Published February 7, 2026 by Drew Bonifant, Portland Press Herald.
The Red Riots win their fifth straight conference championship, while the Red Storm edge Cheverus/Waynflete for their first title in three years.
Make it five straight SMAA titles for the Red Riots. And this one came in style.
Led by Bossay Ditanduka’s record-breaking victory in the 200-meter dash, South Portland totaled 195.5 points to roll to the conference championship over Portland (138), Gorham (122), Thornton Academy (94) and Deering (79.5).
“They matured and evolved throughout the whole season,” Kahill said. “I don’t think you would have necessarily put us as a favorite at the beginning of the season, but they brought really good camaraderie, hard work and dedication.”
The only individual conference record came in the boys’ senior 200. Ditanduka raced to a time of 22.37 seconds, breaking Jarrett Flaker’s mark of 22.49 for Scarborough in 2019.
“I want to do the same thing in states,” said Ditanduka, who also took second in the long jump and fourth in the 55. “I wanted to win again. I did that for everybody.”
The Red Riots got plenty of other contributions. Devin Berry won the 55 hurdles (7.75), Christiano Jundo (triple jump), Anthony Nielsen (mile), Michael Lawlor (600) and Logan Salamone (junior 55 hurdles) placed second, and the 800 relay team won in 1:34.16.
“We had some top returning athletes,” Kahill said, “but developing depth to score so many places in so many events, that was a great achievement.”