Cheverus’ Nolan Doherty competes in the mile at Saturday’s SMAA championship meet. Doherty was fourth.

Adam Birt photos.

More photos below.

The first event of the winter sports postseason was contested Saturday when the Southwestern Maine Activities Association held its championship meet, better known as Southwesterns, at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham.

Deering’s boys had a solid day, tallying 157 points, but that still left the Rams second to powerhouse Scarborough (242). Cheverus (23 points) was ninth and Portland came in 15th with 1 point.

Deering got wins from Alec Troxell in the junior 800 (2 minutes, 7.40 seconds), Ezra Chapola (who set a new school record in the triple jump, 42 feet, 5.25 inches) and its open 4×400 (Nicholas James, Chapola, Hisham Ramadan, and Chris Irakoze, 3:39.16) and open 4×800 (Yahya Nure, Jerry Mixangerlo, Masho Gebremikael and Musa Abdi, 8:31.43) relay teams.

Songha Loth was second in the junior 55 with a new school record time of 6.62 seconds. The Rams also got points from Nure (second in the open two-mile, 10:03.64), Jack Lynch (runner-up in the senior 400, 53.02, and fourth in the senior 200, 23.97), Josh Paisley (second in the junior shot put, with a new school record distance of 42-11.5), Samacha Sam (third in the junior 200, 24.72, fourth in the junior 55, 7.03, and sixth in the junior long jump, 16-9), Mohamed Abdurahman (third in the junior 800, 2:09.42, and third in the junior high jump, 5-6), Luc Harrison (third in the 400, 53.38, and fifth in the senior 200, 24.03), Emmanuel Lam (third in the senior high jump, 5-10), Kabala Muka (third in the senior shot put, 48-3.5), Ramadan (third in the open 600, 1:19.47), Wilder Baldwin (fourth in the senior 800, 2:06.03, and fourth in the open 600, 1:20.36), Chapola (fourth in the senior long jump, 19-7.25), Chris Kombo (fifth in the junior triple jump, 36-2, tied for fifth in the junior high jump, 5-4), Jason Pichette (tied for fifth in the junior high jump, 5-4), Irakoze (fifth in the senior 55 hurdles, 8.71), James (sixth in the open 600, 1:21.23) and their runner-up open 4×200 relay team (Lynch, Chapola, Lam and Harrison, 1:36.82) and third-place junior 4×200 relay team (Sam, Paisley, Mixangelo and Abduraham, 1:42.77).

Cheverus’ points came from Mike O’Brien (runner-up in the senior triple jump, 42-4.25), Sean Tompkins (fourth in the junior 400, 55.34, and fifth in the junior 55, 7.08), Nolan Doherty (fourth in the open mile, 4:42.91), John Stokes (fifth in the senior shot put, 44-10.75), Steven Larkin (sixth in the open mile, 4:46.48) and its fifth-place open 4×400 relay team (O’Brien, Joe Jalbert, Tompkins and Bobby Slattery, 3:48.68).

Portland’s point came from Alex Frank, who was sixth in the senior 400 (53.65).

In the girls’ meet, also won by Scarborough with 152 points, Cheverus (99) placed second, Deering (28.5) was 11th and Portland (19.5) finished 14th.

Cheverus got wins from Emma Gallant in the junior 55 (7.51), junior 200 (26.27) and junior 400 (59.38), Emily Turner in the senior 400 (1:00.19) and its open 4×400 relay team (Katelyn Gendron, Rosie Train, Gallant and Turner, 4:17.53).

Also scoring were Emma White (second in the junior long jump, 16-4.5, second in the junior triple jump, 34-4.5, and fourth in the junior high jump, 4-10), Evelyn Hanley (third in the junior 55 hurdles, 9.54), Julia Pomerleau (third in the senior high jump, 5-0), Train (fourth in the junior 800, 2:33.59), Ashley Turner (fifth in the open mile, 5:52.12), Hannah Abbott (fifth in the senior shot put, 32-11), Gendron (fifth in the open 600, 1:36.77, and sixth in the senior 200, 28.61) and the third-place junior 4×200 relay team (Hanley, White, Mary-Kate Earley and Julia Ryan, 1:57.11).

For Deering, Annah Rossvall was second in the senior 200 (27.39), third in the senior 400 (1:02.09) and sixth in the senior 55 hurdles (9.85). Also scoring were Gaia Zampieri (third in the open 600, 1:33.36), Sreyly Sao (tied for sixth in the junior high jump, 4-8), Mbacthana Muka (sixth in the junior 200, 29.34), Caitlin Lally (sixth in the senior 55, 7.83) and the fifth-place junior 4×200 relay team (Sao, Emily Py, Nichole Dascanio and Darcy Lally, 1:59.32), fifth-place open 4×200 relay team (Nicola Ciccomancini, Lally, Muka and Rossvall, 1:55.24) and sixth-place open 4×400 relay team (Zampieri, Elizabeth Erbe, Darrah Scott and Maggie Healy, 4:39.77). 

Portland’s points came from Ella Altidor (third in the senior 55, 7.60, and third in the senior 200, 27.67), Maggie Hosmer (third in the senior 800, 2:33.29), Karina Boothe (sixth in the junior 55 hurdles, 9.79 and Jaidyn Appel (who tied for sixth place in the junior high jump, 4-8).

Looking ahead, the Class A state championship meet will be contested Monday, Feb. 20 at USM.

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.

Portland’s Ella Altidor races to a third-place finish in the senior 55 at Saturday’s SMAA meet.

Cheverus’ Paul Lussier competes in the long jump.

Portland’s Zekariyer Shaib runs in the open 600.

Deering’s Kevin Segal takes part in the long jump.

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