Waterville sweeps Pendleton finale

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BREWER – Fittingly, as Waterville High School senior pole vaulter Jessie Lefebvre narrowly missed an attempt at 9 feet, 6 inches to put a wrap on Tuesday’s four-team track and field meet at Pendleton Street Field, the sun had just finished setting over the trees to the east of the complex.

The final varsity meet at the facility was closed in grand fashion.

Four facility records were broken, and the two-time defending Class B state champion Waterville boys put on a show in winning the boys meet convincingly while the Purple Panther girls held off a stiff challenge from Bangor and Brewer to triumph.

Waterville’s boys scored 120 points to runner-up Bangor’s 88, Brewer tallied 73 and Hermon 10.

The Waterville girls, also defending state champs, pulled away from the Witches and Rams with a 1-2-3 finish in the shot put. The Panthers finished with 114 points, the Rams 92 and the Witches 86.

Local standouts Riley Masters of Bangor and Ben Sinclair of Brewer both set facility records in the boys meet.

The Rams’ senior snapped the mark in the 3,200 meters by five seconds, cruising home in 9 minutes, 49.64 seconds.

“Coach [Jamie Cooke] was telling me about the 2-mile record here, and I might as well set that record [in the] last meet here,” said Masters, who earlier won the 1,600 in 4:34.50.

Sinclair, a sophomore who racked up three individual victories and anchored a winning relay, trumped Andy Sibley of Old Town’s 400-meter record, clocking a 51.63.

Sinclair was timed in 11.36 in winning the 100, 23.01 in holding off Waterville’s Dominik Alexis in the 200 while anchoring the Witches’ winning 4×400 relay.

“That kid is special, he’s really good. That is some phenomenal [400] time he put down,” said veteran Waterville coach Ian Wilson.

Wilson’s Panthers showed why they will be one of the teams to beat in Class B this spring, as they took control early and never looked back.

“We usually try and have the philosophy that you come out hard and hit the other guy fast,” said Wilson, whose club scored 10 points in the 110 hurdles, nine in the racewalk and 10 more in the long jump to take a formidable cushion in a meet where points where at a premium.

“If you get a lead early, sometimes that really helps,” added Wilson.

Bangor got three individual victories from Sean Seekins, who cleared 11 feet, 6 inches to win the pole vault, 5-10 to take the high jump and had a winning mark of 39-61/4 in the triple jump.

The Rams’ Stephen Salinas took the 800 in 2:07.48.

On the girls side, both the Witches and Rams, arguably the PVC’s top two teams, stood toe-to-toe with the talented Panthers throughout the afternoon and got some speedy times to show for it.

Brewer freshman Rylee Hutchins earned a personal-best time of 13.04 seconds in the 100-meter dash for second place, junior Kira Giroux held off Rams sophomore Brittney Chapman to take the 400 in 1:03.48 while Bangor senior Jennie Lucy clocked a 2:30.33 in winning the 800, pulling away from Waterville senior Kate Croswell.

In the end, competition like this could make both teams stronger with two and a half weeks left until the conference championships.

“Oh, absolutely, I think we’re going to be better for it, I’m pleased with a lot of things that we did today,” Brewer coach Jamerson Crowley said. “Today was just a great chance to compete against some great teams.”

Besides Giroux, the Witches got individual wins from Mackenzie DeGraff in the long jump, Michelle Haluska in the 1,600 and Katie Snow in the 3,200.

Lindsey Mercier went on to win the 1,600 race walk and Megan Hogan the high jump for the Rams.

In the end, Waterville’s strengths in the throwing events proved too much, with Bethany Karter-O’Brien, Danielle Fossa and Nicole Fleming combining for 13 points in the shot put while Karter-O’Brien launched a record-breaking throw of 44-01/2.

Karter-O’Brien’s classmate, Ci’ara Williams, set a new standard in the 100-meter hurdles with a speedy 15.81.

Brewer athletic director Dennis Kiah thanked local officials for all the hard work they have put in hosting meets at the facility, which was constructed in the mid-1980s.

A new K-8 school will be constructed on the Pendleton track site, and a new eight-lane track will be relocated on the grounds.

rmclaughlin@bangordailynews.net

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