Editor’s note: This story was edited at 4:10 p.m. Saturday to correct Tyler Fitzgerald’s year in school.
AUGUSTA — The Hall-Dale High School boys track and field team spent much of Friday afternoon trying to chase down Lisbon at the Mountain Valley Conference championship meet.
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In the end, however, the Greyhounds only continued their impressive streak at the conference meet, winning their seventh consecutive championship.
“We battled all day,” Hall-Dale coach Jarod Richmond said. “We knew we’d be down early in the field events but we didn’t get down. We battled. We knew we’d have to have a perfect day and that would be tough.
“We brought 14 boys here and tried to do what nobody had done in six years.”
Lisbon, led by three-event winner Morgan Reeves, scored 136.5 points. Hall-Dale was second with 106.5. Madison (72), Telstar (59) and Winthrop (56.5) followed.
The Lisbon girls also won their seventh consecutive MVC title, and they did it in convincing fashion.
The Greyhounds scored 181 points while Madison was second with 66. Dirigo (59), Monmouth (58) and St. Dominic (54) followed.
Hall-Dale, led by three-event winner Bri Crisci, finished sixth with 47 points.
Crisci won the 100-meter dash (13.29), 200 (26.91) and 400 (1:00.99).
“I’m feeling pretty confident,” she said.
Hall-Dale junior Tyler Fitzgerald won the 100 (11:37) and 400 (52.87) to keep the Bulldogs in contention throughout. Sam Shepherd won the high jump with a leap of 6-feet.
“You just have to commend Lisbon,” Richmond said. “Seven straight, that’s nothing to bat an eye at. We were right there. We were close.”
Fitzgerald edged Bryan Blackman of Dirigo in a closer-than-expected 100.
Blackman won the preliminary race but Fitzgerald took the final by nine one-hundredths of a second.
“It was definitely closer than I thought,” Fitzgerald said. “Right at the finish I saw him lean forward and saw his shoe hit the finish line. He really pushed me. I just didn’t want to lose.”
Fitzgerald finished second in the 200.
Reeves won the pole vault (11-6), triple jump (40-2) and long jump (19-8) to power the Greyhounds.
“It’s hard to do it once but to do it seven times you have to have a lot of seniors who don’t want to be the ones to lose,” Lisbon coach Dean Hall said. “We came through.”
Crisci breezed to victories in the sprints, beginning with the 100.
“I felt very good,” she said. “It set the tone.”
She was just as strong in the 200 and 400, winning each by at least a second.
Also Friday, Winthrop senior Kameron Souza edged Madison senior Matt McClintock in the 800.
Souza won the event in 2:02.84 while McClintock checked in at 2:03.90.
“We were both thinking the same thing out there,” Souza said. “We wanted to let the other one work, and we did, but I beat him in the end.”
Despite the setback, it was still a record-setting day for McClintock.
He set new conference marks in the 1,600 (4:21.24) and the 3,200 (9:18.58)
“I wanted to defend my titles and I knew some conference records were well within my reach,” McClintock said. “Before this I didn’t have anything but school records. It feels great.”
Winthrop’s Zach Nadeau also won the shot put with a throw of 41-9.
Bill Stewart — 621-5640
bstewart@centralmaine.com
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