Muddy conditions slowed times a bit at Twin Brook for the Western Maine cross country championships, but the runners and teams who qualified for next week’s state meet weren’t complaining.
The Merriconeag Waldorf girls and Hall-Dale boys bested Waynflete for regional titles in Class C. The Cape Elizabeth boys and Falmouth girls cruised to the Class B championships.
Sophia Thayer of Boothbay and Jack Pierce of Merriconeag Waldorf won individual Class C titles. Fryeburg Academy’s Silas Eastman and Kirstin Sandreuter of Greely were Class B champions.
Pierce (16:38.28) edged Telstar’s Josef Holt-Andrews by six seconds for first place. Winthrop’s Marc Hachey finished third and Ben Allen fifth. Nicholas Harriman of Lisbon took ninth. Monmouth had four runners, Ben Bailey, Dylan Thombs, Tyler Horsford and Stewart Buzzell, qualfy for states. Bronson Dean (Telstar), Cote Brauneis (Lisbon) and Dylan Berney (Winthrop) will also move on to next week’s meet in Belfast.
Waynflete finished 14 points behind Hall-Dale for the team title. Winthrop, Monmouth and Telstar also qualified for states.
Thayer (21:12.77) outkicked Hannah Austin of North Yarmouth Academy by 17 seconds for gold. Natalie Bolduc of Dirigo was third. Bree Sautter of Lisbon was ninth. Local qualifiers: Monmouth were Ashleigh Hartford, Carey Knowles and Tiffany Pease; Lisbon Caitlyn Bundy, Telstar Gabi Stone and Kaitlyn Brown; Winthrop Angel Abbott, Molly Kieltyka and Kaitlin Souza; St. Dom’s Ellen Tuttle and Abby L’Abbe; and Dirigo Jessica Conant and Sylvia Lutick.
The Dirigo and Monmouth teams qualified for states.
Eastman (16:47.39) won his third consecutive Class B crown by 23 seconds over Greely’s Nate Madeira. Harrison Knowlton (15th) and Tim Enos of Leavitt earned starting spots at states, as did Will Shafer of Gray-New Gloucester.
Sandreuter (19:57.60) enjoyed a 34-second victory over Caroline Colan of Maranacook. Kristitan Smith finished fourth. Maddie Wiegman of Leavitt finished 11th. Audrey Garcia of Gray-New Gloucester also qualified for states.
The Bonny Eagle girls and Massabesic boys won the Class A team titles. Nyajock Pan of South Portland (19:52.15) won the girls’ individual title, with Massabesic’s George Morrison (17:29.66) edging teammate Michael Aboud by .27 of a second for the boys’ title.
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