As has been her habit, Scott Laliberte's mother, Trudy, was on hand at the 19th running of the Laliberte Invitational at Cony High School in Augusta to hand out awards and to speak to the high school runners about the meaning of the race. She reminded runners from the nineteen different Maine High Schools in attendance that where they finished the race was less important than having the spirit to start and finish the job. Scott Laliberte, the race's namesake, was an outstanding cross country runner at Cony who perished in a motor vehicle accident in 2000. Cony Coach Shawn Totman noted before the race that it benefits a scholarship fund in Laliberte's name that annually gives scholarships to Cony runners headed to college.
For the second consecutive year, Lisandro Berry-Gaviria, a junior, took command of the boys race early to claim first in the boys' race and led the Eagles to the combined boys and girls team championship. The individual winner for the girls was Gorham's Kate Tugman, a junior who had placed eighth in 2017.
The Laliberte is a little unusual in that the boys and girls run together and the combined scores of the top five boys and top five girls from each team make up the team scores. Following Mt. Ararat in the combined boys and girls team scoring were Maranacook Gorham, Cony and Brunswick.
Kate Tugman of Gorham speaks after her victory
Using traditional scoring, the Mt. Ararat girls led by sophomore Karli Leighton claimed the top spot followed by Maranacook, Mt. Blue, Gorham and Winslow. The top ten finishers among girls were Tugman, Edward Little's Jillian Richardson, Kahryn Cullenberg of Mt. Blue, Winslow's Olivia Tiner, Molly McGrail of Maranacook, Leighton, Zaid Teklu from Lewiston, Emma Charles from Mt. Blue, Tessa Jorgensen representing the host Cony Rams, and Charlotte Wentworth of Messalonskee.
For the boys, Brunswick put four runners in the top ten led by Will Shaughnessy (2nd), Tyler Patterson (4th), Cam Ashby (8th), and Freshman Joey Valliere (10th). Mt Ararat followed with three in the top ten: Berry-Gaviria (1st), first year Grady Satterfield (3rd) and Nate Cohen (9th). Rounding out the top five teams were Cony, Maranacook and Morse. Luke Bartol of Maranacook claimed the 5th spot while Cony's Caleb Richardson was sixth.
The course itself is a 3900 meter (2.4 miles) version of the 5K course used when Cony hosts the KVAC meet. In begins on a practice field behind the high school and winds its way through a field surrounding retention ponds before plunging into a wooded conservation area, the Augusta Nature Education Center, maintained by the City of Augusta. It then ascends "the Mountain" a long and steep hill with (if Garmin is accurate) a total elevation gain of 106 feet. The paths are well maintained walking paths with a dirt surface supplemented by wood chips in areas susceptible to erosion. After the mountain the course winds its way through a bucolic retired granite quarry and concludes with a series of three gullies with abrupt climbs and drops of fifteen feet or so before depositing runners back into the open on the Cony fields.
It's a challenging course and most spectators, if they see any of the wooded portion at all, catch just the final rolling gullies.
Becasue the Laliberte is an early season race. Most teams have some runners still out at summer activities or working their way toward fitness. Even so, the Mt. Ararat girls figure to contend again and challenge 2017 Champion Camden Hills for the KVAC Class A girls' title for 2018. Mt. Blue will also make a push. In Class B Maranacook is again the favorite.
On the boys side Brunswick and Mt Ararat both looked strong today, but the 2017 Champion Hampden Academy Bronocs graduated none of their top seven from the 2017 championship team. Bangor will also remain competitive. In Class B Maranacook looks strong again but a rejuvenated Morse squad looks tough, but young The Shipbuilders are a small squad and will need everyone to remain healthy to compete with the depth of Maranacook and the 2017 Champions from Lincoln Academy.
As has been her habit, Scott Laliberte's mother, Trudy, was on hand at the 19th running of the Laliberte Invitational at Cony High School in Augusta to hand out awards and to speak to the high school runners about the meaning of the race. She reminded runners from the nineteen different Maine High Schools in attendance that where they finished the race was less important than having the spirit to start and finish the job. Scott Laliberte, the race's namesake, was an outstanding cross country runner at Cony who perished in a motor vehicle accident in 2000. Cony Coach Shawn Totman noted before the race that it benefits a scholarship fund in Laliberte's name that annually gives scholarships to Cony runners headed to college.
For the second consecutive year, Lisandro Berry-Gaviria, a junior, took command of the boys race early to claim first in the boys' race and led the Eagles to the combined boys and girls team championship. The individual winner for the girls was Gorham's Kate Tugman, a junior who had placed eighth in 2017.
The Laliberte is a little unusual in that the boys and girls run together and the combined scores of the top five boys and top five girls from each team make up the team scores. Following Mt. Ararat in the combined boys and girls team scoring were Maranacook Gorham, Cony and Brunswick.