It was worth the wait.
The Scarborough girls’ outdoor track team had to wait four extra days to win another state title, but did that very thing last Wednesday, taking advantage of its pole vault excellence to leapfrog Edward Little.
The Red Storm trailed the Red Eddies, 75-74, at the state championship meet Saturday, June 2 at Windham, with all but the pole vault remaining and when that event was postponed by rain, Scarborough had plenty of time to think about it.
In a battle that went on into the evening at Bates College, Catherine Bailey moved up from her third seed to place runner-up with a top vault of 10 feet, 6 inches and Andrea Tolman, seeded sixth, tied for fifth (10 feet). Edward Little had its second-seeded vaulter come in third and its seventh-seed fail to score, giving Scarborough a 84.5-81 win.
The Red Storm captured its fifth Class A crown in seven seasons and won the program’s 10th overall (five came in Class B in the 1990s).
“It was worth the wait,” said longtime Scarborough coach Ron Kelly. “The boys started at 3 p.m. The girls started warming up around 5:30 and we finished a little after 8. Everybody can now celebrate. We had to have some big performances (the prior Saturday) to get in that situation. Both Edward Little and us were helped by Bangor not getting its points.
“We knew being one point down that we just had to outscore Edward Little. The girls felt confident. Having Andrea back increased our chances. She hadn’t been able to vault for three weeks.”
Scarborough will be hard hit by graduation, but don’t expect the Red Storm to have to rebuild.
“I have to replace 55 points, but you never know,” said Kelly. “Kids improve.”
South Portland finished 14th with 17 points and didn’t score in the pole vault.
On the boys’ side, Scarborough moved up to sixth with 35 points after Kevin Manning finished first in the pole vault (13 feet) and Alec James came in fourth (12-6). South Portland didn’t score in that event and placed 21st with 8 points.
Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.
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