Class B Girls
At the Western Maine Conference XC Championship Cape Elizabeth sophomore Lila Gaudrault pulled a mild upset as she took down defending champion Lily Horne of Freeport. The two will square off again on Saturday at Twin Brook, a course that is faster than St Joe's but still full of hills.
Gaudrault enters as MileSplit50 #3 after her win last week, she has had a great season that has seen her run 19:29 or faster in all four of her 5k, including a personal best 18:50 oh her home course two weeks ago. Last week at WMC's her time of 19:29 was the sixth fastest in course history, and third best in WMC Championship history. A year ago Lila ran to a third place finish in both the regional and state meet at Twin Brook, her best time was 19:44.
Defending Class B state champion Horne ranks MileSplit50 #4 entering the race. The senior from Freeport is primed for another strong run, and looking for a little revenge after taking the pace out hard last week only to be passed by Gaudrault during mile two. Last fall Horne was the regional runner-up in a fine time of 19:34, which she followed up at states with a 19:10 winning effort. She runs very well on the Twin Brook and it is expected to be a great 1-2 race up front.
Cape's second runner Camilla Grosso didn't run at WMC's but has the third fastest 5k in the field. Grosso clocked a 19:42 two week ago at Cape and the senior ran to a 10th finish in the regional meet in 2017.
Yarmouth sophomore Maddie Marston is in her first high school of cross-country this fall, and has quickly become of the top harriers in Class B. Marston has a personal best 20:07.90 this fall for 5k. At the WMC championship last Friday she led her team to the title with a strong fifth place effort.
York's Mara Lamprey only has the 10th fastest 5k in the field this fall with her 20:56 best, but proved being able to run hills well will be much more important as the junior did last week securing a 4th place finish at the WMC's running 21:27 on the hilly course. Expect another strong showing from Lamprey she could be a top three finisher on Saturday.
Other runners to watch will be Heidi Fortin (Wells), Grace Gear (York), Katie Pinette (Wells), Natalie Teare (Yarmouth) & Olivia Ouellette (Poland)
The team race should be very competitive as well as Yarmouth leads the way as the Clippers rank MileSplit50 #5 after a 59-65 win over MileSplit50 #6 York at last week's WMC Championship. Not much separates the two teams so expect another close one, the previous week the Wildcats edged the Yarmouth by one point. Speaking to how close the teams they had almost identical pack times with Yarmouth's at 54 and York's 55 seconds last week.
MileSplit50 #9 Wells has put together a strong fall, the Warriors earned the WMC Class B title last week. If Cape Elizabeth has a healthy lineup the Capers who have been ranked in the top 10 this fall will have a chance to be one of the top three teams.