BATH — Mark Snow has been a track and field coach for the past 16 years, and saw the best ever finish by a Lake Region girls’ squad this past Saturday.

Lake Region captured the Class B State runner-up plaque following events at Morse High School in Bath.

“Our girls came through in a big way and finished second in the meet.  It is the best finish of any team I have coached.  We are extremely happy and proud of how all the girls did,” Coach Snow said.

There was a lot of planning and preparing the girls did for their result.  However, it wouldn’t have mattered if they did not perform.  Please excuse me as I go into quite a bit of detail about their performances.

Kelsey Winslow was seeded fourth with her huge 103-foot throw on Monday during the conference championships.  She had a few great throws, but the one that drew the biggest cheer was her launch of 105-feet 8-inches, good for third place and broke the school record of 104-feet 7-inches set in 1974.

“Congrats to Liz Grzyb of Fryeburg Academy, who won with a throw of 108 feet, 4 inches,” Coach Snow said.

Kayla Gray was seeded first in the racewalk with a time of 8:20.73, but was going against two girls who beat her at the state meet last year.  Kayla allowed them to set the early pace, which was quite fast (1:52 through 400m and 4:00 through 800m).

Kayla moved up to second place with about 500 meters to go and caught the leader with 300 meters to go.

“She then blistered the last 200m in about 57 seconds to pull away, win the state title, and break her school record (now at 8:03.52),” Coach Snow said.

The New England Championships does not include the racewalk, so Kayla (and Kate Hall) are gathering funds to get them to the national championships in a couple of weeks in North Carolina.

Zsofi Kaiser, seeded 10th in the 100m and finished 10th (0.08 seconds from making the finals).  In the 200m, Zsofi was seeded 17th and finished 15th, only 0.02 seconds from her personal record.  She also ran on the 4x100m relay team, which lowered their school record to 50.65 seconds while winning the state title. Her teammates for that relay were Kate Hall, Sydney Hancock, and Hannah Perkins.

Savannah DeVoe competed in the triple jump.  Her effort of 30 feet, 10.5 inches was good for 14th (she was seeded 15th).

Kate Hall set state records in the 100 meters (12.12 seconds) and the long jump.  The 100-meter time was from the trials.  She ran 12.15 seconds in the finals to win the event.

The long jump was dramatic as Kate tied the former state mark (17 feet 8.25 inches) in the trials, but then participated in the winning 4x100m relay.

“We hoped she would have enough energy after the relay to break that state mark.  Kate has long jumped over 18 feet a few times this season, but state records can only occur during the state meet,” Coach Snow said.

On her first jump after the relay, Kate soared 18 feet, 5.75 inches. This broke her school record and the state record.  Kate also won the 200 meters.  Her time of 25.49 was only 0.05 off the state record set in 1983.

Kelsey Winslow was seeded 13th in the 800 meters with a time of 2:31.09.  She was placed in the second of three sections to even out the three sections. This forced Kelsey to run from the front the entire way.

“She took the challenge and went out in 1:12.5.  She kept driving all the way to the finish and recorded a superb time of 2:27.37 (four seconds off our school record),” Coach Snow reported. “We then watched the top 12 seeds run and found out how well Kelsey had done.”

Bethany Brown of Waterville broke the state record (2:16.50) in winning the event, but Kelsey’s time was good for sixth place overall.

“Great effort from our 13th seed, but she turned out to not be our only 13th seeded superstar..........” Coach Snow said.

Molly Hook was seeded 13th in the discus at 90 feet, 4 inches, and had a rough start to the event.  Her first two throws were 73 feet, 7 inches and an “out of sector” foul.  Then, on what was to be her last throw of her high school career, Molly heaved the discus 93 feet, 8 inches.  This propelled her up the standings into eventually sixth place and gave her three more throws (in the finals).  She was also one of the only finalists to continue throwing in the 90-plus feet range.  Her best mark remained the 93-8 throw and she did finish in that sixth spot.  Alliyah Veilleux of Winslow won the event with 104 feet 10 inches.

Alliyah was a force winning the discus, getting second in the 100m, and placing third in both the shot put and 200 meters.  She and her teammates had amassed 60 points after 18 of the 19 events.  The Lakers also had 60 points after 18 events.  It was a tie for second place, with Greely 1.5 points behind.  Which led the Lakers to the 4x400m relay.

“We needed to place better than Winslow and Greely in the relay to finish in second place,” Coach Snow said. “Our girls were seeded ninth, Winlsow 13th and Greely seventh.”

Audrey Blais put team above herself. She did not compete in an event until this last one.

“She was asked to stay cool and hydrated all day so she would be ready to run the first leg for this race,” Coach Snow said.

Her split was 1:07.5 (a 2 second personal record).  Sydney Hancock has put the healing of her hamstring on hold until she completed this outdoor track and field season.  She ran on the school record 4x100 and was the second leg for the 4x400m relay.  Her split was a seasonal best 1:05.

“We asked a lot of Kelsey Winslow today and she came through. What’s one more event?  Kelsey ran the third leg and her split was a seasonal best 1:03.8.  Hannah Perkins qualified for the state championships in the 400 meters but elected not to run in that event to increase our chances in this 4x400 meter relay.  She was our anchor.  She ran a PR split of 1:01.5.  The girls finished second in their heat with a spectacular time of 4:17.83 (10 seconds better than their seed time),” Coach Snow said.

Belfast won the heat in 4:15.24.  The best times from the top heat were Waterville 4:10.19, Old Town 4:15.46, Falmouth 4:19.35, and York 4:19.44.  This meant the LR girls not only beat Winslow and Greely, but the finished fourth in the event and secured a second place overall finish.

“The coaching staff is extremely proud of these girls.  Planning, training and preparing a team and a season mean very little if the team is not dedicated to the task and up for the challenges,” Coach Snow said. “These girls were and have the plaque to prove it.”

The LR boys had strong efforts also.  Although none of them set personal records, Mason Kluge-Edwards’ effort in the racewalk (9:18.05) earned him a seventh place medal and the Laker’s first boys’ points since 2010.

Mark MacDougall (javelin 135-feet) and Marcus DeVoe (triple jump 36-feet 11-inches) also competed for the boys.

Class B State Meet, Girls

1. Waterville 136

2. Lake Region 64

3. Winslow 60

4. Greely 58.50

5. Old Town 45

6. Falmouth 38

7. Erskine Academy 31.50

8. Fryeburg Academy 25

9. Belfast 22

10. Poland 21

11. Mt. Desert Island 19.50

12. York 19

13. Yarmouth 17

14. Camden Hills 15.50

15. Ellsworth 15

15. Hermon 15

17. Morse 11

18. Gray-New Gloucester 8

18. Presque Isle 8

20. Spruce Mountain 4

20. Mount View 4

22. Lincoln Academy 3

22. Cape Elizabeth 3

24. Leavitt 2

25. Wells 1