Trapani & Brown capture KVAC titles, Lewiston Boys & Mt Ararat Girls top team in Class A, Camden Hills Girls & Maranacook boys best in Class B
Camden Hills Ben Trapani took the overlal KVAC title edging Christian Heath of Gardiner. Justin Tracy of Mt. Blue was the top Class A finisher in 3rd. On the girls side Bethanie Brown of Waterville ran 18:59 for the win, Erzsebet Nagy of Lawrence finished 2nd, and the top Class A finisher. Teamwise Lewiston boys dominated Class A, while Maranacook was tops in Class B. On the girls side Mt Ararat edged Brunswick for the Class A title, while Camden Hills put on a clinic to win the Class B race.
Photos: Maine Running Photos
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Boys Varsity Race
Girls Varsity
Class A Boys
Interviews: Sam Wood | Justin Tracy | Mohamed Barre | Mohamed Awil
The early pace was set by Mohamed Barre of Lewiston as he led for the first 1.5 miles of the mixed race with Class A & b. Sticking right with Barre was Justin Tracy(MB) & Sam Wood (MTA). Wood would push the pace in the middle, but Tracy would be able to match his moves. As the runners came out of the woods with .35 miles to go it was slight a close race between Barre & Tracy with Wood back in 3rd. Tracy would start to open up as he headed to the finish line seemingly dropping Barre. However Barre found another gear in the final 100m and made an strong push to ctach Tracy, but it would come up just short. .3 second short to be exact. 1714.1 to 17:14.4
Tracy was excited to be the top Class A finisher, stating it was his goal coming into the race. Barre praised Tracy post-race, and said it was an honor just to be able to run with someone as strong as Tracy. Great sportsmanship! Sam Wood of Mt Ararat back up his front running style with a 3rd place finish (17:27). Lewiston had a huge day with Mohamed Awil coming home in 4th (17:33.1), Isaiah Harris (6th-17:39.1) & Mohamed Mohamed (7th-17:39.9). Mt. Blue's Josh Horne continued his strong season with a 5th place run (17:35.7). Caleb Lord of Hampden Academy came home in 8th, Bangor's Jonathan Stanhope finished 9th, & Lucas Borget of Edward Little rounded out the top 10 (17:52.4)
All Conference
1 Justin Tracy SR Mt. Blue 17:14.1 1 2 Mohamed Barre SR Lewiston 17:14.4 2 3 Sam Wood JR Mt. Ararat 17:27.6 3 4 Mohamed Awil SR Lewiston 17:33.1 4 5 Josh Horne JR Mt. Blue 17:35.7 5 6 Isaiah Harris SO Lewiston 17:39.1 6 7 Mohamed Mohamed JR Lewiston 17:39.9 7 8 Caleb Lord SO Hampden Academy 17:41.7 8 9 Jonathan Stanhope JR Bangor High School 17:47.6 9 10 Lucas Bourget SR Edward Little 17:48.4 10 11 Nick Kopf SR Hampden Academy 17:52.4 11 12 Jacob Archer SO Bangor High School 18:11.0 12 13 Colin Glencross FR Bangor High School 18:12.5 13 14 Nathan MACKENZIE JR Mt. Ararat 18:15.8 14
#1 ranked Lewiston didn't disappoint as they placed 4 runners in the top 7 overall en route to a 35 point win over runner-up Mt. Blue. The Blue Devils top 4 sealed the deal for them, and 5th runner Jordan Balsamo finished 28th. The Cougars of Mt. Blue had a strong day to get by Bangor 82-88 for the runner-up finish.
Class A Girls
Interviews: Tessa Cassidy | Elizabeth Labun | Erzsebet Nagy
Erzsebet Nagy didn't have to set the early pace as that was taken care of by Bethanie Brown & Brittany Bowman. Nagy ran like a veteran in her 2nd year of xc letting Bowman set the fast tempo early then pulling away from her during the 2nd mile to cruse to the Class A title. Nagy actually started to cut the gap to the Class B winner Bethanie Brown over the last half of the race, and in the end would be just 28 seconds back (19:27). Erzsebet was pleased with her run as it was close to what she ran last year and she has missed a big block of training to injury. Nagy's time won the Class A race by 1:26 over freshman Tessa Cassidy of Brunswick. Cassidy proved that she was up to the challenge in her first championship meet clocking 20:53 to edge Elizabeth Labun of Hampden Academy (20:56). Senior Kylie Parker of Hampden Academy placed 4th (21:07). Next it was the Mt Ararat duo of Olivia Swan (5th) & Kelly Lynch (6th). Brunswick's Teresa Murphy closed well for 7th, with Messalonskee Olivia Poulin crossing in 8th. Tiffany Tanner another freshman from Brunswick placed 9th & Faith Shaw of Lewiston rounded out the top 10 (22:33)
All Conference
1 Erzsebet Nagy SR Lawrence 19:27.0 2 Tessa Cassidy FR Brunswick 20:53.3 1 3 Elizabeth Labun SO Hampden Academy 20:56.5 2 4 Kylee Parker SR Hampden Academy 21:07.6 3 5 Olivia Swan SO Mt. Ararat 21:17.0 4 6 Kelly Lynch JR Mt. Ararat 21:19.7 5 7 Teresa Murphy JR Brunswick 21:46.6 6 8 Olivia Poulin JR Messalonskee 22:02.4 7 9 Tiffany Tanner FR Brunswick 22:16.4 8 10 Faith Shaw JR Lewiston 22:25.1 9 11 Katherine Gunther SO Mt. Blue 22:33.9 10 12 Courtney King SO Cony High Scool 22:36.4 13 Lauren McNett SR Mt. Ararat 22:39.2 11 14 Sarah Tatgenhorst JR Hampden Academy 22:45.2 12
The girls race was very competitive as Mt Ararat & Brunswick were neck and neck through 4 runners. In the end the Eagles on the strength of their 5th runner Alicia Caternia proved to be the difference maker for Mt Ararat as they edged the Dragons 57-61 for the Class A Team title. Brunswick had 3 of the top 9, while Ararat countered with 5th & 6th up front. The two teams are expected to battle again next week. 3rd place Hampden Academy was just 7 points back of the Dragons. The Broncos were missing their 5th runner Pauline Liebig, with her in the lineup they could edge closer to the top spot next week
Class B Boys
Interviews: Chris Cote | Christian Heath | Ben Trapani
Camden Hills Ben Trapani has had an outstanding junior season that has seen him become one of the top runners in Class B & the State. Today was no exception as Trapani established himself in the lead pack early, and then used his strength and speed over the last 50m to eek out the victory. Ben's winning margin over Christian Heath of Gardiner was just .5 second (17:09.8-17:10.3). Both harriers gave it everything they had as both ended in full out sprints, but Trapani was just a little stronger and quicker. "I have a hill that I end all my runs on at my house, I would always sprint up it at the end of every run" Trapani would say where his speed came from.
Gardiner's Heath was a suprise in the lead pack as he was the 4th fastest seed in the Class B race, but he ran like he belonged. He would take the lead with a little over 600 meters to go, and led right up until the final meters. Waterville sophomore Chris Cote turned in a strong performance for 3rd (17:36). Austin Landry of Marancook stepped it up from his 7th seed to finish 4th. Winslow's Nick Shuckrow crossed the line in 5th (18:13.8).
All Conference
1 Ben Trapani JR Camden Hills 17:09.8 1 2 Christian Heath SR Gardiner 17:10.3 3 Chris Cote SO Waterville 17:36.9 2 4 Austin Landry SO Maranacook 17:58.9 3 5 Nickolas Shuckrow SR Winslow HIgh School 18:13.8 4 6 Harrison Knowlton SO Leavitt 18:20.0 5 7 Nick Smelcer JR Lincoln Academy 18:21.7 6 8 Jason Stevenson JR Maranacook 18:34.4 7 9 Tim Enos SR Leavitt 18:34.4 8 10 Joseph Bellavia JR Waterville 18:53.8 9 11 Kilton Webb SR Maranacook 18:54.8 10 12 Griffin Davis SR Winslow HIgh School 18:55.2 11 13 Thomas Cassidy JR Winslow HIgh School 18:58.5 12 14 Will Hadden SR Lincoln Academy 19:01.3 13
As expected Maranacook took top honors in the team race. The Black Bears with 5 runners in the top 20 tallied 57. Winslow moved up for the 3rd seed coming into the meet to nab the runner-up finish with 89 points. The Black Raiders edged Lincoln Academy by 1 point 89-90. Winslow had the edge at spots 1-3, while LA had the better 4-5 runners. Next week Winslow will head to the Eastern Regional, while Maranacook & LA will head to the Western Maine regional
Class B Girls
Interviews: Caroline Colan
Waterville's Bethanie Brown kept the foot on the acclerator during the first half of the race. Brown looked fleet of foot, with her quick turnover and aggressive arm drive, as she was eating up lots of ground with every stride. The win was never in question for Brown who clocked 18:59 to win the Class B title, as well as having the fastest time of day. The time was 17 seconds off what she ran earlier in the yearm and one has to wonder if they quick early pace was the culprit. Either way it takes guts to run the way she does every time out.
Brittany Bowman went out hard as well as she was in 2nd for the first half of the race. "My goal was to get out hard"- Bowman would comment post race. Bowman would run a solid time of 20:06 to finish as the runner-up. Her time was 15 seconds faster than race 3 weeks ago on the same course. Maranacook Caroline Colan pushed the pace in the beginning as well as she was in the pack with Bowman & Nagy. Colan would maintain strong throughout to finished 3rd (20:34). Oceanside's Abbie Hersom turned in a great run for 4th (20:45). While Hannah Brownawell of Camden Hills rounded out the top 5 (20:52).
All Conference
1 Bethanie Brown SR Waterville 18:59.4 1 2 Brittany Bowman JR Camden Hills 20:06.6 2 3 Caroline Colan SR Maranacook 20:34.6 3 4 Abby Hersom SO Oceanside 20:45.9 5 Hannah Brownawell SR Camden Hills 20:52.9 4 6 Emily Lopez SR Camden Hills 21:11.3 5 7 Tiana Thomas SR Waterville 21:25.1 6 8 Samantha Morse SO Camden Hills 21:26.2 7 9 Maddie Wiegman SR Leavitt 21:30.5 8 10 Hannah Depres SO Maranacook 21:34.2 9 11 Molly Schassberger SR Winslow HIgh School 21:56.0 10 12 Erica Jenson FR Waterville 22:30.2 11 13 Audrey Jones JR Winslow HIgh School 22:33.8 12 14 Riley Simmons FR Oceanside 22:37.5
Camden Hills the #3 ranked team in the state keeps getting stronger and stronger. The Windjammers put on a clinic at the KVAC Championship placing 6 runners in the top 16, including 4 in the top 8. They tallied just 31 points. Waterville tried to go with Camden Hills during the first half of the race, but they culdn't match their strength. The Purple Panthers did run well though as they finished as the runner-up with 55 points. Maranacook got up for 3rd.
Photos in article provided by David Colby Young of Maine Running Photos