BREWER — It was a day that ended in a pleasant surprise for William Hileman.
“Little Bucksport never wins much,” Hileman said.
Bucksport surely won Saturday, taking home the boys title at the Class C state championship track meet at the Brewer Community School. The Golden Bucks finished with 75 team points, while runner-up Traip Academy finished with 56 points and third-place Washington Academy finished with 51. It’s the first Class C title for the program since 2004.
Lisbon/Oak Hill won its first girls Class C title, finishing with 113 team points. The Greyhounds managed to jump out to a lead early and sustain their lead throughout the day.
“We’ve had some good meets this year, and we’re all just really supportive of each other,” said sophomore Kiana Goldberg, who won in the 100 hurdles (15.88), finished second in the 300 hurdles (49.10) and was part of a winning 4×100 team. “If something bad happens, we forget about it and move on, and we do our best moving forward.”
The Greyhounds were chased throughout the day by Winslow, making its Class C state championship debut. The Black Raiders finished as the runner-up, with 90 points. Winslow was led by senior Carly Warn, who won all four of her events (100, 200, long jump and triple jump).
“I was still very nervous,” Warn said after her victory in the 100. “But I just kind of went out there and told myself to have fun. The warm weather kind of keeps my legs nice and warm, I think that definitely helped, too.”
Warn had help from teammates Olivia Tiner, who picked up a victory in the 400 (1:00.12), and Denali Norris, who won the 300 hurdles (48.17).
“We definitely felt the pressure a little bit,” Tiner said. “But I think a lot of us, since a lot of us are seniors, graduating, and people are saying goodbye, you know what, just enjoy the day and do your best. This is our first time in Class C for track, so we don’t even recognize half the teams, so we were like, ‘Cool, we’ve never met you guys before.'”
Orono freshman Ruth White had dominant performances in both the 1,600 (5:08.52) and 3,200 (11:10.14). Her sister, Nora White, finished second in both events.
“I was a little bit stressed,” Ruth White said. “There were a lot of good runners out there, it was a good field. There were quite a few right behind me. I know my sister is really strong. I knew it was going to be a good race. I was stressed, but I was excited.”
A Class C record was tied in the high jump by Kents Hill sophomore Rose Jenkins, who hit a mark of 5-05.5, a record previously set by Carsyn Koch of Washburn in 2014.
“It feels awesome,” Jenkins said. “I was feeling really good and really confident and I really thought I could do it and I did.”
Hileman, a freshman who won the 1,600-meter run with a time of 4:35.18, had confidence in his team heading into the meet after winning the Penobscot Valley Conference title last week. It was no easy victory for the Golden Bucks, who didn’t fully pull ahead of Washington, Traip and George Stevens until late in the day. Bucksport also received wins from Nathan Paulauskas (high jump) and Gavin Billings (shot put).
“I was like, ‘If everyone runs like we did last week, we may have this in the bag,'” Hileman said. “I was just excited to see what we could do.”
Winthrop sophomore James Cognata picked up two wins, taking home the state title in the 200 (23.61) and the 400 (50.62).
“I haven’t had a great weather day in a while, and the track, it’s a really fast track,” Cognata said.
Cameron Bowser of Washington also had wins in multiple events, both in the long jump (22-06.5) and triple jump (43-08).
The tri-county area is home to both 1,600 race walk champs. Dirigo’s Spencer Jacques claimed the boys title and Monmouth’s Chloe Dwinal won the girls.
Other area winners included Lisbon/Oak Hill’s Hunter Burkhardt (800), St. Dom’s William Levasseur (3,200), Mt. Abram’s Cade Tooker (javelin) and Monmouth’s Jared Martin (discus).
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