Girls overall results | Boys overall results
Girls Seeded Race | Boys Seeded Race
Girls Freshman | Boys Freshman
Unseeded Girls | Unseeded Boys A | Unseeded Boys B
Orono senior Ruth White shattered her course at the Troy Howard Middle School on Saturday during the 21st Maine XC Festival of Champions clocking 16:56.92. The time was over thirty seconds better than the year-old record she set in winning the Festival of Champions in 2022 (17:27.15). Her mark is now the fastest known xc 5k in Maine high school history surpassing the mark of Susannah Beck of Waynflete (17:20.6) from 1985.
Houlton/GHCA junior Teanne Ewings had a breakthrough race as she kept White in her sights for most of the course her reward was a 17:15.47. Her mark was well under White's record from 2022 and also surpasses Beck's all-time mark.
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White assumed the lead as the runner emerged from the woods and moved through the back of the end zone with Ewings, Cary Drake (York), Brooke Strauss (Glastonbury), Soren Stark-Chessa (Maine Coast) and Zoe Mosher (Park View, NS) in tow.
Up the super highway, White continued to press on the gas pedal, but Ewings was holding her spot about 10 yards back. The rest of the field was shattered as Strauss was third, followed by Drake. Stark-Chessa, Mosher, and Portland junior Samantha Moore formed the chase pack.
White lengthened her lead to 20m or so as the runners exited the woods and headed for the two-mile but Ewings was hanging on in fact she was the closest anyone from Maine had been to White this late in an XC race. Drake had moved passed Strauss and Moore was closing the gap as well.
As the runner ran behind the finish line Ruth was in full flight and based on the time on the finish line clock had a chance at the magical sub-17 mark. Ewings continued to push losing distance but in small increments.
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As White sprinted down the hill incline and was on the finishing straight it became apparent she was on her way to a new course record and an all-time wow performance. She gritted her teeth as she pushed her body for every last ounce of energy and crossed the line with the clock showing 16:56. White had little time to catch her breath as Ewings powered across the line at 17:15.47. The two rivals acknowledged each other and the effort they had just spent running the 5k course.
Cary Drake had her eyes on the clock as she passed under the finish line. Drake a senior and the defending Class B champion broke the 18-minute minute barrier with her personal best effort of 17:56.67. She became the 14th girl in state history to break the barrier. Moore of Portland just missed out on the sub-18 parade as the junior established herself as the favorite to win the Class A title with her 18:02.95 finish.
Stark-Chessa of Maine Coast Waldorf was the fastest sophomore in the field with an 18:11.35 effort for fifth. Defending Class A state champion Addy Thibodeau of Bonny Eagle finished sixth (18:39.67). Bedford, NH senior Fiona Lee was next (18:46.67), while sophomore Sarah Wallace (Dr. John H Gillis, NS) was eighth (18:48.) In ninth was Cumberland's Kiley DeFusco (18:51.32) with Zoe Mosher (Park View, NS) rounding out the top ten finishers at 18:52.44.
The girls from Cumberland Rhode Island won the team title by twenty-three points (147) over two-time defending champion Bonny Eagle (170). Camden Hills was third with (215). Cumberland led by DeFusco's fifth-place finish had two others crack the twenty-minute barrier with sophomore Charli McCue (19:51.56) and junior Rose Tuomisto (19:56.14). McCue was last year's freshman champion. They also got a strong run from freshman Anna Bianchi who just missed the win in a photo finish, she was credited with a time of 20:06.33. Freshman Gabby Stoothoff rounded out the top five with a 20:58 effort.
Behind Bonny Eagle, and Camden Hills, Glastonbury, CT was fourth (218) while defending Class B champions York had a strong day to finish fifth (253). Portland was sixth a strong finish considering number two runner Ava Chadbourne didn't run.
Addison Elliott of Hampden Academy held on to win the freshman race with a 20:06.26 effort. Addison Buchanan of Cumberland, RI won the unseeded girls' race at 22:28.62
Girls overall results | Boys overall results
Girls Seeded Race | Boys Seeded Race
Girls Freshman | Boys Freshman
Unseeded Girls | Unseeded Boys A | Unseeded Boys B
On the boys' side, it was junior Matthew Giardina of Bishop Guertin who broke open a close race with a mile to go and then held on to win. Giardina clocked 15:27.21, a 4:58.5 per mile average. Noble senior Maddox Jordan was the runner-up as he set a new personal best of 15:30.5.
"I didn't plan on leading," Jordan told us after the race.
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Jordan set the pace early after feeling the race was going out fast enough as he led the pack through the first mile in a sub-4:40 effort. The pack was down to four as they headed up the superhighway, joining Maddox were Giardina, Jack Mattingly (E.O. Smith, CT), and Nathan Blades of Portland.
As they came out of the woods and headed towards the two-mile mark last year's New England XC Championship tenth place finisher Giardina started to step on the gas pedal as he opened a 3-5 meters lead over Blades and Jordan, with Mattingly holding on in fourth.
"I made my move about 3k into the race, I felt good so I kept pushing," Giardina commented.
Matthew was able to open up enough gap on the field which swelled to 15-20 meters with 800m to go. He had enough to hold off the fast-closing Jordan and Mattingly to take the victory.
Giardina told us, "I was just here to preview the course for New England's, I didn't have too many expectations."
Jordan lowered his fastest 5k time another 21 seconds after breaking 16 minutes for the first time last week at South Portland.
"I wish I had pushed it a little bit sooner, and had a chance to catch him," Jordan said of his race.
Mattingly finished close behind Jordan (15:32.51), then came Jacob Redman of Bedford, NH in fourth (15:43.35). Portland senior Nathan Blades was fifth (15:43.53).
Lake Region's Sam Laverdiere was the top Class B finisher as he battled through illness to clock a new personal best of 15:45.32. Portsmouth's Sean Gray the top sophomore in the field was next (15:49.35). Sumner senior Kaleb Colson was the top Class C runner in the field with his 16:02.38 effort for eighth, behind him was Bonny Eagle senior Xavier Lemieux (16:08.86).
Rounding out the top ten was Ethan Fadden of Mt. Saint Charles Academy (16:08.87).
The E.O. Smith boys of Connecticut dominated the team race as they placed their five-scoring runners inside the top thirty-two finishers to score 95 points. E.O. Smith has their five scoring runners finish in the top thirty-three overall, they averaged 16:20.32 as a team with the top five all under 16:46. Portland was the top Maine team as they finished second with 184 points as they had four runners under 17 minutes. They averaged 16:40 for their scoring five. Bedford, NH was third with (258 points), while Scarborough was the second Maine team in a bit of a surprise (275 points). Rounding out the top five teams was Freeport, the top Class B school with 294 points.
Camden Hill's Will Meyer won the freshman race leading it from start to finish in a strong 17:01.68 effort. In the unseeded "B" race Marshwood sophomore Noah Tessier won in 17:43.36 while it was Gorham senior Jacob Mora took the unseeded "A" race at 19:28.84