BAR HARBOR – The Falmouth and York boys’ track and field teams knew they would be in for yet another showdown Saturday at the Class B state meet, a week after they competed for the Western Maine Conference championship.

The Yachtsmen and Wildcats certainly impressed on an overcast day, and left as co-state champions with 93 points each.

The Waterville girls won their sixth consecutive Class B title, scoring 145 points. Greely was second with 85.

The Falmouth boys won their third Class B title in four years. York won its first state title since 1987.

“To have this scenario fall together is kind of bizarre,” Falmouth Coach Danny Paul said. “But the way it played out, we knew before the meet started it could go right to the end.”

It certainly did.

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Falmouth held an 85-83 lead heading into the 1,600-meter relay, the final event.

“We knew it would come down to the final relay,” said York Coach Ted Hutch, whose team edged Falmouth in the conference meet last weekend. “We didn’t tell the kids what the scores were. We just told them, ‘you need to win.’ “

The Wildcats did just that, with the quartet of Tucker Corbett, Joe Vogel, Tom Rasche and Tyler Martin finishing in 3 minutes, 32.01 seconds.

Falmouth finished second in 3:33.74.

“It’s like a poker game,” Hutch said. “You get all your cards and you just go all in.”

Added Paul: “It was a good day. We got the win, shared or otherwise, (and) it’s a state championship. We’re glad it was York.”

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Waterville, the defending boys’ state champion, finished third with 84 points.

The Falmouth boys won the 400 relay (43.99), and Jacob Buhelt won the 200 in 23.12.

Josh Brooks of York won the 400 (50.26), and his teammate, Tom Reid, took the 300 hurdles in 41.14.

York also won the 3,200 relay.

“We’re counting our lucky stars,” Hutch said. “It was a great day.”

Bethanie Brown of Waterville set two Class B records — in the 1,600 and 3,200.

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She finished the 1,600 in 4 minutes, 55.23 seconds to easily eclipse the previous record of 5:01.10, which Melissa Blackstone of Presque Isle set in 2001.

“I’m pleased,” Brown said. “That was the plan going in, to get that record. I was hoping to go a little faster, but I was nervous and that killed my first lap.”

She ran the 3,200 in 10:34.79 to beat the previous record of 10:39.43, which Cassie Hintz of Old Town set in 2004.

“It feels pretty good,” Brown said. “I didn’t think I could do it in the (3,200) after running the (1,600).

“It’s fun to be on a team winning championships. In the end, all our hard work paid off.”

Added Waterville Coach Ian Wilson: “It’s just a real testament to her mental toughness.”

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Olivia Thurston won the 300 hurdles and finished second to teammate Alex Jenson in the 100 hurdles.

“I was aiming to break the state record (in the 300 hurdles) but it was a little hard to deal with the wind,” Thurston said.

Jenson won the triple jump with a leap of 35-7¾. She also anchored the victorious 400 relay team that finished in 50.83.

Georgia Bolduc, Sarah Shoulta and Lydia Roy rounded out the relay team.

“We set our goals very high,” Wilson said. “In a lot of ways we performed very, very well.”

Wilson said entering the meet that his boys would need to score well in the field events and improve seeds elsewhere.

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The Panthers did, but it wasn’t enough to upend York and Falmouth.

“Waterville was in the fight right until the end,” Paul said.

Lake Region freshman Kate Hall won three events, including the 100-meter dash, in which she set a Class B record of 12.33 seconds.

She also won the 200 (26.12) and long jump (17-1½).

 


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