LEWISTON – The sport itself is ruled by the numbers generated by a watch or gleaned from a tape measure. But when track and field’s championship meets arrive, some coaches begin crunching digits in a more creative manner.

And if you’re the coach of a contender – like Brewer’s Dave Jeffrey was at the Class A state meet on Monday – you eventually end up with a number like this: 70.

Seventy points, Jeffrey figured, was the “magic number” at Bates College. According to his figuring, if a girls team reached that point total, they’d end up champs.

Jeffrey was right. The only problem: His girls weren’t the ones to reach that number.

Brewer received a 28-point effort from junior standout Danielle Lainez (wins in the pole vault and triple jump, a second in the hurdles) and 16 points from senior distance ace Heather Clark.

But it was Thornton Academy of Saco that reached 70 first – after 11 of the 14 events – and it was Thornton that walked away with its first girls title since 1996.

Thornton Academy scored 81 points to South Portland’s 53, while Brewer wound up third with 46 points. Deering of Portland (45) and Westbrook (38) rounded out the top five. Bangor was ninth with 22.

Jeffrey said that as state meets go, this one wasn’t as filled with top-level athletes. He said he hoped that would help his team.

“The events were top-heavy. After sixth place they weren’t as good and I was hoping we’d be able to take advantage of that,” Jeffrey said. “We didn’t.”

Jeffrey expected a bit more scoring from his second-tier performers, but those points never materialized.

“Thornton had a great meet,” he said. “Our two stars ran pretty well, but our other kids didn’t. Danielle Lainez had a great meet. To score 28 points in a state meet, that’s pretty impressive.”

In the boys meet, Southern Maine power Deering arrived in Lewiston as a heavy meet favorite. It didn’t take the Rams long to show everyone why.

Deering won the day’s first event – the 4 by 800 relay – in record time (8 minutes, 20.46 seconds). The Rams went 1-3-4 (plus a non-scoring 8 and 10, just for good measure) in the shot put, which was being contested during and after the relay.

They never let up, winning their first indoor Class A title since a tie in 1975.

The win was so complete, so dominant, that even the P.A. announcer couldn’t help letting track fans know what they were witnessing. After nine of 14 events – and after Deering had already racked up 103.5 points to Waterville’s 42, the announcer completed his recitation of scores with a simple word.

“Wow.”

Wow, indeed.

Deering piled up 121.5 points to win the meet while Waterville finished second with 76. South Portland (51), Portland (47.50) and Edward Little of Auburn (46) rounded out the top five. Bangor was eighth with 14 while Brewer took 11th with 6.33.

Waterville coach Ian Wilson said his team entered the meet hoping to find a way to knock off the Rams.

“We had hoped … well … we had hoped they wouldn’t have such a great day,” Wilson said. “We had a plan to move up in the standings, and our kids had a pretty good meet. But obviously, Deering just erupted today.”

The Deering and Waterville boys engaged in a few turf battles, but much of each team’s scoring took place in areas where their opponent was a bit weaker.

“We went 1-2-3 in the hurdles and we went 1-2 in the vault, but their strengths were stronger than our strengths today,” Wilson said. “I’m proud of the kids. They fought like demons today and I’m proud of how hard they competed. Deering was just a better, deeper team today.”

Among the highlights for Eastern Maine athletes in the girls meet: Lainez, who entered the meet as a co-holder of the state record in the pole vault at 10 feet, proved she’s in a class of her own.

Lainez cleared 10 feet, 6 inches on her first attempt before calling it a day. Lainez’s feat was relatively rare for a vertical jumper, in that she finished the competition on a high note. In the vertical jumps, jumpers typically participate until they miss three straight times. In Lainez’s case, only a previous appointment (the 55 meter hurdles) kept her from vaulting more.

She cleared 10-6 just five minutes before the point-worthy hurdles final and Jeffrey advised her to forego any further vaulting and focus on the upcoming race.

Lainez agreed with the decision.

“I was fine with it. I’d been waiting for 10-6 since last year. I really wanted to go over it and finally did,” Lainez said. “So I didn’t really care if he made me stop or not.”

Lainez credited her record to a tip given by assistant coach Jamie Wilkinson, who had his vaulter move her grip up the pole higher than she had been gripping earlier in the year. The result was a comfortable clearance at 10-6.

Lainez wound up second in the hurdles (8.91 seconds) and won the triple jump (35 feet), scoring 28 points and leading the Witches.

In the girls mile, Clark shook her fellow competitors with a sizzling 68-second first 400 and a 2:26 split for 800 meters. Clark was never challenged and posted a comfortable win in 5:08.71.

Andrea Giddings of South Portland, the defending Class A state cross country champ, was second, almost six seconds behind.

To put Clark’s start in perspective, her time would have put her in contention for the win in the 800, which was won in 2:26.51.

Giddings rebounded later in the meet, opening up a huge lead in the two-mile race with a surge with five laps to go. She ran the second half of the race in 5:35 en route to a 11:15.43 finish.

In other girls highlights: Beth Wilcox, a sophomore at Mount Ararat in Topsham, set a state record of 59.83 seconds in the 400 and the Deering 3,200 relay team of Kelli Durgin, Kelly Franklin, Rebecca Shack and Amanda Sesto set a record of 1:50.92.In the boys meet, Deering didn’t cover all 14 events, but in certain events, the Rams scored plenty of points and blew the meet wide open.

Among those:

. The 800, in which Sean Steinhagen, Donny Drake, Mike Burleson and Matt O’Brien went 1-2-3-5 to score 26 points. In addition, Steinhagen, Drake and Burleson each ran the race faster than 2:01.

. The mile, in which Drake, Burleson and Steinhagen went 2-3-4 to score 18 points after Waterville had pulled within 10 points with a 1-2-3 hurdles finish.

. The 1-3-4 shot put effort, which accounted for 20 more points; a 1-6 showing in the 400 (11 points).

Highlights for the Penobscot Valley Conference’s two Class A teams (Bangor and Brewer) included a 3-4 finish by Bangor’s Dan Carson and Joe Taylor in the 400.