WATCH CLASS B STATE RACE VIDEOS
Gray New Gloucester junior Carter Libby came into the Class B state meet ranked 13th best in the MileSplit Maine individual rankings. A week after finishing third in the Southern Maine Regional Championship, Libby found himself looking up during mile two and noticed he was closing on the leaders. When the runners exited the B loop it was Libby leading a pack of four with Logan Ouellette of Leavitt, Sam York of MDI, and early leader Henry Horne of Freeport.
Even Libby was a little surprised by the outcome of the race.
"I was coming into this meet hoping to get third."
One key for Carter was adjusting the pace of his first mile, last week he felt he went out too hard leaving him with little over the final mile
With that adjustment Libby was still with that lead pack of four as the approached the "Pain Cave".
"Coming up the hill in the pain cave, I decided to push and it just worked out." he told us post-race.
The final stretch wasn't without mishap as Libby fell to the ground as he rounded the final turn.
"I told myself that wasn't going be the reason I didn't win."
York, who won the Northern Maine Regional, secured his best state meet finish with the runner-up effort, he ran 16:51.18. Ouellette, the senior, was next in 16:59.93. Horne who set the fast early pace ran out of gas as he willed himself to finish running 17:14.39. His teammate Will Spaulding rounded out the top five with a 17:28.30.
Freeport the defending champion was impressive as the Falcons placed five runners in the top fifteen to score 35 to romp to a 58 point victory. York matched their finish at the SM Regional as they earned the runner-up plaque scoring 93. Both Freeport and York advanced as teams to the New England Championships in two week in Rhode Island. Greely (142) was third, followed by John Bapst (144) and Mt Desert Island was fifth with (145).
York junior Cary Drake followed the same race plan as a week ago, and executed it to perfection as she cruised to the Class B individual title with a 18:51.82 effort. Her time was the second best on the day as well a being one of two under nineteen minutes on the tough layout at Twin Brook.
Drake told us, "I try not to look at the online meets much, but I knew Amelia likes to go out fast, so I figure I'd go out and see where that took me".
Like Libby, Drake also was victim of the final turn as she fell to the ground, but she didn't panic and got up and finished strong
The win for Drake was the first individual winner for the Wildcats who have been a program for forty-five years.
Amelia Vandongen, a sophomore from Mt. Desert Island, was the runner-up in a swift 19:11.61, she was followed by Waterville senior Abby Williams who also cracked the twenty minute barrier with her 19:46.62 effort. York's Molly Kenealy was next improving her time by over twenty second from last week to clock 20:12.58. Lake Region junior Abigail Roberts rounded out the top five with a 20:17.17.
After finishing third last week at the Southern Maine Regional Championship by one point York improved and captured the Class B title with a score of 63 to win by 23 points. The state title was the first in the forty five years of the Wildcat program. Lincoln Academy who lost on a tie-breaker last week earned the runner-up plaque with 86 points. Mt Desert Island placed third with 105 while Freeport was just two points back with 107. Greely rounded out the top five with 114. Cape Elizabeth the Southern Maine champion was ravaged by illness and placed sixth with 180 points. York was the only team from Class B to advance to the New England Championship in two weeks.