Erin McCarthy of Bangor led the Rams to a 1-2 finish with teammate Megan Randall. They helped Bangor win its first KVAC team title in school history
It was a busy day of action at Cony High School as the KVAC Class A Championship took place with four races. Due to COVID-19 restrictions in place, the meet was split into South and North with separate races. At the conclusion of the races the performances from each meet were merged together as one race with the top four teams and two individuals not on a qualifying team advancing to the Class A state meet.
In the KVAC North race, Bangor's Erin McCarthy took the beginning of the race a little conservative due to not feeling that well. The senior who ranks #5 in the Maine MileSplit Watchlist this week didn't let that affect her as she covered the tough 5k layout at Cony High school in a course best 20:25 to finish first in the race and after the overall results were combined had the fastest time on the day. Right behind her was teammate Megan Randall (Watchlist #14) who continues to improve each week with a time of 20:35.
In the KVAC South race which took place before the North, it was a classic duel between Cony's Grace Kirk and Edward Little's Payton Bell. Kirk and Bell traded blows over the first two-plus miles before Bell passed Kirk in the final 150m of the race to cross the line first in a time of 21:29, Kirk was two seconds back in 21:32.
For the first time in school history, the Rams of Bangor captured the team title with 36 points well ahead of second-place Mt Ararat who finished with 91 points. The fourth-ranked Rams had four of the top ten runners. Ararat who wasn't ranked coming into the meet was 16 points in front of 8th ranked Brunswick. All three teams along with Camden Hills will advance to the Class A state meet.
Brewer senior Olivia Mosca (3rd 21:00), Payton Bell a sophomore from Edward Little (4th 21:30), and Cony junior Grace Kirk (5th 21:32) advanced to the state meet as individuals.
Interview with girls race winner Erin McCarthy of Bangor