Scarborough, Portland win ‘A’ crowns

LEWISTON – The Class A state track and field meet seemed like a wild adventure from a Stephen King novel.

Records fell left and right. A star distance runner earned redemption, and the Portland boys ended 26 years of state-meet frustration Monday at the Walter Slovenski Track Complex on the campus of Bates College.

Led by distance aces and brothers Ayalew and Sintayehu Taye, as well as sprinter-jumper Khabir “Skip” Edwards, the Bulldogs rolled to their first state crown since 1979 in convincing fashion by a 95-44 margin over runner-up and cross-town rival Deering.

Waterville finished third with 42, followed by South Portland with 38 and Brunswick with 34. Eastern Maine Indoor Track League champ Bangor was eighth with 24 points.

The girls meet, which was set up to be a duel between two-time defending champ Thornton Academy of Saco and Scarborough, turned into a 27-point Red Storm victory after Trojans’ star Kat Rice sprained her ankle warming up for the pole vault. Scarborough scored 105 points to TA’s 78, winning its first ever Class A title.

Deering finished third with 52, Mount Ararat of Topsham fourth with 51 and Waterville’s 30 completed the top five.

East champ Bangor, a legitimate top-five contender, left in 10th place with 11 points.

The boys meet was never a doubt. The favored Bulldogs took the meet’s first two events, the 4×800 and the high jump and kept pulling away as the meet progressed. Senior Edwards took the high jump with a leap of 6 feet, two inches, while junior Mohamed Askhir was fifth (6-0). Edwards also took the long jump (21-2.00).

Junior Ayalew Taye and brother Sintayehu, a freshman, accounted for 39 of Portland’s points. Both brothers ran on the 4×800, Ayalew won the mile and 800 (4 minutes, 20.65 seconds; 2:00.20) while his brother took third in the mile (4:34.14) and second in the 2 mile (9:29.31).

“I wanted someone to lead,” Ayalew Taye said of the mile, during which he trailed South Portland’s Eric Giddings most of the way before unleashing his kick with two laps remaining.

Giddings, however would come back and rewrite the record books in the 2 mile with an impressive run of 9:24.26.

Giddings and the younger Taye, who has a strong kick like his brother, were neck-and-neck throughout before Giddings turned the tables in the middle laps.

“The first mile was actually 10 seconds slower than my second. I knew I had to work the middle of the race,” said Giddings, a Stanford University-bound Red Riots senior.

Overall, the Bulldogs were just too strong, and coach Carroll Napp credits his team’s togetherness for their success.

“This is something special for these guys. They’ve waited a long time to do this,” he said. “They never gave up. They stick together. That’s the part that amazes me. From top to bottom, they’re all pulling for each other.”

Brunswick senior Steve Slovenski, who is Walter Slovenski’s grandson, set a record in the pole vault with a vault of 14 feet, 3 inches. Other local standouts were Nick Buchanan of Bangor, who took second in the high jump, and Brendan Carr of Brewer, who was sixth in the 2 mile.

Like Portland, the Scarborough girls scored early and often to oust Thornton. Paving the way was Erica Jesseman, who earned second in the mile, ran on the 4×800 relay team which came in second, and was third in the 2-mile. Scarborough also made an early statement by taking places 1, 3 and 4 in the pole vault, with Karen Smith getting the victory.

“We knew it would be a dogfight,” said Red Storm coach Ron Kelly. “We knew that as long as we got our points, it was going to be a dogfight.”

The 55-meter hurdles was the event that set the tone for the rest of the meet for Scarborough, as Becky Sither and Annie Mills earned a 1-2 finish to give the Storm a comfortable cushion.

“The hurdles had to be the biggest, getting 18 points right there, then the pole vault,” Kelly said. “My distance runners just gave me solid performances.”

Scarborough’s distance team accounted for 33 points – counting those scored in the mile, 800, 2 mile and 4×800.

Despite his team having a tough time against the Western Maine foes, veteran Bangor coach Maynard Walton has plenty to look forward to, as most of his key athletes, such as distance runner Casey Quaglia, who was fifth in the mile and fourth in the 2-mile, will be back.

“When you come down here and you have a young team it’s a learning experience,” Walton said. “What we’ve learned is we’ve got be more aggressive, willing to come and willing to make the effort.”

Walton praised his sophomore distance runner for his effort. “Now he knows what he has to do. He can see what needs to be done,” he said.

Eastern Maine standouts included Jessie Wilcox of Mount Ararat in Topsham, who won both the mile and 800, while sister Beth captured the 400 and 2 mile. Bangor junior Jolene Belanger took fifth in the triple jump and the Rams’ 4×200 team of Jennie Lucy, Kaitlin Dirrig, Erin McDermott and Kelly Kraph came in fifth. Bangor’s 4×800 was sixth and Brewer senior Sarah Hodgins earned fourth in the shot put.