Greely girls win small school title @Manchester Invitational
Small School Girls | Small School Boys
In the girls small schools race at the 40th Manchester Invitational on a sorching hot day, the Greely Rangers were the top team. Greely won the team title by 18 points over Harwood of Vermont. Leading the way was sophomore Katherine Leggat-Barr who ran 19:11.5 to finish as the runner-up behind champion Megan Doody of Oyster River (18:35). Also provided a key low stick was freshman Izzy Evans who continued her great stretch of running with a 9th place 19:53.9 effort.
"I felt great during the race at Manchester. The day was hot, in the high 80’s, which posed some challenges for many runners. I felt fortunate to feel relatively unaffected by the heat. The start was fast, which I expected, but I forced myself to run conservatively and not go faster than I was comfortable with." said Leggat-Barr
Other scoring runner from Greely, helping them to the title were senior Emma Mason (26th), junior Sophia Stickney (31st) & senior Kristina Smith (51st).
As for the team title, "Winning as a team was such an exciting experience. The results weren't posted until 3 hours after the conclusion of the race, so we all were anxious to see them. Harwood, the 2nd place team all ran great races, so we knew the results were going to be close." Leggat-Barr commented.
Marshwood's Maddy Doyle was the 3rd Maine high school runner to cross the line in a strong 15th place (20:07), two spots behind her was Hannah Austin of NYA (20:12.90), while Seacoast Christian's Laken Kerrigan was 19th (20:27.10)
Besides Greely (1st), Freeport placed 11th (339), 5 points back of them was Marshwood (344), Fryeburg Academy (464) was 20th with North Yarmouth Academy (486) was 21st. Seacoast Christian (619) placed 24th while Catherine McAuley (671) was 27th.
On the boys side, the state of Maine was well respresented once in again in the small school race, in fact the past 2 individual champions in the race were from Maine (Dan Curts of Ellsworth). Cape Elizabeth senior Mitch Morris had a breakout day as he moved his way through the field to finish in third place with a personal best 16:30.9 performance. Considering the heat, this was definitely the best performance of his 2 year xc career. His time when combined with the large school race was good for 11th fastest on the day. "Overall, I'm very happy with how I ran today. Despite the heat, I ran intelligently and confidently, and overtook competitors throughout the race. I consider my performance today an important step forward towards my larger running goals." Morris said after his race
Freeport's Chandler Vincent found himself at the front of the race 400 meters into it, he would back off and go on to finish a very respectable 6th, his finishing time was 16:58.30. Vincent had this to say about the race, "The field of runners going into the race was pretty talented. So, I knew it was going to be really challenging throughout the race. After gaining back my breath, I got a huge smile on my face. I finally feel race ready."
Kyle Kennedy a senior from Cape Elizabeth also netted a fine finish as he placed 10th, 17:15.10. He was third Class B and Maine runner across the line. "It wasn't how I wanted the day to go, but a medal is a medal" he said post race.
NYA's Matt Malcom posted a top 25 performance with his 22nd finish (17:44.20).
Teamwise the Greely Rangers made a podium appearance with a fourth place effort. The Rangers were led by Ryan Morrison (30th), Troy Cochran (33rd) & Conor Rog (36th). Freeport was 11th, while Marshwood placed 16th, Fryeburg 17th, Seacoast Christian 18th, & North Yarmouth (26th)
