BELFAST – Ten Mt. Blue Cross Country runners turned in LPR’s (lifetime personal records) at the Festival Of Champions in Belfast on Saturday. In addition, seven other members of the team ran season best times over the fast 5K course.
Over 100 teams, including several from out of state, participated in the event, the largest high school race in Maine. The Mt. Blue boys team placed 21st overall (14th among Maine teams), while the Cougar girls were 26th (18th among Maine schools).
There were seven separate races throughout the day, with the results of all the races combined electronically as if it were one big race, to determine the team scores.
There were two sections of unseeded boys races, Nick Bell was Mt. Bue’s top runner in the first race in 103rd place. The other unseeded race saw Andrew Robinson turning in a lifetime best of 19:07, which was good for 44th place. The girls unseeded race saw Mt. Blue’s lone competitor Brielle Tinker place 36th in a season best 24:07.
The boys freshman race saw each of Mt. Blue’s runners turn in lifetime bests. Damian Wynn had the Cougars top finish of the day in 18th place with a time of 18:37. Teammate Nick DeMarco was 39th in 19:39. The Cougars other runners, Teddy McLeod and Wyatt Hall each bettered their times by over a minute. On the girls side, Elsa Feegel improved her time by over 4 minutes!
The seeded races ended the meet. The girls race was highlighted by Orono Senior Ruth White bettering her meet record from 17:27 to 16:56. Cumberland Rhode Island captured the team championship, with Bonny Eagle 2nd and Camden Hills finishing 3rd.
Mt. Blue’s top runner was Nora McCourt, who placed 41st in a lifetime best of 20:18. Seniors Lucinda Carroll and Natalie McCarthy each ran season bests, with times of 21:47 and 22:10 respectively. Elizabeth Strickland ran a lifetime best of 23:52.
In the boys race, Matthew Giardina of Nashua New Hampshire’s Bishop Guertin was the individual champion in a time of 15:27. E. O Smith High School from Storrs, Connecticut won the team title, with Portland in 2nd and Bedford, New Hampshire in 3rd place.
Mt. Blue’s top runner was Henri McCourt in 22nd place with a lifetime best of 16:28. Luke Doscinski ran a season best of 17:48 and Ben Hatch ran a lifetime best of 17:55. Eli Hoeft overcame a slow start, passing 20 runners over the last two miles, to finish with a time of 18:42, just 4 seconds shy of his season best.
The Cougars return to action when they host the Mt. Blue relays this Friday.
