It wasn’t quite the finish the Saints were aiming for, but 2016 was still a high-water mark for the program.
“At the end of the day, it’s probably the best season St. Dom’s cross country team’s ever had. So we’re proud of that,” Saints co-coach Josh Brown said. “We thought we would come in a compete with those two teams; we were a step behind today.”
St. Dom’s finished with 86 points. George Stevens had 52 points and won the state championship, and Orono tallied 61 points.
“I think we had a lot of fun, so we accomplished that much,” St. Dom’s senior and team captain Ella Brown said. “But I think we did good. There’s a lot of strong teams here.
“Last race of the season, we were just going to give it our all.”
Orono’s Kassidy Dill won the individual title, finishing the 5-kilometer course in 19 minutes, 29.97 seconds. George Stevens duo Eliza Broughton and Zeya Lorio were second and third, respectively.
Sophomore Bugsy Hammerton was the highest finisher for St. Dom’s and the tri-county area, placing 10th (20:30.33). She had another signature finish, running down Orono’s Hannah Steelman in the race’s final yards to move up a spot.
“I dig deep and I find it,” Hammerton said. “Whatever I have, I’m going let it out. No regrets.”
The 10th-place finish caps off an impressive first season of cross country for Hammerton.
“Bugsy has some really tremendous speed for somebody that’s learning how to be a distance runner,” Josh Brown said. “I believe a year or two down the road, she’ll be running down just about everybody.”
St. Dom’s top five runners all finished in the top 31: Caroline Gastonguay came in 13th, Sydney Sirois 16th, Ella Brown 27th and Megan D’Alessandro 31st.
“Megan, who is our fifth runner consistently this year, she had a very good race today,” Josh Brown said. “I’m quite sure that’s a PR for her. It’s right where I thought she needed to be for us to compete.
“She had a very good race. She’s thrilled.”
Josh Brown wanted to keep the season in perspective, noting that the Saints won the C South regional and Western Maine Division 2 championships this season.
“Regional championship, conference championships — all good stuff,” Josh Brown said.
The five St. Dom’s runners were the tri-county area’s top five placers in the C girls’ race. Monmouth freshman Kaitlyn Hunt was the highest non-Saint, taking 38th, and Winthrop’s lone runner, Maya Deming, came in 42nd. The Monmouth girls finished eighth as a team.
Yarmouth’s Abigail Hamilton ran the fastest time in Saturday’s three girls races, claiming the Class B title with a time of 18:05.31. Mount Desert Island’s Tia Tardy was second (18:14.48), followed by Greely’s Katherine Leggat-Barr (18:14.61) in third and Carolyn Todd (18:39.71) in fourth.
Greely’s two top-four finishes paced it to the team state championship. Yarmouth was second and York took third.
The tri-county area had three runners in the Class B race, and all three finished 32nd or better: Leavitt’s Julia Labbe was 26th (20:21.44), while Olivia Ouellette (20:23.51) and Samantha Halmos (20:34.63), both of Poland, placed 27th and 32nd, respectively.
The closest individual finish of the day came in the Class A girls race. Malaika Pasch (18:22.02) of Falmouth won the title by edging Kennebunk’s Louise Holway (18:22.50) by less than a half-second.
The best local showing was by Edward Little sophomore Jillian Anderson, who placed 19th (20:16.76). Mt. Blue’s Maggie Hickey came in 26th (20:35.74). Lewiston’s Zaid Teklu was 31st (20:48.53), one spot ahead of Mt. Blue’s Maeve Hickey (20:50.25).
Led by the Hickey sisters, the Cougars finished ninth as a team. Bonny Eagle claimed the team championship, followed by Falmouth and Massabessic.
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