Louise Duffus of Gray-New Gloucester (shot put, discus) won two events each in the girls meet.