Bangor captures Class A girls cross country conference title
Oct. 18—Bangor High School senior Megan Randall's individual victory paced the Rams to their second straight Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference girls cross country championship Saturday at Cony High School in Augusta.
Bangor's 52 points shaded Brunswick (64), Camden Hills of Rockport (68) and Mt. Blue of Farmington (70) at the top of the 10-school Class A field.
Brunswick won the KVAC Class A boys crown with 51 points, with Hampden Academy and Bangor following with 67 points but Hampden earning second place as its sixth runner placed ahead of Bangor's sixth finisher.
Randall completed the hilly 3.1-mile course in 20 minutes, 18.4 seconds to score a comfortable win over Payton Bell of Auburn's Edward Little High School, who placed second in 21:08.4.
Sadie Harrow (sixth) and Katie McCarthy (seventh) also secured top-10 finishes for Bangor, while Sophie Reuter (14th), Alison St. Peter (29th), Sophia Mazzarelli (30th) and Jasmine Knapp (34th) also aided the Rams' victory.
Jenna VanRyn of Camden Hills, Emma Charles of Mt. Blue and Cassie Middleton of Camden Hills rounded out the top five runners.
Hampden's Abbott Valentine set a course record while edging Bangor's Daniel McCarthy for the Class A individual crown. Valentine was timed in 16:11.0 to eclipse the former course standard of 16:18.5 set by former Mount Ararat of Topsham standout Lisandro Berry-Gaviria.
McCarthy also bested the former course record as he finished in 16:14.2, with Charlie Collins of Hampden third at 17:25.5.
Simon Socolow added a second top-10 finish for Bangor, finishing ninth overall.
Senior Connor Daigle of Medomak Valley High School in Waldoboro won the KVAC Class B boys title with the third-fastest time of the combined A-B meet, 16:52.7.
Cony captured the team title with 68 points, with Lincoln Academy of Newcastle (58), Morse of Bath (74), Erskine Academy of South China (129) and Nokomis of Newport (132) completing the top five.
Jacob Pelletier's third-place finish led Cony, while Lincoln Academy was paced by fourth-place Liam Card and Nick Russ in 12th.
Lincoln Academy edged Cony 55-57 for the Class B girls title, followed by Waterville (81), Maranacook of Readfield (87) and Morse (94).
Abby Williams of Waterville won the individual title in 21:21.9, 24.2 seconds ahead of Cony's Grace Kirk.
Grace Houghton's 10th-place effort led a Lincoln Academy scoring contingent that also featured Audrey Hufnagel (11th), Adeline Hall (13th), Bronwen Coffin (14th) and Dylan Burmeister (17th).
At the Penobscot Valley Conference championships in Bucksport, Mount Desert Island of Bar Harbor won the Class B girls title for the 10th time in the last 11 years while Houlton/Greater Houlton Christian Academy edged perennial frontrunners Orono and George Stevens Academy in Class C.
Caribou's Kayley Bell captured the Class B individual championship for the second straight year with her time of 19:36.51. Grace Munger of MDI (19:49.40) and Anna Jandreau of Presque Isle (19:52.03) also bested the 20-minute standard.
MDI's next four runners, AyliGrace Munro, Callan Eason, Ella Joyce, Meri Rainford and Piper Soares, finished within 52.36 seconds of each other while finishing fifth through ninth as the Trojans scored 20 points, well ahead of Caribou (71), John Bapst of Bangor (79), Foxcroft Academy (99) and Hermon (103).
Sophomore Ruth White of Orono posted the best girls' time of the meet with her Class C-winning 17:29.59, but Houlton/GHCA placed three runners among the top eight to edge the Red Riots 41-42 for the team title.
Freshman Teanne Ewings finished third for Houlton/GHCA, with Leanne Ross seventh and Natalie Johnson eighth.
Defending champion George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill, led by runner-up Thea Crowley, finished third with 74 points, followed by Bangor Christian (109), Bucksport (119) and Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln (120).
Sam York won the Class B boys division in 16:22.19 to lead MDI to its third straight PVC title with a 59-61 victory over Caribou.
MDI's next four finishers, Tucker James (12th overall), Liam McKernan (13th), Callahan Bryer (16th) and Sam Craighead (17th), were just 21.42 seconds apart.
Hermon placed third with 74 points, followed by John Bapst (79), Ellsworth (112), Presque Isle (141) and Old Town (150).
Caribou had three runners in the top five with Michael Cyr second, George Ferland fourth and Ephraim Willey fifth. Ian Meserve's third-place effort paced Hermon.
Orono won its ninth PVC Class C boys championship in the last 10 years, tipping defending champion George Stevens Academy 44-50,
Bucksport's William Hileman won the individual title in 16:25.88, shading second-place Kyle McClellan of Orono by 5.02 seconds.
Colby Farnsworth added a fourth-place finish for Orono, with Izaak Swartz (12th overall), Owen Beane (14th) and Zane Roggenbuck (19th) also aiding the championship effort.
Other top five finishers were third-place Daniel Ross of Houlton/GHCA and fifth-place Ethan Linscott of Lee Academy.
Bucksport (69) finished third in the team standings, followed by Sumner of East Sullivan (101), Lee (121) and Washington Academy of East Machias (129).
Next up for the high school runners are the Northern Maine championships this Saturday at the Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast, with Class C races at 11 a.m (girls) and 11:40 a.m. (boys), Class B at 12:20 p.m. (girls) and 1 p.m. (boys), and Class A at 1:40 p.m. (girls) and 2:20 p.m. (boys).
