AUGUSTA – With 58 schools, 408 wrestlers and thousands of fans shoehorned into the Augusta Civic Center Saturday, there was no shortage of captivating story lines.

For the first time in decades, all three classes in Maine gathered at one location for the state championships and, by all early indications, it was a big success.

There can be no denying the success enjoyed by the three teams and 42 individual wrestlers to walk off the spacious floor with state championship hardware.

For the second straight year and third time in four years, the Camden Hills Windjammers were one of those teams as they breezed by the Class B opposition. Camden Hills jammed eight wrestlers into the championship finals and two more into the consolation finals.

With four of the eight winning state crowns and both consolation finalists winning, the ‘Jammers outdistanced runner-up Mountain Valley of Rumford 174 points to 120 for another Class B crown.

Things were a bit tighter in Class A as Noble of Berwick edged Mt. Blue of Farmington 118.5 to 107 to claim its third straight state title.

In Class C, Lisbon ended Dexter’s four-year reign as state champs as the Greyhounds put up 159 points to 134.5 by the Tigers, who had to overcome injury and personal tragedy just to contend for another state championship.

Class B

It’s getting to be old hat for Camden, which has won six state crowns in the last 12 years. So much so that even the loss of head coach John Kelly, who was thrown out of the civic center midway through the championship finals after being assessed his third penalty of the day for arguing with referees, couldn’t derail the Windjammers Express.

Kelly was ejected after questioning an illegal slam penalty assessed to Camden senior Ian Slaymaker in the 152-pound division. Slaymaker picked up Mountain Valley’s Kris Welch and threw him down, immediately drawing the penalty. The call meant that Welch, who lay motionless for several minutes while complaining of dizziness, had two minutes to recover and continue the match. If unable to return, rules called for Welch to win by injury default.

“I thought it was an unfair call. I just felt like this is the sport of wrestling and that kid was brought down square to his back … I didn’t think it was undue force,” Kelly explained.

After 25 minutes, Welch was lifted onto a stretcher and fitted with a neck immobilizer before being wheeled out to a standing ovation from the fans. He was given a CAT scan and discharged early Sunday morning from MaineGeneral Medical Center.

According to Falcons coach Jerry Perkins, the scan was negative for hemorrhages, but Welch did have a slight concussion.

Both Slaymaker and Kelly expressed much regret over the injury, but Young said he felt he had to defend his wrestler.

“We’re a team, we coach hard and we expect a lot from our wrestlers, and we’ll stick up for them if we feel there’s something that didn’t go their way,” Kelly said.

Assistant coach and brother Patrick Kelly took over for the ‘Jammers, who had three points deducted from their total due to Kelly’s last two penalties.

“We put eight guys in and John and I realistically hoped we could have five or six,” Patrick said. “The bottom line is we’re used to adversity. We train for adverse situations and they did a great job when they encountered it today.”

Kelly’s dismissal had a ripple effect on the ‘Jammers as 160-pound favorite Josiah Glover was upset 4-3 by Fryeburg’s Buck Brown in the very next match. Arthur Smith, who injured a hamstring in his semifinal match, also lost at 189.

That left defending champ and tri-captain Ewan Hardy to stop the slide at 215. Hardy responded by winning with a 15-7 decision.

“I really wanted this,” Hardy said. “I’m glad to be a part of this. To win state and individual state titles is awesome, although for me it’s more a feeling of relief. The celebration will come later.”

Hardy, sophomore Levi Rollins at 103, freshman Chris Remsen in 135, and junior Jake Sawyer at 145 all won individual titles for Camden Hills.

“We felt we were just gonna come right out here and dominate. We really did,” Sawyer said. “After coach was ejected, we were upset. I think we lost a little magic without him out there on the mat with us.”

Sawyer dedicated Saturday’s win to older brother Jared, who was a senior on a Camden team that lost a state meet by one point.

Other Eastern Maine wrestlers to win titles were Ken Lackie (171) and Steve Weeman (275) from Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield and Belfast’s Mike Ames at 112. A surprised Weeman was named outstanding B wrestler after finishing up a 30-0 season.

“Actually I was [surprised] because I thought with this being states, there’s more fish to choose from,” Weeman said. “Maybe my season had something to do with it since I’ve only had two matches I didn’t pin somebody, and one was today.”

Class C

Lisbon needed a yeoman effort to dispatch Dexter and it got one as four of the six wrestlers to advance to championship finals won their matches.

Depth was certainly the key to victory as Lisbon had plenty of it and Dexter’s took a severe hit when East No. 2 seed Kevin Armstrong woke up with a severe staph infection Monday and was unable to wrestle after undergoing surgery requiring a week-long stay in the hospital.

The loss of the junior co-captain at 145 was a big blow to the Tigers, who were dealt another reeling blow when head coach Dave Gudroe’s aunt, Madeline “Tiny” Gudroe died unexpectedly two days later. If that wasn’t enough, her son Richard (“Dicky”) had a mild heart attack the next day.

“It made it a long week and we spent a lot of time at the hospital,” said Gudroe, who was very close to his aunt.

His kids made the most of a tough situation however, rallying around Armstrong and their coach all week. Four Tigers qualified for championship finals with two claiming gold medals.

Senior Ross Palmer at 140 and junior co-captain Aaron Thomas at 152 both dedicated their wins to their fallen teammate.

“It’s been a rough week. Everyone tried to step it up and win for Kevin,” said Palmer. “It was a really intense week of practice. We all know that’s what he loves to do [wrestle], so when we heard he couldn’t wrestle, we wanted to do what we could for him.”

After returning home with his medal, Thomas cut his medal in half, went to the hospital, and gave a half to his best friend.

“I think I worked harder because I wanted to do it for him,” said Thomas, who had his friend’s name on a paper in his earpiece. “I never thought that would happen. I mean, it was Kev. He’s always been here and then he just wasn’t.”

Bucksport also did well with four finalists, three of whom won: sophomores Kyle Perkins (103) and Josh Pelletier (130) and senior Sean Costigan (135).

The other state titlist from the East was Luke Whyte at 160, a No. 3 seed who upset his way to George Stevens Academy’s first-ever wrestling state crown.

Class A

Standouts from the East were Mt. Blue’s Scott Webber (112) and Matt Waite (189), Brandon Hamilton of Skowhegan (130) and Gardiner’s Elijah McKay (152).

Brewer’s Rob Cameron won the 275 consolation final and Nokomis of Newport’s Pat Morse did the same at 125.