FARMINGTON – The Mt. Blue High School Boys and Girls Cross Country teams both placed 4th in the Northern Maine Class A Cross Country Championships in Belfast on Saturday. By placing in the top 5, each team has qualified for the Class A State Meet, which will be held in Belfast next Saturday.
The Mt. Blue girls team, who placed 4th in the KVAC meet a week ago, held that position, placing behind Camden Hills, Hampden, and Bangor, and holding an 11 point edge over Brunswick.
Nora McCourt finished 9th, earning All-Regional honors to lead the team. The other scoring runners for Mt. Blue were Lucinda Carroll (18), Natalie McCarthy (19), Elizabeth Strickland (32), and Brielle Tinker (35). The team’s other runners, freshmen Elsa Feegal and Lily Jackson, each improved their finish by 3 spots over the previous week.
On the boys side, Mt. Blue had placed 5th, 10 points behind Messalonskee at the KVAC championship a week ago, but moved up to 4th at the Regionals. The Cougars were behind Hampden, Camden Hills, and Brunswick, but held a dominating 20 point margin over Messalonskee, as 6 of the 7 Cougar runners improved their place over the previous week’s performance.
Henri McCourt lead the way for Mt. Blue with a 4th place finish, earning All-Regional honors. Ben Hatch ran a lifetime best on the wet, muddy course and placed 15th. Luke Doscinski had a strong kick and improved from 37th a week ago to 25th. Noah Civiello and Andrew Robinson also had lifetime bests, placing 38th and 39th, with teammate Damian Wynn crossing the line right behind the duo. Eli Hoeft continued his recovery from an injury, moving up 8 spots from a week ago to finish 50th.
With teams from the South Region coming north to Belfast next Saturday, the Cougar teams hope to get a top 7 finish at the State Meet, while each individual will be looking to improve their time on what, hopefully, will be a less wet and muddy course!
