| BELFAST —
Senior Vanessa Brunton of the Sumner Tigers won
the state Class C cross-country championship on
Saturday, and she did it in convincing fashion.
Brunton left the
rest of the 48-runner field well behind as she
completed the five-kilometer course in 20
minutes and 10.2 seconds, finishing 21 seconds
ahead of runner-up Brianne Bailey of Telstar
Regional High School.
Brunton’s
championship, a week after she captured the
Eastern Maine Class C title, was the one bright
light for Hancock
County runners in the competition held at
Belfast’s Troy Howard
Middle School.
In the Class B
girls’ competition, Old
Town junior Cassie Hintz faced a
rare challenge in holding off Elise
Moody-Roberts of Cape
Elizabeth by just three seconds to win in 17:53.6.
Those two
runners finished nearly a minute ahead of their
closest competition in what was, by any account,
a fast race.
The top 11
runners all crossed the finish line in less than
20 minutes, and 19 more came in under the
21-minute mark.
For county
runners, Ellsworth senior Lacie Dow had the best
time, finishing 11th in 19:58.5 with Emily
Farley of Mount Desert Island just behind her in
20:00.3.
Led by the duo
of Madeline Glover (fourth) and Courtney Martin
(fifth), the John Bapst Crusaders won the Class
B team title with 61 points, well ahead of
runner-up Old Town with 108.
The MDI girls
finished seventh with 165 points and the
Ellsworth girls were eighth with 173.
Finishing behind
Dow for Ellsworth were Jana Piazza, 16th in
20:07.9; Shauna Lynch, 21st in 20:17.7; Lydia
Johnson, 62nd in 22:03.3; and Lynne Greenhalgh,
84th in 24:44.4.
For MDI, behind
Farley, were Amanda Ohmeis, 35th in 21:17.9;
Christy Spurling, 46th in 21:36.2; Aimee Brooks,
47th in 21:37.6; Taylor Kelley, 54th in 21:47.3;
Susan Falt, 77th in 22:54.4; and Lindsey
Hendricks, 85th in 24:45.9.
In the Class B
boys’ race, Belfast’s Levi Miller claimed the
state title with a time of 15:42.8.
Ellsworth’s
Corey DeWitt placed ninth in 16:46.8 to lead
county runners.
The Greely
Rangers took top team honors with 83 points and
Cape Elizabeth was runner up with
115. Ellsworth was fifth with 144 points in the
field of 14 teams.
Behind DeWitt
for the Eagles were David Burtchell, 25th in
17:21.0; Charles Silsby, 31st in 17:28.5; Leif
Jacobsen, 42nd in 17:39.6; Logan Will, 52nd in
17:53.2; Jeremy Grant, 60th in 18:10.3; and
Lucas Carriere, 95th in 20:04.9.
Among just four
Class C girls’ teams, the Sumner Tigers were
last despite Brunton’s winning run.
Freeport took
top honors with 40 points, followed by Foxcroft
Academy with 54, North Yarmouth
Academy with 60 and Sumner with 64.
For the Tigers,
Kelsey Linscott placed 20th in 22:53.5, Heather
Brown was 32nd in 24:10.8, Courtney Keen was
34th in 24:18.3, Crystal Jacques was 40th in
25:08.6, Natasha Barrientos was 46th in 26:55.7
and Carrie Light was 48th in 28:41.8.
The George
Stevens Academy Eagles were unable to field a
full team.
Mallory Hines
led the GSA contingent, placing 18th in 22:39.5.
She was followed by Maia Reiley, 25th in
23:22.6; Courtney Hally, 31st in 24:02.2; and
Cecelia Castino, 44th in 25:43.
Lisbon won the
Class C boys’ team title with 38 points and the
Sumner Tigers were eighth among nine teams with
172.
For Sumner,
Victor Jacques led the way, placing 17th in
18:07. Following were Andrew Brunton, 19th in 18:19.3; Ben Bricker, 54th in
19:37.7; Henry Bauer, 55th in 19:46; Andy Alteri,
67th in 20:42.9; Adam Sayre, 71st in 21:08.2;
and Stephen Brenton, 73rd in 22:37.8.
For the George
Stevens Academy Eagles, Andrew Gagne finished
28th in 18:34.1 and Keith Fisher was 30th in
18:35.4.
Ellsworth’s
Lacie Dow, MDI’s Emily Farley and Sumner’s
Vanessa Brunton all qualified for the New
England girls’ championships, as did Ellsworth’s
Corey DeWitt for the boys’ championship.
That meet will
be held on Saturday, Nov. 13, at
Wickham Park in Manchester, Conn. |
