Cape Elizabeth Boys Repeat; Freeport Girls Win Class B Crowns at Western Regionals

Cape Elizabeth Boys Repeat; Freeport Girls Win Class B Crowns at Western Regionals

Liam Simpson takes boys title while Kirstin Sandreuter best on the girls side

Boys Results | Girls Results

Photos:  Album 1 | Moosechili

Race Videos: Boys | Girls

Interviews: Liam Simpson | Will Shafer | Kirstin Sandreuter | Heather Evans

 

It was a chilly fall day at Twin Brook Recreational Park for the Western Maine Regional Championships, and due to the cold air and lack of precipitation this past week Twin Brook was in arguably the best shape it has ever been in. Lets take a look at the top individuals and teams for Western Maine Class B.

 

Girls Individuals 

Kirsten Sandreuter of Greely laced up the spikes and raced for the first time in a few weeks and showed a minimal loss of fitness, if any. Sandreuter cruised to a 19:02.02 finish, good for becoming a repeat Western Maine Regional Champion.

Sandreuter and Heather Evans of York (20:22 for 2nd place) were neck and neck for the first 800m but Sandreuter kicked into another gear and took home the victory by over a minute. Sandreuter seized control of the race by the mile opening up a 15 second gap that kjust expanded throughout. There was a decent sized gap between York HS Senior Heather Evans and the third place finisher Sydney Ambrose from Freeport HS (20:45).

Not far behind Ambrose was Yarmouth's Caitlin Teare in a solid effort of 20:52.76. There was quite the race for the final five positions that saw places 5-11 separated by a mere three seconds. Rohen Fiutak of Cape, Ellie Teare of Yarmouth, Anna Lastra of Fryeburg, Malia Cryan from York, Elly Bengtsson of Freeport, and Hannah Despres of Maranacook rounded out the top ten, all of the times ranging between 21:05.40, and 21:07.62.

 

Girls Team

Before coming into the meet, it was expected that the team title would be given to one of three teams. Freeport, Cape, and Greely all were expected to be duking it out for top honors but only one team can win. Freeport High School edged Cape Elizabeth by a very close margin of 10 points, 71-81 respectively. Greely with the help of the returning Kirstin Sandreuter held out a respectable third place finish with 85 points. By the second mile it was unclear who was going to be the champion, but with around a half mile to go the Freeport girls were able to hold of Cape to take home the team honors.

Freeport who was the WMC runner-up to Class A Falmouth a week ago backed it up with an even stronger run on Saturday. For the runner-up Cape, they rebounded big time after a 5th place finish a week ago. Both teams figure to be battling it out for the runner-up trophy next weekend.

 

The following teams have qualified for states:

1. Freeport High School

2. Cape Elizabeth 

3. Greely

4. Yarmouth

5. York

6. Maranacook

7. Lisbon

 

Boys Individuals

Liam Simpson was out for redemption today as he hammered the second mile of the tough Twin Brook course to pull away from some of the state's best harriers.Will Shafer of GNG got the best of Simpson at the Western Maine Conference Championships last week, but today Simpson made his move just after the mile to pull away to a first place finish of 16:15.92.

Shafer was the next closest to Simpson in 16:36.93, barely holding off a surging Peter Doane (16:37.87). Soccer/Cross Country doubler Ben Decker of Yarmouth was fourth in 16:42.95 right ahead of his teammate Braden Becker (16:48.90), who rounded out the top five. 

Freeport sophomore Chandler Vincent (16:57.23) held off a big race from Maranacook's Austin Landry (16:57.51) for 6th & 7th place. Landry performance improved his best time for 5k by 16 seconds, his previous best effort came at FOC. Cape junior Kyle Kennedy moved up steadily throughout the race, he would get all the way up to 8th (17:01), his teammate Mitch Morris was right behind him (17:05) in 9th.  Leavitt's Harrison Knowlton rounded out the top ten with his 17:13 effort.

 

Team

The Cape Elizabeth Boys' squad who has consistently been ranked either 1 or 2 in the state showed everybody why that is true today. Despite not having their number three runner, Cape defended their Western Maine Regional title in solid fashion scoring a solid 45 points, nearly 60 ahead of the second place finishers York HS. Behind the win of Liam Simpson, Cape put four runners in the top 10. The race for the final state meet qualification bids was a close one as it saw GNG, Freeport, Maranacook, and Yarmouth battle it out for spots 3-6, all of the teams only separated by 20 points. Lincoln Academy was the final team to qualify with a score of 178, respectively.

A special note of congratulations to the GNG team as this is the first time since 1987 the Patriots have qualified as a team for the state meet.

 

The following teams have qualified for states:

1. Cape Elizabeth

2. York

3. GNG

4. Freeport

5. Maranacook

6. Yarmouth

7. Lincoln Academy