AUGUSTA -- Maranacook Community School senior Max HoddWells ate a bowl of Rice Krispies, some fruit and a piece of toast for breakfast Friday. At lunch, he devoured nachos. Hall-Dale High School senior Laura Peterson enjoyed cinnamon toast with cranberry juice for breakfast and a turkey sandwich for lunch.

For dinner, both feasted on the competition at the annual Cony Invitational. Each won four events, the most of any athlete, before a bundled-up crowd that cheered through a chilly rain and some hail the size of cooked popcorn pieces.

Peterson won the closest race of the day -- the 200-meter dash -- by one-hundredth of a second (26.88 seconds) over Cony sprinter Mackenzie Dufour (26.89). Peterson swept the jumps, winning the long (17 feet, 7 inches), high (5-2) and triple (36-0).

HoddWells won the long jump (20-3), the 110 hurdles (15.15) and 300 hurdles (41.7). He also set a school record when he jumped 43-11 in the triple jump to easily win that event, too.

"I didn't expect to win all four of my events, but I wanted to, and I gave it all I had," HoddWells said. "The triple jump and long jump, I don't really practice those."

"I had a really, really good day," Peterson added. "This is my favorite meet of the year. It's definitely the toughest competition I've faced this year."

The Cony girls won the meet with 144 points, one ahead of runner-up Lisbon. Bethany Dumas won three events for the Rams -- the 100 hurdles, pole vault and javelin. Hall-Dale finished third with 85 points. Erskine, which received a big day from shot put and discus winner Anna Niedbala, finished fourth (78).

Lisbon easily won the boys meet with 214 points. Maranacook finished second with 109, followed by Erskine (89) and Cony (86).

The best events included the boys 1,600 and 3,200, as well as the girls 200.

Winthrop senior Danny Soltan won the 1,600 with a time of 4:28.01. In a deep and talented field, he beat out Jacob Knox of Maranacook, Wade Davis of Hall-Dale and Luke Fontaine of Cony. Knox finished second in 4:29.91.

"Luke took the lead for the first two and a half laps, and that really helped," Soltan said. "I conserved energy, hung on his shoulder and with 250 to go there was a gap and I had to take it. I knew when I hit the homestretch it would be tough for them to make it up."

Fontaine won the rematch in the 3,200, finishing in 9:45.47 to beat Soltan by about three seconds.

"He out-kicked me in the mile, but there was no way I was going to lose the two mile," Fontaine added. "I had to go for it."

Peterson edged Dufour in the 200 thanks to an out-stretched head and right shoulder.

"The 200 felt fast," said Peterson, who shaved a second off her previous best time.

Dufour won the 100 and 400 and helped the Cony 4x400 relay team to victory as well. She used a late burst of speed to win the 400 over Gardiner's Nikole Robbins.

"I saw her slowing down when we hit the 100 mark, and I knew I had to kick it in gear, and I did," Dufour said.

Bill Stewart -- 623-3811, ext. 515

bstewart@centralmaine.com