Falmouth boys claim first state championship

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LEWISTON – Even before Monday’s Class B track and field state championship meet started, the perennially strong Greely High girls knew they had a pretty good shot at winning – again.

The Falmouth High boys, who had never won, wound up locked in a dogfight with Wells and didn’t complete their task until the final event of the day.

Falmouth claimed the first state title in the seven-year history of its indoor program, while Greely of Cumberland Center earned its sixth straight crown in an entertaining meet at the Bates College field house.

In the girls meet, Greely continued its domination of Class B, scoring 79 points to withstand a serious challenge from runner-up Waterville (69). Old Town (42) took third, followed by Mount Desert Island (28) and York (27).

Falmouth took boys honors with 66 points, edging second-place Wells (60). York and Lake Region tied for third at 42, while Waterville (38) was fourth and Winslow (34) fifth.

The boys meet ended in dramatic fashion. Falmouth clung to an eight-point lead over Wells going into the 4×200 relay, but the Warriors were seeded first and the Yachtsmen were nine spots back, in the previous heat.

Wells won the event, but Falmouth’s squad of John Feigenbaum, Rory Dunn, Tom Winger and Brian Seitz ran a season-best time of 1 minute, 38.53 seconds and moved all the way to second. Falmouth climbed over several teams in the seeds, thanks in part to a disqualification in each of the last two heats.

“We knew we had to do really well in order to win,” Feigenbaum said. “With all that adrenaline, we ran really well.”

“The relays can be a little messy sometimes,” said Falmouth coach Jorma Kurry. “We were just hoping they’d all click and we could sneak up and get fifth or fourth and do enough.”

Falmouth didn’t win a single event, but placed eight athletes in the scoring column. Bez Kargar was second in the 55 hurdles and long jump and third in the high jump, while Jon Wilson was third in the mile and two-mile runs. Kristopher Floridino was second in the shot put, Seitz took third in the 400 and John Feigenbaum was fifth in the 55 meters.

Wells’ top performer was Justin Vigeant, a double winner in the 55 meters (6.62 seconds) and the 200 (23.24). Tyson Chambers was second in the 55 and 200. Both ran on the winning 4×200 relay.

York’s 4×800 quartet of Matt Hosmer, Nate Green, Nick McMahon and Mickey Rose established a state Class B record in 8:20.53. That bettered the mark of 8:21.34 set in 2003 by Greely.

Among the individual standouts was Miles Bartlett of York, who won the mile (4:25.43) and two-mile (10:00.75) and was second in the 800.

Winslow senior Jared Maroon peaked at the right time in the 55-meter hurdles, winning in 7.95 seconds while achieving an elusive goal.

“I wanted to break 8 (seconds) so much through the regular season and I finally broke it,” Maroon said. That’s the thing I was most happy about.”

Black Raiders teammate William Fedus won the 400 meters in 50.99 seconds and was third in the 200.

Waterville’s Alex Lefebvre won the triple jump (43-91/2) and teammate Will Yankowski took the pole vault (13-0).

In the girls meet, the Rangers picked up points from 11 athletes, spearheaded by record-breaking shot putter Becky O’Brien, on the way to their sixth consecutive indoor title.

The sophomore dominated with a heave of 43 feet, 61/2 inches, breaking the second-oldest Class B state record, a throw of 40-63/4 turned in by Diane LeClair in 1983.

“I knew I could do it,” O’Brien said, it was just a question of how far I could throw today. I didn’t meet my personal goals, but (scoring) 10 points was the big thing.

Runner-up Bethany Kater-O’Brien of Waterville also eclipsed the old mark with a throw of 41-21/2.

Greely got a nice effort from Rebecca Furey, who won the hurdles (8.92), was third in the triple jump and fourth in the long jump. Rachelle Doucette was second in the 200 and third in the hurdles for a balanced Greely team.

“Everyone has to perform and everyone focuses on getting a place,” Greely’s O’Brien said. “It’s never a selfish thing when you’re wearing ‘Greely,’ it’s always about the team.”

The Waterville girls set a state record in the 4×800 with Jami-Lin Williams’ speedy anchor leg finishing off a Class B state record in 9:54.42. Hannah Bard, Amy Siebert and Cynthia Hunter also helped eclipse the previous record of 9:59.23 set by Greely in 2003.

The Panthers won both relays and Ci’ara Williams taking second in the hurdles.

Abby Iselborn of Catherine McAuley High in Portland took top honors in the mile (5:12.76) and two-mile (11:37.07).

Kendra Gould of Old Town was among the top performers from Eastern Maine. The senior bounced back after placing third in the long jump to take first place in the triple jump with a personal-best leap of 34-1/2.

“I didn’t do anywhere near as well as I wanted to do (in the long jump),” Gould said. “You give yourself a little bit of time to be upset about it, then you have to bounce back and get back into it.”

Orono senior Rachel Bergman won the pole vault title for the second straight year, going over the bar at 9-6, while Mount Desert Island’s Mariah Grover was victorious in the high jump (5-2).

Old Town sophomore Hilary Maxim turned in solid efforts, finishing second in both the 800 and the mile.