BELFAST — Conditions were not ideal on the course at Troy Howard Middle School for the Northern Maine Cross Country Regional Championships on Saturday afternoon, but that didn’t stop runners from snagging individual and team success.
Sloppy conditions due to overnight rain and fog provided tricky conditions throughout the day. Temperatures were ideal, staying in the mid-to-high 50s with cloud coverage.
Cony senior Sam Goldey won one of the tightest races of the afternoon, taking the Class B North boys title with a time of 17:31.85, edging Elijah Jakubisn of Nokomis (17:36.35) by 5 seconds. Liam McKernan of Mt. Desert Island (17:49.01) was third.
“When I crossed the finish line, I was so happy, I was crying,” said Goldey, emotional after the win. “I came into this seeded fifth, and (I thought) finishing top three would be amazing. I’m just so happy, I can’t even comprehend it. Right off the bat, I was in fourth or fifth (place), coming around by the second mile, I don’t know, I just had this sense of energy… That’s the hardest I ever raced in my life. I was just thinking, going up the hill, I’ve got to (sprint to the finish).”
“I wasn’t expecting to get second,” said Jakubisn, a junior. “That’s really exciting. I thought, at first, that I was maybe going to get (Goldey). But, over the hill, he just carried away and I couldn’t keep up.”
MDI junior Amelia Vandongen (19:38.39) easily won the B North girls title, with Medomak Valley’s Ava Collamore (21:00.44) finishing second while Caribou’s Maggie Bell (21:34.83) finished third.
The Trojans made a clean sweep of the B titles. The girls finished with 49 points, followed by John Bapst (102) and Medomak Valley (113). The boys totaled 41 points, followed by John Bapst (67) and Ellsworth (90).
Oxford Hills’ Lucas Hutchinson, left, and Messalonskee’s Pierce Coughlin run in the Class A North cross country championships Saturday in Belfast. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
Orono’s Ruth White continued her dominant 2023 campaign, winning the Class C North girls title with a time of 17:08.19, 12 seconds slower than her time from the Festival of Champions, which set race and course records just weeks before.
“The plan (Saturday) was to just run really hard for the team,” said White, a senior who announced her commitment to Division I Boise State on Oct. 12.
“(The course) was actually in pretty good condition,” White said. “They did a good job putting down gravel on a lot of the wet spots, and we kind of lucked out with the weather.”
Houlton’s Teanne Ewings (17:21.86) was second, while teammate Natalie Johnson (19:46.41) finished third. Orono (29 points) won the C North girls team title, as sophomore Clara White — Ruth White’s sister — finished fourth with a time of 19:58.19, and Maya Boyington (20:21.46) finished fifth. Houlton (35 points) finished second, while George Stevens Academy (85) was third.
“I’m really proud of the way everyone came together,” Ruth White said. “There were some kids that were pretty nervous, but they toughed it out. Everyone finished and finished really strong. I’m just really happy with how everyone ran and I’m really proud of them.”
Sumner won the Class C North boys team (60 points) and individual title, as senior Kaleb Colson won in 16:32.54. Teammate Ren Salisbury (16:59.40) was second, while Bucksport’s William Hileman (17:11.98) was third. Orono (84 points) finished second behind Sumner, with Bucksport (94) taking third.
Hampden Academy had a strong showing the Class A North girls race, as sophomore Gretchen Plant (19:50.59) edged teammate Addison Elliott (19:56.40) for the individual title, while Brunswick’s Maeve Woodruff (20:00.34) was third.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect (to win) coming into this race,” Plant said. “It was definitely a big surprise. I knew (the race) was going to be a little bit slower, just because of the muddy conditions, so my coach told me to just go out at a moderate pace and kind of work from there.”
As a team, the Broncos (46 points) finished second behind champion Camden Hills (36 points), led by senior Jenna VanRyn (20:17.63), who was fourth. Besides VanRyn, the Windjammers had three other runners in the top 10, including Marguerite Worner (6th), Faye Hildreth (7th) and Jaden Johnson (8th).
Oxford Hills junior Lucas Hutchinson (16:37.16) wrapped up the afternoon with a victory in the A North boys race, followed by Ben Klingle (16:52.16) of Brunswick and Harrison Shain (16:54.52) of Hampden Academy. Mt. Blue junior Henri McCourt (16:56.69) was fourth.
“I respect every one of these runners,” Hutchinson said after the race. “They all (had the same goal). I might be having more fun than them, but at the end of the day, they’re out here running with me.”
Hampden Academy (51 points) won the A North boys title. Camden Hills (60) was second, while Brunswick (62) finished third.
The top 30 runners from each race qualified for next week’s state championship races.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
