Greely girls best in B, Freeport boys pull the upset, Leggat-Barr & Morris individual champs

Class B State XC Championship
Julian Pelzer

Greely girls best in B, Freeport boys pull the upset, Leggat-Barr & Morris individual champs

Boys Results | Girls Results

Race photos  Boys | Girls

Race Videos  Girls | Boys coming soon

Race Interviews: Katherine Leggat-Barr | Haley Lawrence | Caroline Driscoll | Izzy Evans

Class B State XC Championship History

 

 

 

Wet, muddy, and tough conditions for the Class B race made for some exciting races with some great upsets. The boys tackled the muddy course with the Cape duo of Mitch Morris & Kyle Kennedy, along with Freeport's Chandler Vincent leading the way, as they went through the first mile and a half at 2:28.

 

They were followed closely by Patrick Carty of Fryeburg and Luke Laverdiere of Yarmouth. Going around the muddy bowl and down to the first mile, they kept the same order as they went 5:15 through the first mile and headed up the super highway. Chasing the pack down was Chris Cote of Waterville, Harrison Knowlton of Leavitt, and Rex Brockelman of York.

 

Running through mud and puddles, Chandler and Mitch would break away from the pack and duel through the second mile. Morris and Chandler would have a 7 second lead over the chasers, Carty, Kennedy, Laverdiere, Knowlton, and Chris Cote.

 

Into the final mile Vincent would continue to run on Morris's shoulder, but it wouldn't be till 600 meters left in the race where Mitch would make his his move and put 10 seconds on Chandler to win the Class B State title in 16:13 .

 

Vincent would hold his place as the runner-up crossing the finsh line in 16:26. Patrick Carty would have a strong day and place 3rd as he clocked 16:33. Kyle Kennedy battled his way to the finish, and outkicked two runners to place 4th in 16:42. Harrison Knowlton of Leavitt finished 5th as he outleaned Chris Cote both were timed in 16:43.

 

Freshman Luke Laverdiere would finish 7th with a 16:53, a much better performance than his last Belfast run. The surprise individual performance of the day was Erik Brobst from Freeport. Brobst came from no where to finish 8th in 17:02. Rounding out the top 10 was Ryan Morrison of Greely with a 17:05.16 for 9th with York's Rex Brockelman finishing 10th.

 

With weather like today, it was anyone’s race, and Freeport took advantage of that and pulled anthe team upset of the day! They would go onto win with 57 points over second place York who had a score of 78. Freeport would average a 17:11 with a 1:22 split for their top 5. Freeport would get help from Henry Jaques as he finished 16th clocking a 17:18, Tyler Frey in 18th with a 17:22, and Liam Gallagher as he finished 30th with a 17:48. A week ago the Falcons finished just 4th in Western Maine Regional, not many gave them a chance but that certainly didn't derail this young team who peaked at the right time, a huge kudos to them.

 

York, the seeded favorite in this meet, was 17:25 average and a 36 second spread. Coming in third was Cape Elizabeth as they match their Regional finish and jumped over 4th place Greely, 92-108. Rounding out the top 5 was Fryeburg as they scored 123. 

 

 

 

The girls race saw the toughest conditions of the day They went off as Greely's Katherine Lagget-Barr the pre-race favorite pushed the pace followed closely by Rhoen Fiutak of Cape Elizabeth. They would go through the first 800 at 2:54.

 

Chasing the group was Liv Palma, Haley Lawrence, and Hannah Despres of Maranacook. Down the muddy trail and around the tight turns, Barr would continue leading Fiutak through the first mile as they went through at 6:09. They would put a 13 second gap over the chase group of Lawrence, Despres, and Lauren Brown of Waterville.

 

Palma would drop back behind the group and run with Greely’s #2 and #3, Izzy Evans and Emma Mason. Up the super highway, Fiutak wouldn't be able to handle Barr’s fast pace and would soon drop back. Barr would run solo for the rest of the race.

 

Evans would find herself in front of chase pack going into the two mile as she lead Lawrence, Brown, and Despres. With 1200 meters to go, Barr continued to lead the field with her teammate Evans trying to catch her. Tailing her was Lawerance, Brown, Despres, and Caroline Driscoll from MDI.

 

Moving up to a strong position was Yarmouth’s #1 and #2 runners, freshman Anneka Murrin and Grace Cowles.

 

Down the home stretch, Barr would cross the finish line first in 19:17. Evans would hold onto her second place with a 19:33. MDI’s Driscoll would finish 3rd in a 19:41.41, as she out leaned Lawrence who was 19:41.49. Brown would find herself 5th with a 19:47. Murrin would work her way up to 6th with a 19:52, just in front of Despres who clocked a 19:58. The Yarmouth combo of Grace Cowles and Abigail Hamiliton would go across the line next in 20:01 and 20:07 with Cape’s Liv Palma rounding out the top 10 in 20:09.

 

Going into the race it was expected to be a three team battle for first between Cape, Greely, and Yarmouth. It ended up being a duel meet between Greely and Yarmouth as Greely got the better of Yarmouth 59-64. Greely would get support from Emma Mason as she finished 11th, Sophia Stickney (23rd), and Kate Curran (31). Together they averaged 20:15 with a 1:56 split.

 

Yarmouth was close, and even though they fit their top 4 in the top 15, their #5 runner was a little too far out. They averaged 20:20 with a 1:31 split. Cape would finish 3rd with 84 points. Their split was a larger margin than usual with a 1:21 and average of 20:31. MDI was 4th and York would round out the top 5.

 

 

 

 

Girls Highlights

Boys Highlights