Lily Horne, of Freeport, used the first grassy hill some 300 meters into the the race to her advantage, got out to an early lead over Greely's Carolyn Todd and never let it go. Looking at just Horne's (19:30) margin over Todd (20:15) you might think Todd was overmatched, but after Todd crossed the line it was still another minute and forty-four seconds before the third place finisher, Greely's Julia Curran, clocked in at 21:29. Moreover Horne's 19:30 was a new personal best as she took 23 seconds off the mark she had established in last fall's Class B State Championship.
Curran was followed closely by the Rangers' Chloe Waldrep (22:04) and Chloe Smith (22:09). Greely's Leah Walker closed the scoring taking the 9th spot overall as the Rangers took the team win with 23 points, Freeport followed with 43. Gray-New Gloucester wrapped up the scoring with 64 points. The host team, North Yarmouth Academy, had two runners entered and thus did not figure in the team scoring.
Emily Sclar (22:34) took 6th for Freeport, with Elsa Please (23:53) just behind her in 7th. Kaitlynn Morrissey (13th) and Caroline Doyle (16th) finished the scoring for the Falcons.
Gray-New Gloucester was led by Allison MacDonald's 8th place finish while teammate Kylie Trawick grabbed the 10th spot. Other scorers for GNG were Ruby Pfeifle, Maya Hutchings and Lillian Wilson.
Emma Collins (17th) and Charlotte Collins (20th) finished for NYA. Forty competitors finished the race.
The course, at Royal River Park in Yarmouth, is a combination of rolling lawns intermixed with paved paths along the river's edge. There is also one packed stone and gravel roadway that presents the steepest incline climbing perhaps fifteen feet over a distance of little more than 50 meters. The grass portion is well care for and studded with mature trees and the occasional monument to the area's industrial past. It would make for an exceptionally fast course but for the large portion of pavement that forced many runners to opt for trainers rather than flats or spikes. Rumor has it the course is a shade long.
In the boys' race Matthew Todd led a Rangers team that took seven of the first eight spots, with only Freeport's Alexander Les, breaking the skein with a 3rd place finish.
Todd and Greely's Luke Marsankis led the race for the final two-plus kilometers and ran in tandem for much of that time. Todd just stretched out his lead in the final 400 meters. Todd finished in 17:09 with Marsanskis in at 17:20. Caleb Thurston (4th) Jack Gustafson (5th) and Trevor Rafford (6th) completed the scoring for Greely, while Adam Bruder (8th) also nabbed a top ten spot.
Freeport's Martin Horne finished 9th while the Falcon's Heath Cockburn rounded out the top ten. Also scoring for the Falcons were Thomas Doyle (15th) and John Giddens (22nd)
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Greely finished with 18 points, Freeport with 51, Gray-New Gloucester 86 and NYA closed with 101.
Top finishers for GNG were Parker Morse (13th) and Ethan Ray (19th). The host Panthers of NYA were led by Chris Hamlet (12th) and Brennan Flatt (21st). Fifty runners, including 23 from Greely, completed the race.