Koch 4 peats, Holt cruises, Orono girls & Boothbay boys win team titles in close races

Boys results  | Girls Results

Photos  MaineTrackXC

Race Videos   Girls Race | Boys Race

Interviews  Carsyn Koch

Washburn's Carsyn Koch was chasing a little individual history on Saturday in addition to trying to help her repeat as team champions.

The senior entered Saturday having won the previous 3 individual Class C titles, she was aiming to become only the second female in Maine history to win 4 individual titles. Current Oregon Duck & former Kennebunk HS standout Abbey Leaonardi completed the quad back in 2008-2011 in Class A.

Coming off a win at the Eastern Maine Regional the week before, Koch got right down to business once the gun went off.

By the 800m mark, the lead for Carysn was already 8 seconds, with Tia Tardy (Mattanawcook) running in second, and NYA's Hannah Austin next.

At the 1 mile mark the lead remained the same for Koch, Tardy remained second, with Austin being joined by Boothbay's Sophia Thayer.

Following them was a sea of red, as Orono had the next 3 runners as Lily Koffman, Kassidy Dill & Hannah Steelman ran in 5th -7th spots They were followed by the Madison duo Aly Leblanc & Olivia Demchak & Gabi Stone of Telstar.

Koch's lead at 2 mile has extended to 12 seconds, with Austin of NYA movng into second place with Tardy a few strides back in third place. The rest of field remained the same for spots 4-8. Stone has moved one spot in front of Demchak.

In the final mile, Koch continue to open up her lead, and she came down the homstretch alone en route to her 4th straight state title, running 20:24.79, Austin nabbed the runner-up finish, 20:41.51 with freshman Tia Tardy putting in a strong effort for her first state meet in third, 20:47.

Thayer of Boothbay crossed in 21:03 good for fourth place, while Orono got important team points with a 5-6-7 finish from Dill, Steelman, & Koffman. Stone finished 8th (21:56) with Leblanc 9th (22:00) & Phoebe Colvin Oehmig of Waynflete rounding out the top 10 (22:02)

In the team race, Orono coming off an upset of Washburn at the EM Regional the week before by 6 points, held the lead through 3 runners with an edge of 18-20. Washburn's Carmen Bragg & Mackenzie Worcester worked there way up to 11th & 12th place by the finish.

Orono's Olivia Fandel crossed the line in 17th (22:21) with Washburn's Emilia Churchill one spot back in 18th (22:22). It would come down to the 5th runners, Washburn freshman Tori Koch finished 20th, but it was Jordan Richards of Orono finishes one spot behind her in 21st to give the Red Riots the victory.

In the end it was a 48-50 score with the Orono Red Riots winning the schools first Class C XC title since 1976, which happens to be the first year girls had a state championships. The 37 year wait was well worth it.

Waynflete(107) finished 3rd, the Flyers ran without WM Regioanl champion, Sophia Canning, who had to compete in a rescheduled playoff soccer game. Monmouth Academy (131) & Boothbay (150) rounded out the top 5.

Boys Recap

The question coming into the meet wasn't if Josef Holt would win the Class C individual xc title, but by how much

Holt the top ranked school boy runner this fall opted for a conserative approach to his race, running with the leader Matt Malcolm of nYA through 2 miles before pullin away over the final mile to win his first individual xc title, running 17:00.87

The reason for the less than all-out effort? Josef has his eyes set on next week's New England Championship at Derryfield Park, NH, and then 3 weeks after that at the Footlocker Northeast qualifier.

Currently ranked #23 in the Milesplit Saucony Elite 50 rankings the senior has a best 5k time of 15:06 on the season, he will enter the New England meet as the pre-race favorite.

While Holt was doing his thing there was some solid racing going on behind him. NYA's Malcom was the race leader at 2miles as he and holt ran stride for stride

Six seconds behind then was the chase pack led by the Eastern Maine Regional Champion, Matt Toussaint of Fort Kent. Also in the chase pack was Ben Allen (Winthrop) & John Hassett (George Stevens).

Over the final mile Holt pulled away for a 15 second win (17:00) over Toussaint who clocked (17:15). Malcolm held strong in the final straight to finish 3rd (17:26) to hold off Allen (17:27). Hassett just a freshman finished 5th (17:41)

Hall-Dale's Chris Pomerleau was next in 6th (17:55), followed by James O'Neil (Orono) 17:59 in 7th. Boothbay's Benn Scully finished 8th (18:10), teammate Robert Campbell was a second behind (18:11), while Tristan Butterfield  (Orono) rounded out the top ten (18:12)

The team race was an excellent one as well with Boothbay edging Orono 68-70. With a mile to go Orono had the lead over the Seahawks, who won the WM Regional title on the same course a week ago. The experience with the course paid big dividends over the final mile as Boothbay was able to move up to make up the gap.

At 2 mile Orono had 3 three runners in front of Boothbay's first runner. In the end Orono took places 7-10-13 with their top 3 while Boothbay had places 8-9-11, edge to the Seahawks 25-27. Scully & Campbell each kicked passed Tristan Butterfield in the final meters. Matt Burnham (Boothbay) would finish 19th (18:48) holding off a late push from Orono's Josh Marquis (18:50).

Through 4 runners the team score was 42-46 in favor of Boothbay. Orono would get their 5th across the line when Brian Westhovem finished 26th (19:10), but Boothbay #5 Jack Hasch was just 3 spots back in 29th (19:24).

The 2 point win gave Boothbay its first title since 2009.

George Stevens Academy placed 3rd (113) with Winthrop (130) edging Monmouth Academy (130) for 4th with the better 6th runner.

Boys Top 20 Individuals

  1 Josef Holt                SR Telstar               17:00.87
  2 Matthew Toussaint         JR Fort Kent             17:15.75    1
  3 Matt Malcom               JR NYA                   17:26.90    2
  4 Ben Allen                 JR Winthrop              17:27.49    3
  5 John Hassett              FR George Stevens        17:41.61    4
  6 Chris Pomerleau           JR Hall-Dale             17:55.74    5
  7 James O'Neil              SR Orono High School     17:59.71    6
  8 Benn Scully               SR Boothbay              18:10.90    7
  9 Robert Campbell           SR Boothbay              18:11.90    8
 10 Tristan Butterfield       SO Orono High School     18:12.75    9
 11 Joey Paolillo             FR Boothbay              18:15.96   10
 12 Tucker Pierce             FR Merriconeag           18:24.28   11
 13 Conall Molloy             SR Orono High School     18:27.35   12
 14 Ridge Osgood              SR Narraguagus           18:32.53
 15 Samuel Ouellette          JR Fort Kent             18:34.80   13
 16 Dylan Wu                  FR Merriconeag           18:39.92   14
 17 Ollie Dillon              FR George Stevens        18:41.02   15
 18 John LeBlanc              JR NYA                   18:47.09   16
 19 Matt Burnham              SO Boothbay              18:48.95   17
 20 Derek Baker               SO Washburn              18:49.25   18

Boys Top 5 Teams

   1 Boothbay Region High Scho    68    7    8   10   17   26   32   48
      Total Time:  1:32:52.27
         Average:    18:34.46
   2 Orono High School            70    6    9   12   19   24   43   51
      Total Time:  1:32:40.84
         Average:    18:32.17
   3 George Stevens Academy      113    4   15   25   29   40   46   74
      Total Time:  1:34:55.88
         Average:    18:59.18
   4 Winthrop High School        130    3   20   27   38   42   57   65
      Total Time:  1:35:23.11
         Average:    19:04.63
   5 Monmouth Academy            130   21   22   23   31   33   75
      Total Time:  1:35:57.53
         Average:    19:11.51

Girls Top 20 Individuals

Carsyn Koch of Washburn ran to her 4th straight individual title, matching the record set by Abbey Leonardi. (Photo by Sub5.com)

  1 Carsyn Koch               SR Washburn              20:24.79    1
  2 Hannah Austin             JR NYA                   20:41.51    2
  3 Tia Tardy                 FR Mattanawcook          20:47.55    3
  4 Sophia Thayer             SR Boothbay              21:03.36    4
  5 Kassidy Dill              FR Orono High School     21:15.31    5
  6 Hannah Steelman           FR Orono High School     21:30.93    6
  7 Lily Koffman              JR Orono High School     21:54.57    7
  8 Gabi Stone                JR Telstar               21:56.54
  9 Aly LeBlanc               SO Madison High School   22:00.03
 10 Phoebe Colvin-Oehmig         Waynflete School      22:02.26    8
 11 Carmen Bragg              SR Washburn              22:04.29    9
 12 Mackenzie Worcester       JR Washburn              22:06.61   10
 13 Rylee Warman              FR Greater Houlton       22:10.56
 14 Demchak Olivia            JR Madison High School   22:14.04
 15 Sophia Mayone                Waynflete School      22:16.60   11
 16 Hanna Gutow               SO George Stevens        22:21.04   12
 17 Olivia Fandel             SO Orono High School     22:21.71   13
 18 Emilia Churchill          SO Washburn              22:22.64   14
 19 Gail Johnson                 Waynflete School      22:27.07   15
 20 Tori Koch                 FR Washburn              22:30.21   16

Girls Top 5 Teams

Orono won the girls team title in a very close race, 48-50 over defending champion Washburn (Photo by Stacey Baker)

 1 Orono High School            48    5    6    7   13   17   35   51
      Total Time:  1:49:33.55
         Average:    21:54.71
   2 Washburn High School         50    1    9   10   14   16   63   67
      Total Time:  1:49:28.54
         Average:    21:53.71
   3 Waynflete School            107    8   11   15   20   53   60   64
      Total Time:  1:54:53.29
         Average:    22:58.66
   4 Monmouth Academy            131   19   22   27   30   33   38   54
      Total Time:  1:57:01.68
         Average:    23:24.34
   5 Boothbay Region High Scho   150    4   24   28   45   49   56   58
      Total Time:  1:57:53.11
         Average:    23:34.63