Class B XC: Laverdiere & Hamilton win individual titles for Yarmouth

Nov 05, 2016

Class B XC: Laverdiere & Hamilton win individual titles for Yarmouth - Greely sweeps team titles

Yarmouth junior Luke Laverdiere followed the same race plan as a week ago, let Henry Jaques set the pace the first mile then took off.

Laverdiere & Jaques went through the mile in 5:05, and Laverdiere immediately through in a surge to start opening up a gap up the super highway part of the Belfast course.

"I wanted to attack the second mile." Laverdiere said after the race

Just like a week ago, his second mile was under 5 minutes as he came through 2 miles in 10:02 to open up a 15 second gap.

Jaques was able to cut into Laverdiere's lead but wasn't able to make it all up over the final mile.

Laverdiere would cross the line in 15:49.59, "It's a great feeling to finally get a xc title."

Jaques of Freeport ran a huge personal best of 15:57.73 to finish as the runner-up for the second year in a row.

Junior Mitch Libby of Wells had a strong run as he was able to battle his way up to third, Libby's finishing time of 16:44.71 was a personal best by 27 seconds.

Nick Dall of Waterville the Northern Maine Regional champion from last week was next in 16:47.79 to place 4th.

Caleb Love-Webb of Camden Hills rounded out the top 5 with his 16:50.28 performance.

Greely didn't have anyone in the top 5 but the Rangers were led by Luke Marsanskis who finished 6th. After that Greely got a 13th place effort from senior Patrick Lyden & 14th place finish from sophomore Matthew Todd. Senior Max Stickney came just 2 spots later in 16th while junior Patrick Thurston sealed the deal with his 18th place performance. With all 5 scorers in the top 18 the Rangers tallied 66 points to defeat Wells by 15 points.

It was the Rangers first team title since 2009, and overall their 9th state title in Class B.

Wells had their best showing at a state meet in a long time as the Warriors averaged 17:16. They had 4 runners in the top 15 and were actually ahead of Greely through the first 4 runners. Leading the way was Mitch Libby in 3rd, they also got a 9th place effort from senior Wes Moody in 9th.

Boys Top 10 Individuals

1	Luke Laverdiere	11	Yarmouth High School	15:49.59	1
2	Henry Jaques	12	Freeport High School	15:57.73	2
3	Mitch Libby	11	Wells High School	16:44.71	3
4	Nick Dall	10	Waterville High School	16:47.79	4
5	Caleb Love-webb	12	Camden Hills Regional High School	16:50.28	5
6	Luke Marsanskis	10	Greely High School	16:53.89	6
7	Sammy Potter	11	Yarmouth High School	16:55.37	7
8	Trevor Iltis	11	Camden Hills Regional High School	16:57.81	8
9	Wesley Moody	12	Wells High School	17:04.86	9
10	Alex Les	10	Freeport High School	17:05.12	10

Boys top 5 Teams

TEAM SCORES
PLACE	TEAM	POINTS	SCORERS	TIMES
1	Greely High School	66	6+13+14+16+17 (23+24)	0:32 1-5 Split | 17:15 Avg
2	Wells High School	81	3+9+12+15+42 (61+68)	1:15 1-5 Split | 17:16 Avg
3	Freeport High School	100	2+10+11+22+55 (64+92)	2:22 1-5 Split | 17:12 Avg
4	Yarmouth High School	101	1+7+27+31+35 (71+106)	2:05 1-5 Split | 17:14 Avg
5	Cape Elizabeth High School	168	18+19+34+44+53 (83+95)	0:50 1-5 Split | 17:50 Avg

Abby Hamilton of Yarmouth has done things the same way in each race this season. The senior has started out at the front, and not looked back.

Hamilton for the 6th time this season ended a race as the winner

Abby started to pull away from Tia Tardy of MDI as they headed up the super highway. By the time they emerged out of the woods loop, Hamilton had stretched the gap to 7 seconds.

She hit 2 miles in 11:45, with the gap growing to 11 seconds.

Hamilton wouldn't be challenged the rest of way as she crossed the finish in a new personal best 18:05.31, the fastest time on the day.

"It was really exciting, I didn't know I was that close to breaking 18." Hamilton said after the race

Behind her Tia Tardy defending class c champion & Katherine Leggat-Barr defending Class B champion abttled all the way to the line.

Tardy running for MDI held on to finish second as he she clocked a new personal best 18:14.48, she was just .13 ahead of Leggat-Barr of Greely who also ran a lifetime best of 18:14.61.

The fast times kept coming as Greely sophomore Carolyn Todd finished 4th in 18:39.71, she was followed by Anneka Murrin of Yarmouth at 18:46.09.

York's Kathryn Miller also ran under 19 minutes as she finished 6th in 18:57.67.

Greely avenged last year's lost to Yarmouth as the Rangers won the team title for the 13th time in Class B history. The 13 titles is the most for any team in Class B. The title combined with the boys was the 3 time in Greely history both programs brought home the state title in the same year (2000-2001).

Greely was paced by the 3-4 finish of Leggat-Barr & Todd. Junior Kate Curran came up big with an 12th place effort, she was followed fellow junior Chloe Waldrep who finished 25th. Rounding out the scorers for Greely was Chloe Smith in 31st.

Yarmouth made it close as they went had 3 finishers in the top 12, with Hamilton's win and Murrin's 5th. Senior Grace Cowles finished 11th.

Girls Top 10 Individuals

1	Abigail Hamilton	12	Yarmouth High School	18:05.31	1
2	Tiara Tardy	12	Mt. Desert Island High School	18:14.48	2
3	Katherine Leggat-Barr	12	Greely High School	18:14.61	3
4	Carolyn Todd	10	Greely High School	18:39.71	4
5	Anneka Murrin	11	Yarmouth High School	18:46.09	5
6	Kathryn Miller	11	York High School	18:57.67	6
7	Emily Carty	11	Fryeburg Academy	19:29.58	7
8	Grace Reynolds	11	York High School	19:39.81	8
9	Emma Trapani	12	Camden Hills Regional High School	19:42.96	9
10	Grace Iltis	9	Camden Hills Regional High School	19:43.05	10

Girls Top 5 Teams

1	Greely High School	71	3+4+12+24+28 (37+54)	2:19 1-5 Split | 19:31 Avg
2	Yarmouth High School	82	1+5+11+30+35 (43+49)	2:55 1-5 Split | 19:39 Avg
3	York High School	84	6+8+22+23+25 (29+32)	1:33 1-5 Split | 19:55 Avg
4	Cape Elizabeth High School	118	13+15+19+27+44 (76+78)	1:41 1-5 Split | 20:25 Avg
5	Mt. Desert Island High School	149	2+26+31+40+50 (51+52)	3:32 1-5 Split | 20:30 Avg