BATH – Brian Vail’s 19th birthday couldn’t have gone any better.

First off, he completed what some people think is the “impossible double” (400, first; 800, second), anchored the winning 4×400 relay team and received a nice present: a state championship trophy.

The Deering High of Portland senior amassed 20.5 points, leading the Rams to their first Class A state crown in outdoor track since 1975, nipping cross-town rival Portland 93-82

South Portland finished third with 69, followed by Bonny Eagle of Buxton (45) and Mt. Blue of Farmington (34). Bangor finished 20th in the 25-team field with 9 and Brewer was 23rd with 4.

Led by Jenny Pierpont and Kat Race, the Thornton Academy girls from Saco won their second straight state title, 91-70 over runners-up Scarborough. Edward Little of Auburn was third with 69, followed by Mount Ararat of Topsham with 62 and Mt. Blue with 59. Bangor finished 11th among 27 teams with 21 and Brewer 25th with 2.

Bangor senior standout Danielle Lainez did not compete in the meet and Bangor athletic director Steve Vanidestine said he wasn’t at liberty to divulge the reason.

Even though no state records fell in this meet, two Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference distance standouts were pretty close.

Edward Little senior Sam Fletcher was three seconds off the 800 record his brother Ben set in 1998, and Mount Ararat’s Jessie Wilcox was barely a second from breaking the 3,200 record Andrea Giddings of South Portland set last year.

Fletcher’s 800 time was 1 minute, 57.58 seconds while Wilcox ran a 61-second last lap to post a 11:08.99 in the 3200.

“I kind of wanted to break the record but I tightened up in the last lap,” Fletcher said. “I just wanted to win, but it would’ve been cool to break my brother’s record.”

In the boys’ meet, it was a tight until the bitter end between two of the state’s foremost rivals, and in the end, the Rams just had too much.

“When you have deep teams like Portland and South Portland, you have to pick up fourth-, fifth- and sixth-place points,” said Rams coach Dick Kress.

Vail’s tough double was a huge key as well, as he held off Bulldog sophomore Ayalew Taye for second in the 800 and first in the 400. His times were 50.29 and 1:59.92, respectively.

“I had to do it for the team,” Vail said of his double. “We just needed the points.”

“Brian learned well from last week,” Kress said. “The Edward Little teams did it last year, and it was key to their success. We figured if they can do it, we could do it.”

Joe Roy-Mayhew added a fourth place in the 1,600 (4:31.05) and second in the 3,200 (9:44.44).

The Rams didn’t just do it in the distance races, though. Sprinter Mike Joyce took second in both sprints, finishing the 100 in 11.35 seconds and the 200 in 22.90.

“Those 16 points were huge. We figured Joyce wouldn’t beat the Morse kid [Sydney Harrison] on his home field,” Kress said.

Deering’s Cody Demelle won a close long jump event over Oxford Hills’ Jared Maher. Demelle ended up with a 21 foot, 10-inch jump while Maher was six inches behind.

“The long jump is unpredictable,” Kress said. “Cody really came through. Anybody could’ve won.”

UMaine-bound senior Rob Sampson was second in the shot put (49-10.25) for Deering behind Cheverus of Portland’s Ben Michaud (52-9.00). South Portland’s Eric Giddings captured the 3,200 in 9:33.29 while Portland’s Taye won the 1600 in 4:22.11

A few bright spots for Eastern Maine teams were Bangor’s David Kelley, who was second in the 1600 race walk (8:00.88), and Brewer seniors Josh Hawkes and Dan Peterson. Who went 5-7 in the 300 hurdles.

In the girls’ meet, Mount Ararat’s Wilcox, who has great finishing speed (she also won the 400 in 58.04 seconds), sat behind Deering’s Ashley Morgan and took off with a lap to go.

“I wanted to stay with her the first seven laps,” said the Eagles’ senior. “I couldn’t have done it without her pacing me.”

Wilcox also anchored Mount Ararat’s winning 4×800 team and twin sister Beth was fifth in the 1,600 (5:33.44)

The Trojans, meanwhile, got out early and hung tough, according to coach Tom Langstaff.

“[Sophomore] Jenny Pierpont moving from third to first in long jump on her last jump was key,” he said.

Classmate Race ran to a second in the 800 (2:21.60) then headed over to the pole vault and won that with a vault of 9 feet, and Kelly Truslow was sixth.

“We got some separation at that point,” Langstaff said.

His Trojans are fairly young. They will only graduate two seniors who ran in the meet, Megan Shroeter and Kristy Mailman.

“They’ve been great leaders,” he said.

Langstaff also indicated that anything can happen in state meet.

“Lots of things could’ve happened differently,” he said. “Mt. Blue and Scarborough had great meets. With teams like that, you can throw the seeds out the window.”

Pierpont also won the 100 (12.83) and was second in the 200 (26.82) for TA. Anna Biasin, Lindsey Coyne and Katie Pierpont went 3-4-5 in the 100 hurdles, good for 13 points. The Trojans also won the 4×100 relay, which Jenny Pierpont anchored while Katie ran third.

Eastern Maine standouts included Bangor’s 4×100 team of Kelly Schenck, Amanda McGinn, Erin MacDermott and Kelly Krapf, who finished third. Krapf was also second in the 100 while Jolene Belanger was fourth in the 300 hurdles. She also anchored the 4×400 team, which finished third. Brewer junior Sarah Hodgins was sixth in the shot put (33-1) while Cony of Augusta junior Katie Rollins captured the javelin (123-4) and was fourth in the shot put.