Cape Elizabeth earns a sweep in a matchup of ranked teams at Falmouth Community Park.
The boys ran first with #4 Cape's Matt Rand tempo-running to an easy victory in 16:51 over teammate Chris Flathers (17:12). Falmouth (5th in the most recent poll) placed the next three, freshman Tim Follo (17:19), and seniors Jamey Epstein (17:35) and Scott Gardner (17:40). The two teams traded spots up to 5th men, with Cape's Peter Brigham outkicking Falmouth's Conor McGrory to lock up the win, 33-34.
#12 Yarmouth's strong pack, led by Andrew George (6th, 17:42) and Sam Woodbury (8th, 17:48), brought in 5 runners in just over a minute to take third (61pts), ahead of Freeport (116) and Waynflete (151). Freeport was led by Griffen Day (18th in 18:39); Waynflete by Mitch Newlin (35th, 19:40)
The girls followed up with a show by powerhouse Cape Elizabeth (#1 in the poll), well ahead of 10th-ranked Freeport. Emily Attwood led the way in 19:09, a new course record. She was followed by Marita Stressenger in 19:19 who outkicked defending C champion Adele Espy of Waynflete (19:21). The Cape pack followed in slots 4-7, Hannah Doss, Kelsey Barton, Catherine Tierney and Rachel Nichols. Erin Morris led Falmouth in 8th (20:54), trailed closely by Cape's 7th runner, Paige Kozlowski. Andrea Goodrich and Kiera Berkemeyer led Freeport in 10th and 11th and Falmouth and Freeport kept it close, neither team getting far ahead until Lauren Easler locked things up for the Falcons, beating Falmouth's 5th by 9 seconds. Final scores: Cape Elizabeth 18, Freeport 68, Falmouth 70 with Waynflete edging out Yarmouth 108-109. Yarmouth was led by Chloe Sarapas, 19th in 22:46.
All these teams will return on October 10th for the Western Maine Conference Championships. Freeport looks to close the gap with the return of Molly Susla while facing challenges from York and Greely among others. On the boys side, #1 Greely will square off with Cape and Falmouth and York, Poland and Fryeburg will be challengers as well.