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HIGH SCHOOL TRACK AND FIELD STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Waterville girls roll to Class B title with 168 points

Balanced scoring up, down roster leads to 4th straight championship

By Scott Martin smartin@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

WINDHAM -- The Waterville girls track and field team showed up at Windham High School the prohibitive favorites to win the Class B state title. The Purple Panthers did more than win the meet, they nearly lapped the field.

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CHAMPIONSHIP PERFORMANCE: Waterville’s Lynn Fleming ran the 100-meter hurdles in 15.3 seconds, finishing second at the Class B state track and field championships Saturday in Windham. She won the long jump at 16 feet, 9 inches, the triple jump at 37-4 and ran on the winning 4x100 team. Those 38 points helped Waterville repeat as Class B champions, winning with 168 points.

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Led by eight individual titles and two more relay titles, the Panthers scored 168 points to easily beat York High School, which finished second with 94 points. Greely High School of Cumberland was third with 54 1/3 points and Falmouth was fourth with 33.

"It's an amazing day today," said Waterville senior Lynn Fleming, who won the long jump and triple jump, finished second in the 100-meter hurdles and ran on the winning 4x100 relay team.

For the Waterville boys, Isaiah Spofford had a stellar day, winning the 100 and 200 and anchoring the winning 4x100 team. The Panthers finished third with 57 1/2 points. Falmouth won the Class B boys title with 104 points, followed by Greely (76 1/2).

The Waterville girls, who won their fourth straight state title, got off to a good start. The 4x800 relay team of Bethanie Brown, Brittany Saulters, Olivia Thurston and Taylor Frame was seeded fourth but finished second behind Greely to jump start the Panthers' day.

In the next event, the 100 hurdles, the Panthers had three athletes seeded to place. Four scored points as Fleming finished second, Thurston fourth, Alex Jensen fifth and unseeded Alexa Frame sixth.

"There were high expectations and a lot of pressure on their shoulders, and sometimes that leads to tightness," Waterville coach Ian Wilson said. "We wanted the girls to relax and do what you do. You try to put experienced competitors in those situations instead of inexperienced competitors who might get spooked and shaken up."

Waterville's parade to the podium continued as Katy Massey won the 100 (12.76 seconds), Courtney Williams the racewalk (8:00.29) and Kayla Tuttle the 1,600 (5:22.46).

After the Waterville girls team of Fleming, Jensen, Lauren Massey and Katy Massey won the 4x100, the Panthers got a second-place finish from Taylor Frame in the 400 then scored the biggest upset of the day.

Thurston, seeded third in the 300 hurdles, caught favorite Allison Fereshetian of Leavitt down the stretch to capture the title with a time of 45.53. Fereshetian was seeded first with a seed time four seconds faster than Thurston.

"I went in just saying I was going to try my best, I did my best and it turned out the way it was," Thurston said. "About right there (about 150 meters remaining) I started looking at the Poland girl (third-place finisher Emma Turton) because I thought I had a chance to beat her."

Earlier in the day Fereshetian set the state record in the 100 hurdles with a time of 14.72 seconds. She also won the 200 with a time of 25.75.

"(Thurston) had an amazing race," Fereshetian said. "She went from like a 48 (seed time) to a 45. That's huge. I did a big step back, but kudos to her."

Waterville continued its dominance, picking up titles from Tuttle in the 3,200, Fleming in both the long jump and triple jump and Natasha Griffith in the shot put. The Panthers 4x400 team of Emily Karter, Alexa Frame, Thurston and Taylor Frame also picked up a title.

"We knew where we were seeded and we always try to beat that by one place," said Tuttle, who was seeded first in the 1,600 and second in the 3,200.

For the Waterville boys, Spofford cruised to victory in the 100 and 200. In the 100, he beat Falmouth's Will Wegener 11.10 to 11.30. In the 200, an event he lost to Camden Hill's Collin Downs at the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B championship last week, he beat Wegener 22.35 to 22.80.

"In the 200, I definitely wanted to work on my phases," Spofford said. "Last week, I started way too fast. So my coaches and I went over and over the game plan for this race and it worked."

Spofford also anchored the 4x100 team of Aaron Saucier, Pete Cote and Jake Hanley, which won with a time of 44.66 seconds.

For the Mt. View girls, Hayleigh Kein finished second in the high jump (5 feet) and fifth in the 100 (13.00).

Erskine's Sam Seekins won the boys 3,200 (9:32.46) and was third in the 1,600 (4:23.29).

Scott Martin -- 621-5618

smartin@centralmaine.com