Winslow High School won the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B indoor championship this winter, sending a message to the rest of the league.

Now comes a daunting challenge: Can the Black Raiders do it again outdoors?

To win the conference title this spring, Winslow will have to overcome two-time defending Class B state champion Waterville, which returns a strong and deep squad.

Elsewhere, the graduation losses of Jesse Labreck (Messalonskee), Laura Peterson (Hall-Dale) and Bethany Dumas (Cony) will change the scope of the sport, both locally and across the state.

“It’s exciting because we don’t know what we have now,” Messalonskee coach Scott Wilson said. “With Jesse, before any meet you knew you’d get 40 points every time. Having Jesse on the team for years, a lot of kids were in her shadows. Now, it’s time for others to shine.”

Messalonskee, Cony and Lawrence should be in the mix in the KVAC A race. In Class C, Winthrop should contend for the Mountain Valley Conference title, while Hall-Dale features another strong team.

Maranacook and Erskine will try to challenge Winslow and Waterville in Class B.

“We’re loaded,” Winslow coach Shawn Carey said. “We only graduated five seniors. We have about 35 to 40 girls out. We’re easily in the mix. I’m not looking for us to lose too many regular season meets. Event for event, we’re right at the top.”

So is Waterville, which features senior Shelby Tuttle, who is coming off a record-breaking performance in the indoor season. She set the Class B state record in the long jump when she soared 17 feet, 5 inches. She also set the state record in the triple jump when she went for 37 feet, 9.5 inches.

“Our girls have the potential to be the best team I’ve ever coached here,” Waterville coach Ian Wilson said. “We’re absolutely loaded. We’re going to be even better than people think. We have events covered all over the place. I was trying to think of which events we won’t have a kid challenge for state title, and I couldn’t come up with many.”

Waterville senior Danielle Fossa should challenge for state titles in the shot put, discus and javelin. Taylor Frame (hurdles), Anna Thurston (sprints), Kayla Tuttle (distance), Sarah Walker (distance) and Morgan Frame (hurdles) are also championship contenders.

Winslow, which features a strong incoming freshman class, is led by Christina Massey, who is coming off a nice indoor season. Massey finished second in the high jump and fourth in the long jump at the Class B meet.

Kathryn Fedus (middle distance, pole vault), Corinne Bertolacinni (distance), Kelsea Bouchard (sprints and jumps) and Emily Farrell (distance and jumps) should score well for Winslow.

“We want to fill everything,” Carey said. “We have all athletes, nothing but athletes. We’re pumped. We’ve been talking about this season for years.”

After a stellar cross country season, freshman Abby Mace makes her high school track and field debut for Maranacook and should be one of the top distance runners in the state. She is joined by Taylor Burr, who finished seventh in the 1,600 at the state meet last spring. Sarah McFarland, who qualified for the state meet in the hurdles, should also pace the Black Bears.

Elsewhere in Class B, Nikole Robbins qualified for four events at the state meet last season and will lead a small Gardiner squad. Nicole Morissette (distance) leads an Erskine team that finished fifth in the league last season.

In Class A, Cony finished fourth in the KVAC and ninth in the state meet last season, thanks in part to Dumas — who holds the state indoor and outdoor pole vault records. The Rams return plenty of talented athletes to challenge for the conference title again.

Morgan Beede (distance and jumps), Mackenzie Dufour (sprints), Courtney Dufour (distance) and Brittany Ford (distance) lead Cony.

Lawrence, which finished 11th in the KVAC A last spring, is also poised to improve. The Bulldogs feature a strong group of sprinters, including Jenna Sementelli, Molly Cooper and Sara Quimby.

In Class C, Ariel Howes and Kery Fredette lead a talented Hall-Dale team that finished second in the Mountain Valley Conference last season thanks to standout performances from Laura Peterson and Magen Ellis.

Those two have graduated, leaving new coach Joe Viselli facing some uncertainty heading into the season.

“They graduated a lot of points,” he said. “But Ariel has a chance of winning the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles, and she throws the javelin.”

Winthrop also returns some talented athletes, including Kenzie Hill (middle-distance), Anna Smithgall (shot put) and Karen Rice (sprints). Hill won the 800 at the league meet last season while Smithgall was a surprise winner in the shot put at the Class C meet.

“If enough of the other teams can chip away from Lisbon, we’ll be right there,” Winthrop coach Ed Van Tassel said.

Bill Stewart — 623-3811, ext. 515

bstewart@centralmaine.com