GORHAM – The goals of the Brewer girls track and field team coming into Monday’s Class A state championships at the University of Southern Maine were to be competitive and keep taking steps forward.

The Eastern Maine Indoor Track League champions had a solid day, scoring 25 points to finish in seventh place in a strong field at the Costello Field House.

“It’s just an experience. A lot of these kids are coming down here for the first time, running against this [level of] competition for the first time,” Brewer coach Jamerson Crowley said.

Scarborough pulled away late to win its fourth consecutive title with 91 points. Brunswick took runner-up honors with 71 while Gorham was third out of 23 teams with 50.

Bangor finished tied for 12th with Lewiston, netting 13 points.

Brunswick went on to win the boys meet with 81 points while defending Class A champ Bangor finished tied for fifth with Deering of Portland with 36 points. Riley Masters paced Bangor with a first in the mile and seconds in the 800 and 2-mile.

One of the younger Brewer runners enjoying her first show on this stage was Michelle Haluska, and the freshman distance runner turned in some strong performances.

Haluska broke 12 minutes for the first time in the 2-mile, finishing second in 11 minutes, 56.50 seconds.

“It felt good because I wanted to beat 12 flat, so that was pretty good,” said Haluska, who previously ran third leg on the 4×800 relay team, which included Kaitlin Noyes, Katie Snow and Bekah Clark. That team finished third in 10:02.71, also a season best.

Haluska, who owns the Brewer freshman record in the 2-mile, was a little surprised that she’s running this fast.

“I never thought coming in as a freshman that I could run really fast times,” she said. “It feels awesome, it’s really great.”

Bangor senior Jennie Lucy capped off a remarkable indoor season with a sixth-place finish in the 800 in 2:29.25.

Lucy missed half of the regular season while recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament, and standing on the awards podium was something that she certainly didn’t envision happening, considering it has been five months since her injury.

“Not at all. I wasn’t supposed to be back for six months,” said Lucy. “I’m just now starting to get my full speed back. [My knee] feels really good. I’m looking forward to outdoor.”

The Rams had three other girls crack the scoring column.

Dee Wilbur finished fourth in the 55 hurdles in 9.15, Cote Theriault was fifth in the shot put (32 feet, 1 inch) and Jen Tsang cleared 8-6 in the pole vault to place sixth.

The Witches, meanwhile, are already looking forward to next season, since only two seniors who scored points Monday (Sarah Risser and Colleen Carr in the 4×200) are graduating.

“We’re not worried about next year,” said junior Erika Cote, who along with classmate Kira Giroux plus Risser and Carr led the 4×200 to a sixth-place finish in 1:51.57.

Giroux finished a strong fourth in the 400, clocking a 1:01.99, just off her personal best of 1:01.11.

“I was pretty happy with it. I did my best and ran as hard as I could,” Giroux said. “It was definitely hard, especially that last stretch.”

Mackenzie DeGraff, another junior, added a fourth-place effort in the triple jump and was seventh in the long jump.

Scarborough used its formidable depth to overcome strong performances by Brunswick’s top seeds, which included a speedy 57.88 state-record performance by Clare Franco in the 400.

The Red Storm’s 4×200 relay got in on the record-breaking fun, clocking a 1:49.35 to cement their victory while Catie Funk was their lone individual champ, winning the shot put with a toss of 36-11/2.

Messalonskee of Oakland’s Jessie LaBreck broke three state records, two of which she owned previously.

LaBreck broke her own record in the hurdles, clocking an 8.25, and later in the triple jump with a mark of 38-41/4.

The record the University of Maine recruit is proudest of is the high jump (5-6), which she narrowly missed last year.

“I tried for the high jump last year but didn’t get it. That’s the one I wanted the most because I didn’t have it yet,” said LaBreck.

In the boys meet, Bangor senior Masters enjoyed an outstanding day of his own, pulling away from Lewiston senior Mohamed Noor to capture the mile in 4:20.44.

He later added second-place efforts in the 800 and 2-mile, but the triumph in the mile is what the Rams’ distance ace truly wanted.

“That was the event I wanted for myself,” Masters said. “After finishing in second place the last two years, I figured it was my turn to finally get the state championship.”

Noor pushed the pace hard on the fifth lap, but after a pre-race chat with Mt. Blue of Farmington’s Eric Marceau, who finished fourth, Masters didn’t take the bait.

“He told me just let him go when he does that surge, and reel him in slow,” said Masters, who put on a surge of his own in the final lap and a half while Noor didn’t have enough left to go with Masters.

All Masters cared about was being on top of the podium, too exhilarated to know what his time was.

“I was too pumped up to really care,” he said. “I don’t know what happened. I felt great.”

Masters clocked a 2:02.17 in the 800 while teammate Stephen Salinas was fifth in 2:03.94. Masters capped his day with a 9:58.85 effort in the 2-mile.

The Rams’ 4×800 team of Shea Patterson, John Moore, Josh Belanger and Salinas finished sixth in 8:42.44 while Lonnie Hackett took seventh in the 400 (54.10). Sean Seekins placed seventh in the high jump (6-0) and fifth in the pole vault (12-0).

Brewer, which finished 15th with eight points, got its scoring in the pole vault and 4×200.

Chris Corey, Caleb Smith, Steven Rice and Ben Sinclair ran to a strong third in 1:36.45 while Chase Daniels cleared 12 feet in the pole vault to place sixth.

Kyle Bucklin won the long jump and was second in the triple jump to spearhead Brunswick’s state-title effort, while David Slovenski broke his own state pole-vault record, clearing 16-21/2.

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