BREWER — It was only fitting that Waterville High School’s Jordhan Levine was in the position he was at the end of the day.
After winning three of the four events he entered at the boys Class B state championship at Brewer Community School on Saturday, the Purple Panther senior found himself leading the most gratifying race of the day: The victory lap.
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Levine racked up 38 of Waterville’s 92.50 points to hold off Belfast (80.50) and Ellsworth (69), while the Panther girls accumulated 108.25 points as each squad repeated as Class B state champs. Greely and York finished in second and third with 87 and 63 points, respectively.
“I keep saying this, we don’t worry about last year,” Waterville coach Ian Wilson said. “It’s a thrill to see kids be able to celebrate together today. Last year is last year’s team, I’m happy for this year and the seniors we have this year. The new kids that got a taste of this and it will be their turn next year.”
Wilson took a calculated risk in which events he entered Levine in Saturday, as he elected to put him in four individuals events. He had been a mainstay in the Panthers’ 4×400 relay team.
“We felt like we’d probably gain more net points that way than running him in the relay,” Wilson said. “It probably paid off and I’d probably do it again if I had to choose.”
Levine won the triple jump (44-1/4), 110 hurdles (15.46) and 300 hurdles (40.54), and placed second in the long jump to Belfast’s Marcus Riley (21-8 1/4).
The only one who had a better day than Levine Saturday was Lake Region’s Kate Hall, who went 4-for-4 with wins in the 100, 200, long and triple jumps. In addition to the four wins, she also set new state records in the 100 (11.81 seconds), 200 (24.36) and long jump (19 feet, 1/2 inch).
“It was a good day,” Hall said. “I was hoping for a real nice day like this, because all of my other meets have been horrible weather and really bad wind. Today turned out pretty well and that was my goal coming into this meet, hopefully winning four events and maybe setting some state records. I’m glad with how it turned out.”
It was also a record-setting day for Hermon’s Kaitlin Saulter, as the she clocked a time of 56.95 in the 400 to win the event by nearly three full seconds.
“It means the world to me, seriously,” Saulter said. “All I wanted to do was break that record so bad.”
Ellsworth’s Dan Curts broke his own Class B record in the 1,600 — holding off Grey-New Gloucester’s Will Shafer, who also finished with a time under the old record — in 4:09.88. Curts also won the 800 and 3,200.
“My legs felt pretty heavy the whole way,” Curts said of the race in the 1,600, which came down to the final straight away. “I actually didn’t hear Shafer until most of the way through the third lap, so I wasn’t exactly sure where he was.
“… I wanted to be a little quicker, that’s what the goal was. I wasn’t too pumped with my splits. Coming through I knew what I wanted them to be and they weren’t quite there.”
Waterville’s Sarah Shoulta didn’t break any class records, but had a fine day nonetheless with wins in the pole vault (9-6), 100 hurdles (15.44) and 300 hurdles (46.52).
“It means a lot that I could defend my titles that I created last year,” said Shoulta, who won all three events at states last season. “To come out here and do it all over again could not have possibly gone better.”
Shoulta’s wins in the 100 hurdles and pole vault led the way in the two highest scoring events for the Panthers. Teammate Kellie Bolduc finished just behind in second in the hurdles, while Monicah Paquette and Gabby Bridger placed second and third, respectively in the pole vault.
Toss in Rachel Bergeron’s win in the shot put (39-4 3/4) and second in discus (104-10) to Greely’s Alyssa Casarez (114-01) and the Panthers scored 60 of their 108.25 points between four notoriously finicky events.
“It’s nerve wracking when you’re points are coming out of field events or hurdles because just little, tiny, meticulous differences make a huge difference in those events,” Wilson said. “It’s easier if you’re loaded with sprinters and distance runners because then you just sit back and let them do their thing and you’re fine.”
Much like the girls’ team, the Waterville boys did the bulk of its damage in a select few events — namely the 110 hurdles.
The Panthers entered with the top three seeds in the event, and held their marks with Levine, Troy Gurski and Shahzaib Khan going one-two-three, respectively. Demetrius Ramirez took seventh in the 110 hurdles for good measure, securing 25 points for Waterville in the event.
“That was a very big event for us,” Levine said. “… We definitely don’t want to lose points and then have Belfast catch up to us. That was a very critical race and we needed to go one-two-three.”
Coupled with Trever Gray’s 12 points for second in the discus and fourth in the shot put, the Panthers scored 65 of their 92.50 points between the 110 hurdles, Levine and Gray.
The Panther girls also got a great performance from sophomore Lauren Brown, who — with older sister and Iowa State University runner Bethanie watching on — blew away her sixth-place seeding to take second in the 3,200 (12:02.67).
“She’s a real good role model for me and it’s really cool to have her as a sister,” Lauren Brown said. “She can go through hard experience like learning lessons and then she tells me.
“She always reminds me to be mentally positive, because the race isn’t over until it’s over.”
For Winslow’s Audrey Jones, family also came into play as she was quick to credit older sister Riley’s tutelage in winning the 1,600 race walk with a time of 8:11.3 and holding off a strong charge from Spruce Mountain’s Brooke Steele in the process.
“It is absolutely unbelievable,” Jones said. “My sister used to race walk and I started when I was five. She’s always been a huge inspiration for me and she’s always been the one pushing me through this whole thing.”
After steadily improving the throughout the season, the Erskine girls 4×100 relay saved its best performance for last. Freshmen Jordan Jowett, Abby Haskell, senior Jade Canak and junior Christina Belanger combined to win the event with a time of 51.52
“Having two freshmen on that team, I just wanted them to experience being on top of that podium,” Canak said. “I’m so happy they could.”
Canak closed out her career on a strong note Saturday, adding a third in the long jump (16-07) and second in the triple jump (36-1/4) — both coming behind Hall and her record-breaking day.
“Kate — no matter what she’s running — is a tough competitor and she brings a whole new level of competition to whatever event she’s in,” Canak said. “She pushed me. That was my best jump of the whole season, so I needed her there to push me.”
Evan Crawley — 621-5640
ecrawley@mainetoday.com
Twitter: Evan_Crawley
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