Mitch Morris of Cape Elizabeth & Katherine Leggat-Barr rule the roost in WM Class B
York boys win the boys team title with ease, while Yarmouth girls win first ever regional crown in school history
Boys Results | Girls Results
Photos: Girls Race | Boys Race
Race Videos: Boys Race | Girls Race
Interviews: Mitch Morris | Katherine Leggat-Barr | Grace Cowles & Caitlin Teare | Harrison Knowlton
After a disappointing performance at the WMC Conference Championship last Friday, Cape Elizabeth senior Mitch Morris went back to the drawing board so to speak. The senior knew he would need to change his racing plan in order to avoid a let down on Saturday. Like a good student, he made the necessary adjustment, and made sure he was in control of the race from the beginning.
Freeport's Chandler Vincent sprinted off the starting line and ensured the pace would be aggressive over the first 800m, and aggressive it was as only Morris went with him as they cruised through in 2:34 opening up a 5 meter gap over the rest of the field.
By the mile mark, Morris had taken over at front leading them through in 5:17. Behind him running single file was Vincet, Ryan Morrison of Greely & Patrick Carty. About 4 seconds back was a large chase pack.
When the pack came back into the woods in the B Loop Morris had seized control of the race, and was on his own. There was plenty of movement in the pack as well as Leavitt senior Harrison Knowlton was at the head of the chase pack along with Carty & Vincent
Morris was on a mission as he came through 2 miles in 10:40, and no one was in sight.
Knowlton had opened up a slight gap over Yarnmouth freshman Luke Laverdiere, Vincent & Carty as they headed into the final mile
Mitch would be able to back off the gas pedal in the final mile, as he crossed the line in 16:45, good for the second fastest time of the day, and 26 seconds up on the runner Knowlton. With the win today Morris will be the individual favorite heading in the state meet next week.
Knowlton who won the Class B KVAC title last week has beaten every Class B runner this fall with the exception of Morris, he had to fight hard over the last mile to hold off the stiff challenge of Patrick Carty, he would do so by just 1 second. Laverdiere lowered his Twin Brook personal best to 17:26 despite soggy conditions to finish fourth, while Vincent would hold on to finish 5th.
Cape's Kyle Kennedy was 6th followed by Rex Brockelman of York who had a strong day. GNG's Ben Garcia had his best race of the fall in placing 8th followed by Tucker Corbett of York. Rounding out the top ten was TJ Rose of Fryeburg.
The York Wildcats who have beaten all Class B competition all season long did it again on Saturday. The Wildcats behind Rex Brockelman & Tucker Corbett's top ten finished tallied 72 points to finish 20 points in front of Greely. York had all 5 scoreing runners in the top 27, and all seven in the top 32 showing great quality and depth. They will head to Belfast as the heavy favorites to win the Class B title.
Cape Elizabeth was third (105), with Freeport (118), & Fryeburg (126) rounding out the top 5 scoring teams.
The girls individual race figured to be all about Greely sophomore Katherine Leggat-Barr who has burst onto the xc scene this fall, and been unbeatable by any runner from Maine. Leggat-Barr running on her home course at Twin Brook pushed the pace hard from the gun, and never looked back. She was rewarded with the fastest time on the day, as she covered the 5k layout in 19:46, 20 seconds faster than any other runner. Her winning margin of victory in the race was an impressive 36 seconds.
"I never felt comfortable out there today, I pushed it hard right from the start" Leggat-Barr said of her race. While she might not have been comfortable the sophomore left the rest of the field in her dust.She'll be the individual favorite to win the Class B title next weekend in Belfast
The team race was the most anticipated race of the day, as the meet featured #1 ranked Yarmouth, #2 Cape Elizabeth & # 4 Greely. Yarmouth entered the meet as a slight favorite fresh off their win at the WMC Chmapionship last week.
It turned out to be the race everyone was expecting as the three teams went toe to toe over the challenging course. At the mile mark Greely had Leggat-Barr at the front, but then Yarmouth countered with Grace Cowles running in 3rd with Caitlin Teare holdng down the 5th spot. Behind them Cape was packing it up with Rhoen Fiutak, Liv Palma, & Madori Kwan in positions 6th-8th. Then came Emma Mason of Greely, along with Emma Shedd of Cape, Izzy Evans of Greely & Sam Feenstra of Cape, right behind them was Anneka Murrin & Abigail Hamilton of Yarmouth.
As the hit two miles a lot had changed since mile 1. Leggat-Barr continued to lead and dominate the rest of the field, but it Yarmouth would moved up throughout mile 2. Cowles & Teare were running 2-3 while the freshman Murrin had moved all the way up from 12th to 4th. Cape countered with Palma in 6th & Fiutak in 7th but Hamilton was right on there heels given the Clippers 4 of the top 8. Mason of Greely was right with Hamilton, a few strides behind was Evans with Kwan in her slipstream.
The tough final mile saw Leggat-Barr cruise to the win, behind her Cowles would finish as the runner-up (20:22), with Murrin running a very strong race to get third just one second behind. The biggest mover over the final mile was another freshman Izzy Evans of Greely who went from 10th with a mile to go all the way up to 4th (20:33).
The Clippers took the next two spots Hamilton moving up 3 more spots to 5th, followed by Teare in 6th, this gace Yarmouth 4 of the first 6 finishers in the regional championship a feat that hasn't been duplicated often. Audrey Blais of Lake Region would be the only runner not from Greely, Cape or Yarmouth in the top 10, she ran a great race for 7th overall. Next came the Cape duo of Palma & Fiutak in 8th and 9th, followed by Greely's Mason in 10th. Kwan would finish 12th for the Capers & Feenstra 14th, with Sophia Stickney of Greely taking 15th followed by Cape's 5th runner Emma Shedd in 16th. Greely's 5th Kristina Smith finished two spots later in 18th but Sarah Myers sealed the deal for Yarmouth with a 25th place finish.
Yarmouth behind 16 points from their top 4 pulled out the 39-45 win over Greely, while Cape who had 5 finishers in before any other team had to settle for third with 54.
These three teams will square off again next weekend at Belfast, expect more of the same great racing.
Top 30 Boys Individuals qualify for states
1 Mitch Morris SR Cape Elizabeth 16:45.48 1 2 Harrison Knowlton SR Leavitt 17:11.15 2 3 Patrick Carty JR Fryeburg Academy 17:12.20 3 4 Luke Laverdiere FR Yarmouth 17:26.71 4 5 Chandler Vincent JR Freeport 17:32.05 5 6 Kyle Kennedy SR Cape Elizabeth 17:36.65 6 7 Alex Brockelman JR York High School 17:37.13 7 8 Ben Garcia JR GNG 17:40.56 8 9 Tucker Corbett SR York High School 17:43.35 9 10 Thomas Rose SR Fryeburg Academy 17:43.51 10 11 Erik Brobst JR Freeport 17:46.34 11 12 Kyle Hansen JR Greely High School 17:49.55 12 13 Ethan Harriman SR Maranacook 17:53.78 13 14 Sam Sewall JR York High School 17:54.52 14 15 Evan Hultstrom JR York High School 17:57.60 15 16 Henry Jaques SO Freeport 18:00.58 16 17 Ryan Morrison JR Greely High School 18:01.12 17 18 Troy Cochran SR Greely High School 18:03.64 18 19 Connor Rog JR Greely High School 18:15.49 19 20 Nicholas Harriman JR Lisbon High School 18:19.42 20 21 Colby Watts SR Maranacook 18:21.11 21 22 Ben Wright SR Wells High School 18:21.47 22 23 Austin Cross JR GNG 18:23.58 23 24 Mac Huffard SO Cape Elizabeth 18:28.63 24 25 Wesley Moody SO Wells High School 18:32.63 25 26 Max Stickney SO Greely High School 18:32.76 26 27 Tony Ruest SR York High School 18:33.94 27 28 Ryan Simpson SO York High School 18:35.05 28 29 Jared Duperre JR Cape Elizabeth 18:38.07 29 30 Sammy Potter FR Yarmouth 18:38.51 30
Top 7 Boys Teams qualify for states
1 York High School 72 7 9 14 15 27 28 32
Total Time: 1:29:46.54
Average: 17:57.31
2 Greely High School 92 12 17 18 19 26 38 67
Total Time: 1:30:42.56
Average: 18:08.52
3 Cape Elizabeth High Schoo 105 1 6 24 29 45 50 59
Total Time: 1:30:53.70
Average: 18:10.74
4 Freeport High School 118 5 11 16 42 44 56 57
Total Time: 1:31:51.42
Average: 18:22.29
5 Fryeburg Academy 126 3 10 35 37 41 51 69
Total Time: 1:31:53.98
Average: 18:22.80
6 Gray New Gloucester High 151 8 23 34 39 47 65
Total Time: 1:33:29.03
Average: 18:41.81
7 Maranacook Community Scho 156 13 21 31 36 55 84 89
Total Time: 1:33:47.94
Average: 18:45.59
Top 30 Girls individuals qualify for states
1 Katherine Leggat-Barr SO Greely High School 6:22.0 19:46.76 1 2 Grace Cowles SO Yarmouth 6:33.4 20:22.17 2 3 Anneka Murrin FR Yarmouth 6:33.7 20:23.06 3 4 Izzy Evans FR Greely High School 6:36.9 20:33.08 4 5 Abigail Hamilton SO Yarmouth 6:37.6 20:35.12 5 6 Caitlin Teare SR Yarmouth 6:37.6 20:35.28 6 7 Audrey Blais JR Lake Region 6:38.2 20:37.18 8 Liv Palma SO Cape Elizabeth 6:38.8 20:38.90 7 9 Rhoen Fiutak SR Cape Elizabeth 6:40.2 20:43.14 8 10 Emily Mason SR Greely High School 6:41.4 20:46.90 9 11 Hannah Despres SR Maranacook 6:42.2 20:49.57 10 12 Midori Kwan SO Cape Elizabeth 6:46.4 21:02.54 11 13 Kathryn Miller FR York High School 6:49.7 21:12.80 12 14 Sam Feenstra JR Cape Elizabeth 6:52.1 21:20.21 13 15 Sophia Stickney JR Greely High School 6:52.9 21:22.80 14 16 Emma Shedd SO Cape Elizabeth 6:53.2 21:23.51 15 17 Lily Johnston JR Freeport 6:58.0 21:38.68 16 18 Kristina Smith SR Greely High School 6:58.5 21:39.97 17 19 Addie Blais SO Lake Region 6:59.7 21:43.67 20 Julia Labbe SO Leavitt 7:00.3 21:45.55 18 21 Amanda Fiorentino JR York High School 7:01.9 21:50.52 19 22 Faith Price JR Greely High School 7:02.9 21:53.86 20 23 Malia Cryan SO York High School 7:03.5 21:55.49 21 24 Emily Carty FR Fryeburg Academy 7:04.0 21:57.24 22 25 Sarah Myers SR Yarmouth 7:04.3 21:58.10 23 26 Maris Silvestri SR Morse High School 7:05.7 22:02.42 24 27 Maeve McGowan JR Morse High School 7:07.6 22:08.34 25 28 Lydia Sullivan JR Yarmouth 7:08.2 22:10.29 26 29 Ruth Nadeau SR Morse High School 7:09.8 22:15.11 27 30 Samantha Halmos FR Poland High school 7:09.8 22:15.23 28
Top 6 Girls Teams qualify for states
1 Yarmouth High School 39 2 3 5 6 23 26 36
Total Time: 1:43:53.73
Average: 20:46.75
2 Greely High School 45 1 4 9 14 17 20 42
Total Time: 1:44:09.51
Average: 20:49.91
3 Cape Elizabeth High Schoo 54 7 8 11 13 15 35
Total Time: 1:45:08.30
Average: 21:01.66
4 York High School 115 12 19 21 29 34 45 51
Total Time: 1:50:12.09
Average: 22:02.42
5 Maranacook Community Scho 153 10 30 31 33 49 52 57
Total Time: 1:52:57.42
Average: 22:35.49
6 Morse High School 164 24 25 27 38 50 55 66
Total Time: 1:54:09.64
Average: 22:49.93