RESULTS
Hampden Academy senior Charlie Collins secured the Class A individual state title after pushing the pace earlier, and holding off all challengers as he clocked the fastest time on the day 16:29.57.
"I came into the meet wanting to do one thing, push harder than I ever have before" Collins said.
Push hard is what he did as the fast early pace got rid of all the top competitors before the final mile and Collins was able to dig deep to secure the low stick for the Broncos.
Behind him Noble junior Maddox Jordan followed up his runner-up finish from last week with another one at the state meet as he clocked 16:38.84, while Scarborough senior Adam Bendetson secured the third spot with his 16:44.90 effort. Those times were the second and third fastest on the day.
Xavier Lemieux of Bonny Eagle was the only other runner in Class A to break 17 minutes as the junior clocked 16:58.86. Rounding out the top five finishers was Nathan Blades of Portland who went with Collins fast early pace before finishing in 17:06.54
Hampden Academy the top ranked boys team in the state, and favorite to win the team title dominated from start to finish at the Broncos tallied 52 points to win by a margin of 51 points over the Portland Bulldogs. Hampden packed three runners between the ninth and fourteen place while their fifth runner crossed in twenty-fifth. Collins is the only senior in the top five for Hampden who featured two freshman and sophomore.
Portland behind Blades fifth place finish scored 103 for the runner-up trophy as they were 23 points better than Camden Hills who was a surprise third place with 126, Mt. Blue was fourth with 156, while Bonny Eagle was fifth with 157 points. The Broncos, Bulldogs, and Windjammers all advanced to the New England Championship as teams.
It was a carbon copy of last week's Southern Maine Regional Championship race for Bonny Eagle junior Addy Thibodeau as she controlled the pace from the beginning, and pulled away from Portland's Samantha Moore during the second mile, and then pushed to the finish to secure the victory. Thibodeau stopped the clock at 19:04.08 a little over a second faster than last week. The course wasn't as dry as a week ago making the time even more impressive.
Moore, just a sophomore, put in a another strong effort to secure the runner-up finish in 19:47.38, making her the only other girls in the race to crack the twenty minute barrier. Junior Allie Hesler of Bonny Eagle dropped twenty plus second from her effort a week ago despite the slower conditions as she was third in 20:07.04.
Northern Maine champion Payton Bell of Edward Little secured her best state meet finish with a fourth place finish. Bell covered the course in 20:13.56, in her previous state meets she placed ninth and seventh.
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Marshwood junior Sarah McClellan had her best effort of the season as she rounded out the top five with a 20:26.54, almost thirty seconds faster than a week ago. McClellan who placed third a year ago is a big meet competitor.
Bonny Eagle couldn't quite match their record breaking performance at the Southern Maine XC Regional where they had five of the top seven. The Scots who won their fourth consecutive Class A title, and sixth of the last seven placed five in the top sixteen as they tallied 32 points. They had four of the top nine finishers with not a senior among them.
Runner-up Marshwood secured second place behind three in the top 18 finishers as the Hawks scored 80 points. Falmouth was third with 104, while Portland was fourth with 110. Rounding out the top five teams was Northern Maine champion Bangor with 124.