Sandreuter dominates, Curts repeats, MDI Girls 3 peat, Cape Boys repeat in Class B
Boys results | Girls results
Photos Awards | Girls Race (moosechili) | Boys Pre-meet | Girls Race (MaineTrackXC)
Videos Boys Race | Girls Race (MTA SPORTS) | MaineTrackXC Boys Race | Girls Race
Interviews Dan Curts | Liam Simpson | Kirstin Sandreuter
Girls Recap
The diminutive runner worked tirelessly in both endeavors, and the body healed just in time. Last weekend Sandreuter returned in her first race since the September 28th at the Manchester Invitational, to easily win the Western Maine XC Regional in impressive fashion.
With that race under her belt, you could see the confidence was back after the race for Kirstin
Fast forward to Saturday's Class B State meet, once the gun went off, that confidence carried over as Sandreuter went right to the front of the race and never looked back.
Sandreuter was followed by Ellsworth senior Aleta Looker for the first 800m of the race, but at the mile the gap had opened to 10 seconds.
A 5:42 first mile is daunting on the notoriously tough Twin Brook course, but Kirstin was on a mission to win her first individual state xc title. Looker was well under 6 minutes, followed by Heather Evans of York & Brittany Bowman (Camden Hills) who were another 20 seconds back.
The MDI duo of Isabel Erickson & Waylon Henggeler were running together in 5th & 6th place
Sandreuter continued pushing the relentess pace through 2 miles in 11:50 further opening up her lead. Looker remained in second place running well, Erickson & Henggeler were up to 3rd & 4th, with the 2011 state champion Bowman a few steps behind in 5th. Evans was running 6th with Amanda Boyd of John Bapst moving up to 7th. Yarmouth senior Caitlin Teare was in a pack of runners leading the way in 8th, followed by Freeport's Sydney Ambrose in 9th & Hannah Despres of Marancook in 10th.
The final mile would be a victory lap of sorts of Sandreuter as she continued to pour on the pace, the cheers were loud as she emerged on the top of the finishing straight, running hard all the way to the finish line. The end result was a 18:37.96 effort, a personal best on her home course in her final race. The time is the 5th fastest ever on the Twin Brook course, pretty good for someone who missed 3 weeks of running due to injury.
Kirstin's winning effort was 57 seconds faster than the next female runner in the overall results.
Looker of Ellsworth would finish 1:12 later with a fine 19:49.33 performance, good for the state runner-up, overall her time was 4th fastest overall.
Not much changed in the top 10 in the final mile, Erickson & Henggeler finished together in 3rd & 4th giving MDI two low sticks, Bowman was next to round out top 5.
Freshman Lydia Dacortte had a great last mile moving past several runners to finish 6th, 20:50.57, she was followed by Ambrose in 7th.
In 8th place was Evans (20:59), with Caitlin Teare 9th (21:02) & Despres rounded out the top 10 (21:05)
MDI has been the best team in Maine for 3 years, they rise to the occasion in the big meets, and Saturday was no exception. The Trojans the two-time defending state champions once again showed they are the gold standard in girls xc. Behind the 3-4 finish of Erickson & Henggeler, and 6th place of Dacortte, they had just 13 points through 3 runners. Caroline Driscoll added a top twenty finish with her 19th place effort, and rounding out the scoring 5 was Erin White in 22nd. Also running for MDI was Olivia Erickson (33rd) & Maggie Painter (51st).
The 49 points gave MDI a convincing 41 point victory over runner-up Freeport
When you figure that Maggie Painter was the top runner for MDI before dealing with illness the last month of the season, shows how deep and talented this team and program has become. While the Trojans will be graduating the Erickson sisters and Painter, 4 of the top 5 today will be back next fall. The juggernaut known as MDI girl XC isn't going anywhere as they will look to add a 4th straight title next fall.
Freeport the Western Maine champion from last week, earned the state runner-up honors edging Greely 90-93. The Falcons were paced by 4 seniors, Sydney Ambrose 7th, Elly Bengtsson 13th & nina Davenport 17th, Bethanie Knighton 23rd.
Greely rebounded from a 3rd place finish in the WM regional last week to finish just 3 points off the state runner-up, they got the win from Sandreuter and a huge 11th place finish from Emily Mason.
Yarmouth finished 4th (155) with Cape Elizabeth rounding out the top 5 (165)
Boys Recap
Cape Elizabeth entered as the defending Class B champions, and were coming off a dominating win in the Western Maine Regional, they have been ranked among to top teams in Maine all season long
Ellsworth entered as the Eastern Maine Regional championship, a title that was won with 23 points, and 5 runners in the top 9.
As the gun went off it was apparent that these two teams meant business as each of the teams runners got near the front of the pack
Defending individual champion Dan Curts of Ellsworth was setting the pace with Cape's Liam Simpson on his shoulder with a large pack behind them.
A 5:08 first mile saw Curts taking the lead with Simpson, Brayden Beardley (Ellsworth) & Will Shafer (GNG) a step behind.
The second pack about 2-3 second back of the leaders contained Peter Doane (Cape), Chris Cote (Waterville), Ben Trapani (Camden Hills) & Robert Looker (Ellsworth)
Ellsworth set the early tone as they had 5 runners with Cape's #4 runner with 2 miles remaining.
During mile 2, the Eagles still remained comfortably ahead as they hit the finger loop in the B loop. Ellsworth was running 1,3,6,16,18 at that point, good for 44 team points not considering displacemnt, while Cape had 59 team points was running 2,5,10,15,27
At two miles Curts had pulled ahead by 7 seconds on Simpson, with Beardlsey now leading the chase pack with Shafer & Doane behind him
The final mile would see Cape make a hard charge as they tried to catch the Eagles of Ellsworth
Curts would go on to repeat as the individual champion as he ran the fastest time of the day 16:09. A very strong effort considering he has been dealing with hamstring issues since the Manchester invitational . He has been unable to do any running workouts since that point, his win shows the immense talent that he has.
Simpson would hold on to runner-up spot as he ran a strong 16:19, Beardsley was next running 16:26, capping off an outstanding senior season, a year ago he placed 18th running 17:34. Shafer was next, the Dartmouth bound senior ran a Twin Brook best of 16:32, they were followed by Doane, 16:37. This marked the 3rd top 10 state meet finish for Doane.
Yarmouth Braden Becker closed well over the final mile to finish 6th, 16:54, he was followed by Ellsworth #3 runner Robert Looker, 16:58, with Cape #3 Mitch Morris next in 8th, 17:00. Morris a newcomer to XC this fall has excelled during the championship meets.
Waterville junior Chris Cote was 9th, 17:03.05 with Freeport sophomore Chandler Vincent rounding out the top 10 (17:03.14)
Ellsworth & Cape each put 3 runners among the top 8, showing the dominance of those two teams, the team title would be decided in the late stages of the race. Cape's #4 Kyle Kennedy despite almost passing out in the last mile, gutted his way to a 12th place finish, Ellsworth's Frank King was the 4th Eagle across the line in 20. Through 4 runners the team scores were Ellsworth 29, Cape 29.
Senior Julian Pelzer finished strong down the stretch to nab 27th, he was 24th a week ago at WM Regional, his strong close gave Cape the edge, and a state title repeat. Cooper Holmes rounded out Ellsworth's scorers with a 37th place finish.
In the end Cape pulled out the 49-61 win over Ellsworth. The teams finished 1st & 3rd in the overall combined results
York (128) finished 3rd followed by two more Western Maine teams Freeport (152) & Gray New Gloucester (166)
Dan Curts of Ellsworth repeated as the Class B Boys Individual champion, Curts ran 16:09.22
Boys Top 20 Individuals
1 Dan Curts SR Ellsworth 16:09.22 1 2 Liam Simpson SR Cape Elizabeth 16:19.45 2 3 Brayden Beardsley SR Ellsworth 16:26.79 3 4 Will Shafer SR GNG 16:32.00 4 5 Peter Doane SR Cape Elizabeth 16:37.64 5 6 Braden Becker SR Yarmouth 16:54.28 6 7 Robert Looker SR Ellsworth 16:58.76 7 8 Mitch Morris JR Cape Elizabeth 17:00.26 8 9 Chris Cote JR Waterville 17:03.05 9 10 Chandler Vincent SO Freeport 17:03.14 10 11 Ben Trapani SR Camden Hills 17:10.76 11 12 Kyle Kennedy JR Cape Elizabeth 17:30.65 12 13 Jason Stevenson SR Maranacook 17:32.98 13 14 Patrick Carty SO Fryeburg Academy 17:38.51 15 Connor Wagner SR John Bapst 17:38.75 14 16 Erik Dodge SR Erskine Academy 17:39.30 15 17 Harrison Knowlton JR Leavitt 17:39.96 18 Ben Garcia SO GNG 17:47.42 16 19 Alexander Brockelman SO York High School 17:48.62 17 20 Frank King SR Ellsworth 17:49.51 18
Boys top 5 Teams
Cape Elizabeth repeated as the boys team champion as they came from behind in the final half mile to edge Ellsworth 49-61
1 Cape Elizabeth High Schoo 49 2 5 8 12 22 54 55
Total Time: 1:25:32.02
Average: 17:06.41
2 Ellsworth High School 61 1 3 7 18 32 74 95
Total Time: 1:25:58.31
Average: 17:11.67
3 York High School 128 17 21 26 29 35 37 57
Total Time: 1:31:11.59
Average: 18:14.32
4 Freeport High School 152 10 24 30 39 49 56 81
Total Time: 1:31:46.35
Average: 18:21.27
5 Gray-New Glouster High Sc 166 4 16 33 50 63 76 83
Total Time: 1:31:35.06
Average: 18:19.02
Girls Top 20 Individuals
Kirsten Sandreuter of Greely HS easily won her first individal xc state title as she ran the fastest time of the day, 18:37.96
1 Kirstin Sandreuter SR Greely High School 18:37.96 1 2 Aleta Looker SR Ellsworth 19:49.33 2 3 Isabel Erickson SR Mt Desert 20:13.38 3 4 Waylon Henggeler JR Mt Desert 20:17.63 4 5 Brittany Bowman SR Camden Hills 20:36.30 5 6 Lydia Dacorte FR Mt Desert 20:50.57 6 7 Sydney Ambrose SR Freeport 20:55.98 7 8 Heather Evans SR York High School 20:59.12 8 9 Caitlin Teare JR Yarmouth 21:02.37 9 10 Hannah Despres JR Maranacook 21:05.82 10 11 Emily Mason JR Greely High School 21:08.31 11 12 Malia Cryan FR York High School 21:08.35 12 13 Elly Bengtsson SR Freeport 21:11.24 13 14 Amanda Boyd FR John Bapst 21:12.27 14 15 Hayley Lawrence JR Ellsworth 21:15.17 15 16 Abby Hersom SR Oceanside 21:16.28 17 Nina Davenport SR Freeport 21:16.70 16 18 Julia Labbe FR Leavitt 21:26.62 19 Caroline Driscoll JR Mt Desert 21:26.68 17 20 Emma Shedd FR Cape Elizabeth 21:26.68 18
Girls top 5 Teams
The MDI Girls were once again the class of the field in Class B, as they easily won their 3 team title in a row.
1 Mt Desert Island High Sch 49 3 4 6 17 19 28 42
Total Time: 1:44:29.50
Average: 20:53.90
2 Freeport High School 90 7 13 16 20 34 63 70
Total Time: 1:47:28.46
Average: 21:29.70
3 Greely High School 93 1 11 22 23 36 39 66
Total Time: 1:45:50.64
Average: 21:10.13
4 Yarmouth High School 155 9 25 29 43 49 68 84
Total Time: 1:51:01.75
Average: 22:12.35
5 Cape Elizabeth High Schoo 165 18 31 33 38 45 57 64
Total Time: 1:51:35.69
Average: 22:19.14