Girls Results
York senior Cary Drake successfully defended her Class B individual title as the senior pushed the pace early and pulled away from the field to secure her second consecutive individual title.
Drake, the only individual XC state champion in York school history has made it a habit of running out front and controlling the pace, and Saturday was another example of that.
"It was really great to run with some close competition." Drake said of Vandongen pushing her early on in the race, "It was motivating."
Watch Girls Race Video
Vandongen has battled back from an ankle injury that slowed her earlier this fall and is getting closer to returning to the level that saw her finish sixth in New England a year ago.
"My coach was letting me know how far back she was so once the numbers got higher, I didn't have to look back."
Drake opened up a forty-three second advantage as she crossed the finish in 18:08.47 for the victory. Behind her Vandongen secured the runner-up finish for the second state in a row with her 18:51.54 effort. She'll be the individual favorite heading into the 2024 season.
Morse junior Shealyn Brochu broke away from the chase pack over the final half of the race to secure a third-place finish in her first XC state meet. In fourth Greely's Rowan Barry, a sophomore had the best race of her high school career as she closed hard outleaning another sophomore Haley Marston of Leavitt for fourth place. Barry was seventh at the WMC Championship, followed by a sixth in the Southern Regional, she lowered her best time by twenty-six seconds.
Freeport's Lucy Huggett finished sixth in a new personal best(19:35.04), her first time under twenty minutes. Behind her senior Molly Kenealy of York edged out Dylan Burmeister of Lincoln Academy for seventh. York's Maddie Hutchins came up big with her ninth-place finish while Greely senior Annie Reynolds rounded out the top ten.
Last year was the first XC state title for the York Wildcats in school history, and York left little doubt that would repeat with three runners among the top nine, then the fourth runner Karianna Hultstrom finished 16th, and fifth runner Madelyn Herman rounded out the scoring with a 31st place effort to secure the title. York tallied 57 points to win by thirty points over Greely who was a little bit of s surprise in second. The win marked the fifth consecutive Class B state title for York (XC & Indoor/Outdoor track) going back to the 2022 outdoor track
season.
"The plan was to control the race early on and set a good pace."
Lake Region junior Sam Laverdiere executed his race plan to perfection
Laverdiere said, "I wanted to hit 4:50 at the mile, and maintain that for as long as possible."
His fast first-mile pace thinned out the front of the race, and only defending champion Carter Libby of Gray-New Gloucester was able to try to match the blistering pace.
Laverdiere and Libby know each other like the backs of their hands, the state meet race was the seventh time the rivals had met on the season each having won three races against each other. Libby was able to close to within a few seconds in the second mile but was never able to fully close the gap as Laverdiere finished strong to secure the title with a 15:52.36 effort.
The final 1000 meters were nerve-racking for the champion, "That was one of the most intense races, he was there the whole time and he has done this so many times where he has sat back and closed on me in the end."
Libby ran the fastest race of his high school career as he broke the 16-minute barrier for the first time with his 15:57.74.
Freeport sophomore Alex Gilbert had a cramp over the final mile of the race but he dug deep in the final meters to secure a third-place finish with his teammate Will Spaulding right behind in fourth place. York junior Aidan Ring who pushed the pace most of the race was passed by both Freeport runners in the final 400m to finish fifth however he was rewarded with a personal best of 16:23.49.
Greely junior William Coull was sixth, he was followed by Freeport junior Conner Smith. Behind the Lincoln Academy senior Eliot O'Mahoney placed eighth, then it was Greely sophomore Tait Harvey. Rounding out the top ten was Leavitt senior Gabe Durazo.
Boys Photo Galleries
With three runners in the top eight, the Freeport Falcons won their third consecutive Class B state team title. Teo Steverlynck-Horne finished 20th, while Owen Dawson sealed the victory by finishing 31st. Freeport tallied 55 points to hold off a strong effort from York by eight points. Greely was third, followed by Gray New Gloucester and Lake Region as the Western Maine Conference has the first five teams.