If the Lewiston girls’ track team recalls them at all, it is because of how poorly they did. But that was just the beginning for the Blue Devils.

“Each week we got better and better,” Lewiston first-year coach Paul Soracco said. “It’s been amazing. They’ve been buying into what we’re doing and how hard we’ve been training.”

The ultimate payoff came Saturday, when the girls’ team won the KVAC championships. It was a clean sweep for the Lewiston teams but a milestone victory for the girls’ squad. The Blue Devils had never won any kind of title in girls’ track before.

“The boys were favored but the girls, everybody just stepped up,” Soracco said. “It was incredible.”

Though the season started off slowly with some less-than-impressive results in the first few meets, the Blue Devils started making progress. It was an improvement in small measures that eventually led to sizable results.

“I think it just came down to our work,” said senior Bailey Jumper, who has been on the team for four years. “We were more nervous early in the season. As we got going, we began to work harder because we wanted it. (Coach) pushed us to run a little bit faster and throw a little bit farther. Just that little bit could get us so much farther.”

The emphasis was on working hard, lifting weights, getting stronger mentally and physically and pushing for more. The athletes responded to it.

“We worked really hard in all of our practices,” said freshman Taylor Chamberlain, who won the high jump Saturday. “We did extra stuff and used the weight room and it all came together.”

The Blue Devils had some returning talent back, led by seniors Heather Kendall, Courtney Allen, Nicole Footer and Bailey Jumper.

Junior Adela Kalilwa was already a proven talent, while sophomores Jennifer Martin, Isha Kasai and Kaitlyn True as well as Chamberlain were young talent that could contribute.

It was the largest girls’ indoor track team the school has ever seen. After a strong showing during the cross country season, finishing third in the KVAC and regionals, many of those athletes were looking for similar success during the indoor season.

“We had a lot of people that really stepped it up,” Footer, a senior in her third year with the team, said. “Going into the season, I didn’t really see that. I was surprised this year that we did really good.”

With the first couple of meets out of the way, the team started to make significant strides. Soracco and his coaching staff tried to focus on small improvements and slowly getting better.

“After the third meet or so, we came close,” Soracco said. “We were like ‘Girls, do you realize how close you are? A couple more places, a couple more events. Somebody finishes fourth instead of seventh. You’re right there.'”

That gave the team a little extra motivation. The Blue Devils truly realized their potential and focused on what they need to do to achieve.

“Our coaches were like ‘You’re really stepping up and beating teams we haven’t beaten in past year,'” Footer said. “We were really pumped for that.”

By the end of the season, the girls’ team had a different mindset. Lewiston entered the KVAC knowing it had a chance to win. Soracco said the numbers showed that the Blue Devils could be in the top three. The Blue Devils topped that with 102 points, beating out Brunswick, which finished second with 81.

Brunswick won last year and Lewiston was third.

“We knew we were going to be up there,” Soracco said. “We just needed some girls to step up, and they did. Taylor won the high jump. There were a couple of surprises where kids placed higher than expected. All week I was preaching that every point counts and every place counts and that we needed to push it right to the end.”

Chamberlain, Kalilwa and Kendall each won events. Chamberlain won the high jump, while Kendall won the 200, setting a new school record in the process. Kalilwa won the long jump. Lewiston also won the 4×200 relay with Chamberlain, Kasai, Martin and Kendall running.

The Blue Devils also had a number of other top finishes to boost the point total. Kendall was also second in the 55 meter dash, followed by Kasai in third. Behind Kendall in the 200, Kalilwa was second and Kasai was fourth. Kalilwa was also second in the triple jump. Martin was second in the hurdles and 400. Footer added a fourth in the two-mile, while Allen was seventh. Johorey Abdirahman was fifth in the 800. The 4×800 relay team of Sadio Adan, Hafido Awil, Abdirahman and True took  fourth.

“We felt like all our relay teams could do well,” Footer said. “I didn’t think I would do as well as I did. I didn’t think I would place either, but we all worked hard.”

Just knowing the team had a chance to win, gave the Blue Devils a different feeling entering the meet. Winning as a team hadn’t been the thought process for teams in the past.

“You feel like as a team you have to come together instead of being just individuals,” Jumper said. “It was really exciting. We listened to our warmup CD on the bus. We were all excited. Some of us were a little nervous, but we were like ‘We want this.'”

Now the girls’ team focus its attention on the state meet next week at USM. Kendall is the only returning athlete to have placed a year ago, finishing sixth in the 200. Lewiston finished 15th overall with 10 points.

“We just have to keep doing what we’re doing,” Jumper said. “We’ll work a little bit harder, try to push a little farther, run faster, throw farther and lift a little more in the weight room.”

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