YARMOUTH — Second place in the Class C state meet was both a blessing and a curse to the Lisbon boys’ track and field program for so many seasons.

Then the Greyhounds went and got themselves off the hook, winning that elusive title last June. So did that spoil them for yet another runner-up result Saturday at Yarmouth High School, or make it easier to swallow?

Probably the latter.

“We get hardware for second,” Lisbon coach Dean Hall said. “We didn’t expect second today. We knew Orono would take so many points. We thought we would be in contention. We knew more than a week ago that we were going to be without certain people, but the end result was still fine.”

Orono stormed to the anticipated sweep. The Red Riots (132.75 points) lapped the field in the girls’ meet, finishing 81 points ahead of runner-up Traip. Their margin on the boys’ side was a more modest 88-65, with Foxcroft third at 54.

It is the fourth consecutive championship for the Orono girls and eighth overall. Orono won its record 17th boys’ crown but first since 1997. Western Maine had won 15 of the past 17 state meets.

“You’re always playing chess, and last year the chess match was stressful because you say to yourself, ‘How are we going to pull this off?’ This year we could relax and say let’s go have fun,” Hall said.

Lisbon was the top local team in the girls’ competition, finishing fifth.

Six local athletes —  Jeff Willey of Lisbon, Kyle Farrar of Mountain Valley, Drew Gamage of Oak Hill, Maverik Griffin of Telstar, Sydney Sirois of St. Dom’s, and Cole Butler of Auburn, now attending Maine School of Science and Mathematics in Limestone — won individual state titles.

Gamage smashed a 22-year-old state meet record in triple jump, covering 45 feet, 9½ inches with his second try. Oak Hill’s lone track athlete, who trains with Lisbon, also was second in high jump and fifth in long jump.

He was disappointed that later triple jumps fell shy of his personal record, 46-7, set last month.

“One of them I collapsed, trying to push too hard,” Gamage said. “Then I took the padding from my (shoes) out, and that kind of bruised my heels, so the next ones weren’t that great.”

Willey and teammate Mike Schlotterbeck went one-two in the boys’ racewalk.

The Greyhounds have developed a tradition of apprenticeship in the event. Willey, a senior, was runner-up to Tyler Bard a year ago. His time of 7:44.09 was 19 seconds ahead of sophomore Schlotterbeck.

“I was happy with it. I was hoping for it the entire season,” Willey said. “I got second last year. I’ve definitely learned to be humble. Tyler never really bragged about it, even though he was one of the best race walkers in the country.”

Schlotterbeck won a torrid battle with Kyle Alamo of Boothbay and Mark Lucy of Orono for the silver medal.

“You want to talk about humble, it’s this kid,” he said of Willey. “I knew this was his year, and he really took advantage of it.”

Sirois repeated as girls’ champion in a time of 8:03.25, more than 37 seconds ahead of Lisbon’s Sydney Douglas. Tori Spencer and Moira Burgess of Monmouth took third and fourth, respectively.

Farrar got the day off to a flying start, soaring 21 feet, 4 inches with his second long jump try of the morning.

That was enough to win the gold, but he threw down a 21-8 in his final attempt. It was more than a foot beyond Judson Hunter Smith of Foxcroft, who won two other events.

“I worked on my mechanics, my technique, a lot more this week. J.T. (Taylor, Mountain Valley coach) got me doing a run-run-jump that helped with my height a lot,” Farrar, a sophomore who also placed in the 100 meters and 4×100 relay, said. “He said it was just my speed that was carrying me. I was still getting good jumps. Today I got the height and the speed.”

Mountain Valley went several years in the Class B meet without scoring a single team point. Nobody affiliated with the Falcons could immediately recall the program’s most recent previous individual champion.

“It might have been me in 1999,” Taylor quipped.

Griffin doesn’t have to go that far into the memory bank. Josef Holt-Andrews left a tradition of Telstar titles in his wake when he graduated a year ago.

This year’s top senior delivered another one for the Rebels in the 400, leaving behind Xander Bartone of NYA and Henry Adams of Lisbon out of the final corner.

Bartone was second and Griffin third a year ago.

“I had a lot more left in the last 100 than I usually do,” Griffin said. “I usually die right off, but I felt fast. I went for it from the start.”

Butler breezed to the javelin victory with a throw of 171-9.

Orono swept the boys’ relays. Tristan Butterfield won the 800 and Jake Koffman topped the discus to strengthen the Riots’ grip on the lead.

Henry Adams (400, long jump), Nick Rogers (200) and Andrew Golino (discus) claimed third-place finishes for Lisbon. Adams brother, Charles, a likely scorer in both hurdle events, was academically ineligible for states.

“We changed Henry’s approach this week, put him in the long jump, and bang, he got third place,” Hall said. “Those third places, they’re not on the podium very high, but they make a lot of difference.”

Bree Sautter placed in four events and Chase Collier and Emma Houle three apiece to lead the Lisbon girls. Sautter caught Monmouth on the final lap for fifth in the 4×400, an event that gave the Mustangs the MVC title Tuesday at the Greyhounds’ expense after a nine-year run.

Lauren Stoops had a 40-point day for Orono, including a state meet record of 4:08.09 in the 4×400 to close it out.

Tia Tardy of Mattanawcook (2:16.34 in the 800) and Muriel Adams of NYA (128-7 in the discus) also set state records.

koakes@sunjournal.com