ORONO, Maine — For 42 seasons, the Penobscot Valley Conference/Eastern Maine Indoor Track League has made its home in the University of Maine field house.
This year’s competitors bid the facility a fitting farewell before renovations begin in the spring.
Bangor High School cruised to the team championships, while Grace MacLean of Bangor, Teal Jackson of Brewer and Aleta Looker of Ellsworth claimed three individual events apiece Monday and shared Outstanding Performer honors in the league championship meet.
Jackson became only the second girl to win a third Outstanding Performer honor, joining former Brewer standout Jen Puiia (1997-99). MacLean and Looker were honored for the second time, having also won in 2011 and 2012, respectively.
“It’s really sad,” Jackson said of her last field house meet. “Personally, indoor is my favorite season.”
The Bangor girls scored 106 points to outdistance runner-up Ellsworth (57 points), along with Brewer and Hermon, which tied for third with 54 points. John Bapst of Bangor (34) and Mount Desert Island of Bar Harbor (32) rounded out the top six.
The boys competition was similarly lopsided as Bangor racked up 100 points to overcome runner-up Brewer (59), Foxcroft Academy (56), Hampden Academy (54), MDI (36) and Ellsworth (29).
Bangor’s Jaime Jarvis was named the league coach of the year for the girls, while Rob Weber of Foxcroft Academy earned the boys coaching honor.
“We were kind of worried about the postponement of the meet [on Saturday], but everyone came out with great times [and performances],” Jarvis said. “They were ready to run tonight after a long day of school.”
Versatile senior MacLean spearheaded Bangor’s charge, setting two league records. She uncorked a long jump of 17-6¾ inches on her final attempt to better the mark of 17-5 had shared with teammate Tiffany Gray.
MacLean then sprinted to a league record of 8.52 seconds in the 55-meter hurdles. She won that event for the fourth consecutive year, surpassing her mark of 8.54 set Jan. 12.
“It was my last meet here, so I thought it would be cool to try my hardest and maybe set a few records,” said the soft-spoken star, who capped her meet by clearing 5 feet, 4 inches in the high jump.
“She’s very stoic with all of her accomplishments,” Jarvis said. “You can never really read her that way, but that’s part of what makes her a great athlete.”
Jackson continued her domination of the sprints, repeating in the 55 meters, the 400 and the 200. The senior cruised to a league record of 25.61 in the 200, which topped her 2012 mark of 25.87.
“It was PR [personal record], too, so that’s awesome. I’m excited,” Jackson said.
Jackson’s 7.32 in the 55 was one-tenth of a second off Danielle Hutchins’ league standard, while she sped to a 59.79 in the 400.
Looker pulled off the difficult distance triple for the second year in a row.
“Our team placed second. For me, honestly, that’s better than winning because we haven’t place in the top five since 2003,” she said.
The junior got her day going by claiming the mile in 5:18.43, took the 800 in 2:18.74, then closed out her meet by pulling away to win the two-mile in 12:20.58.
“I wasn’t really running for time,” Looker said. “It was fun to hang back in the pack. I wanted that experience.”
Bangor had two other event winners in senior Casey Modery (triple jump, 34-8½) and pole vaulter Abby Reynolds (10-0). Modery also was fourth in the high jump. Angelyn Masters was second in the mile and fourth in the 800.
Tori Huntley of Ellsworth won the shot put (32-1), while MDI took the girls 4×800 relay (10:36.72) with Caroline Driscoll, Emma Fernald, Kayla Roy and Nora Hubbell. Hermon won the 4×220 relay in 1:53.57 behind Mollie Roy, Kaylin Rogers, Gabby Bryant and Maddie Page.
On the boys’ side, Jon Stanhope was among the leaders for Bangor. The junior earned the mile championship (4:41.76) with a speedy final lap, then came back to capture the 800 title with a time of 2:03.98.
“It definitely felt like a PR in the mile,” he said. “I just felt good with a lap to go, so I thought I might as well give everything I had.
Junior Peter Manuel won the 400 in 51.62 seconds and was third in the 400. Bangor earned the 4×880 title in 8:38.73 with the unit of Dominic Martin, Paul Rudnicki, Joseph Belanger and Ben Salinas. Logan Lanham was third in the triple jump and fourth in the long jump.
Don Boyer of Foxcroft Academy took home two titles, in the hurdles with a 7.66 clocking and in the high jump as the only competitor to clear 5-10.
“I just started hurdling last year and I really fell in love with hurdles,” said Boyer, a senior who was the runner-up in the triple jump. “This year I got bigger and stronger and it just started coming easier and I could work on my form a little bit more.”
Senior Jeremy Bissell of Brewer won the long jump (20-7¾) and cranked out a 41-8 effort on his last attempt to claim the triple jump. He was sixth in the 400.
Ryan Wang of Foxcroft Academy took home the 55 dash prize in 6.74, Brandon Murphy of MDI won the 200 (23.49), Dan Curts of Ellsworth blew away the field in the two-mile (9:38.02), Trevor Alley of MDI won the shot put (47-1) and Orono’s David Frederick annexed another pole vault crown at 14-0.
Hampden Academy took home the 4×220 bragging rights, winning in 1:36.40 with the team of Roy Donnelly, Josh Hoch, Jonathan Seymour and Sam Donnelly.