Staff Writer

All good streaks must eventually come to an end.

Such was the case last Saturday at the Maine Class A Outdoor State Track and Field Championship at Thornton Academy in Saco, as the Scarborough High School girls’ track and field team finished second to Edward Little High School by a score of 136-98.

The loss ends Scarborough’s streak of consecutive outdoor state titles at four, dating back to 2005.

The Red Storm put forth a tremendous effort throughout the day, including breaking a 26-year old state record in the 4-by-400 meter relay, but it was not enough to fend off Edward Little, who placed in the top three in 10 out of 19 scored events.

Scarborough started the day off on a good note by winning the 4-by-800 meter relay, comprised of Whitney Chamberlain, Meghan Summers, Abby Chick and Molly O’Connor. Their second and final win came later in the day in the 4-by-400 meter relay, made up of Chick, Chamberlain, Nicole Kirk and Rachelle Greene. The team finished the race in four minutes, breaking the state record previously held by Bangor High School in 1983 by three seconds.

The Red Storm finished in second place in five events. Greene, a sophomore, finished second in the 100-meter dash and the 200-meter dash. In the field events, junior Christy Manning finished second in the javelin throw and the discus throw. Chamberlain, a senior, finished in second place in the 800-meter run.

After her race, Chamberlain, who finished with a time of 2:19 said she was happy with how she performed.

“I’m really happy because I held my seed,” Chamberlain said. “I really wanted to get 2:18.”

Scarborough finished in third place in three different events. The team of Greene, Kirk, Jenny Snyder and Andrea Tolman finished behind Edward Little and Thornton Academy in the 4-by-100 meter relay. Chick, a sophomore, came in third place in the 400-meter dash, while sophomore Emilia Scheemaker finished third in the triple jump.

Each of the finals followed a team point scale, with first place finishers getting 10 points, second place collecting 8 points, third place finishing with six points, fourth with four points, while the fifth, sixth and seventh place finishers collected 3, 2 and 1 points respectively.

Chamberlain said even as the team knew of their fate, she told them to continue running hard.

“I told them if you still have events to run, run with heart,” she said. “You can’t control events.”

The Red Storm boys’ track and field team enjoyed a successful day, finishing in third place with 63 team points. Bonny Eagle High School took home the state title, finishing with 77 team points, while Edward Little finished in second place with 68 points.

While Scarborough didn’t win any events, they did place second in several. Senior Sam Chick finished in second place in the 300-meter hurdles and triple jump. Junior Nate Hathaway also took second place in the 1,600-meter run and senior Brad Nakanishi finished second in pole vault.

The Red Storm finished in third place in three events. Senior Craig Robinson took third place in the 3,200-meter run, while junior Ross Thomas finished third in the high jump event. The team of Chick, Hathaway, Conor Sullivan and Nick Morris finished behind Bonny Eagle and Kennebunk in the 4-by-400 meter relay.

The story of the day for boys’ track and field was senior Jamie Ruginski of Bonny Eagle, who finished in first place in three events: the 110-meter hurdles, the 300-meter hurdles and the triple jump.

Ruginski said he was proud of the Scots performance at the meet.

“It’s the best feeling in the world,” Ruginski said. “Last year we lost by a point. I’m just so happy. We all did our best.”