After running away with the Penobscot Valley Conference championship race last weekend, Aleta Looker made it clear that she wanted to break the 19-minute mark on Troy Howard Middle School's fast 5K course.
Looker fulfilled the promise and then some as she earned her second visit to the top of the podium in as many weeks, claiming the individual Class B girls crown at the Eastern Maine regional championships, completing the course in 18 minutes, 54.85 seconds.
"I had to be really tough," Looker said in a video interview following the race. "I wanted to take it out pretty fast."
The MDI girls were equally as tough in the team competition, blitzing the field in scoring 21 points to runner-up John Bapst's 103. Looker's Eagles finished third with 113 points, while Camden Hills (122), Winslow (128), Caribou (130) and Presque Isle (211) also punched tickets to the state championships in Cumberland next Saturday.
The top-ranked Trojans took the next step towards repeating as state champions, tucking all seven runners in the top 11 with Isabel Erickson leading the way in second place.
Waylon Henggeler finished right behind Erickson in third, while Caroline Driscoll was fourth and Lydia Dacorte fifth.
Emma Strong in seventh, Olivia Erickson in 10th and Erin White in 11th rounded out MDI's squad.
Class A: Brunswick and Hampden engaged in their second tight battle in as many weeks, and this time, it was the Dragons coming out on top in dramatic fashion after Hampden got the better of Brunswick at the KVAC championships.
Both teams scored 55 points, leaving it up to the sixth-runner tiebreaker, and thanks to the 23rd-place finish of Anna Turner, Brunswick walked away with the title. Hampden's No. 6 girl, Ashley Simon, was 32nd.
Lewiston (91), Bangor (108) and Mt. Blue (123) will join Brunswick and Hampden at Twin Brook next weekend.
Cony's Anna Guadalupi led the field en route to winning the individual crown, as the Rams' freshman covered the course in 19:05.73.
Elizabeth LaBun led Hampden with a third-place effort while Teresa Murphy and Tessa Cassidy finished 2-4 for Brunswick.
Class C: Washburn's Carsyn Koch won her fourth straight individual crown, finishing in 19:30.34, but the Beavers came up just shy of defending their team crown.
Orono edged Washburn 29-35, while Mattanawcook and George Stevens were the other state-meet qualifiers, each tabulating 96 points.
Lily Koffman's third-place effort led Orono while Kassidy Dill was fourth, Hannah Steelman fifth, Jordan Richards sixth and Olivia Hamel earned 11th.
Koch and Mattanawcook's Tia Hardy were fairly close together early, but Koch gradually pulled away while Hardy finished a strong second.
