Old Town, Lee, Brunswick champions LaFlamme, Glover win

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BELFAST – When Ashleigh Madden and her Old Town High teammates hopped aboard a bus for Troy Howard Middle School and the Eastern Maine Cross Country championships Saturday morning, they knew exactly what they wanted to do: Bring back a championship plaque for the OTHS trophy case.

Mission accomplished.

“It feels so good just to know that we beat MDI,” Madden said. “I’m glad that we pulled it out today.”

Madden joined Hilary Maxim and Eliza Tibbits in the top 10 as Old Town captured the Eastern Maine Class B crown in a clash with Mount Desert Island, 61-69.

Maxim and Tibbits paced Old Town with a 2-3 finish (19 minutes, 41.83 seconds, 19:52.83) while Madden followed in sixth (20:13.76).

Waterville finished third with 74 points, while Caribou (105), John Bapst of Bangor (128), Leavitt of Turner Center (143), and Belfast (213) rounded out the top seven teams heading to Saturday’s state meet.

Maxim and Tibbits double-teamed Trojans frontrunner Emily Farley throughout the race, and Tibbits passed her in the final half-mile, which was crucial to Old Town’s victory.

Farley finished fourth (19:53.95).

“Two of us in front of their top runner really helped us a lot,” Tibbits said.

“Last week [at PVCs] we really wanted to win,” added Madden.

Veteran Old Town coach Rod White credited his team’s motivation.

“They really had a good week last week,” he said. “Getting so close to them [MDI] gave them a little more motivation to believe that they could run with them.”

The Trojans attempted to rally by bunching their second through fourth runners ahead of Old Town’s fourth, but OT’s fifth runner, Lauren Keane, who had been White’s sixth runner most of the season, made a charge in the last half-mile.

“She really stepped it up today,” he said. “She came from way behind with a half-mile to go. She must have passed 20 people.”

And this team should be a force to be reckoned with for years to come: Old Town didn’t have one senior in its lineup.

“They’ve been a good group all year,” White said. “MDI was so good early, so it took a while to start to believe that they could run with them. It was a great day.”

Keane finished 29th overall while fourth runner Tara Nitardy, who White said “had an awesome day,” was 21st. Rebekah Wheaton (35th) and Heather Vicary (61st) rounded out Old Town’s top seven.

John Bapst’s Madeline Glover (18:53.29) won the race, while Hannah Bard (20:01.29) of Waterville rounded out the top five.

In Classes C-D, Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln took the top three slots, but Lee Academy’s pack power earned the Pandas the title.

The Pandas’ fourth and fifth runners, Kerri Harris and Jacqueline Moors, finished 12th (22:29.80) and 13th (22:35.98) compared to 10th and 37th for the Lynx’s fourth and fifth, giving Lee a 43-53 triumph.

Foxcroft Academy (58) and Woodland (116) also qualified for states.

“We ask a lot of them, and they usually rise to the occasion,” said Lee coach Todd Thurlow.

Lee’s top three were Aarika Ritchie in fifth (21:41.10), Amanda Gifford in sixth (21:47.14), and Brooke Harris in eighth (21:55.99). They are three of six Panda runners who played in a playoff soccer game Friday.

Kerri Harris, Moors, and Kimmy Thurlow are also on the Lee soccer team.

Renee LaFlamme (20:10.51), Casey McCloskey (21:14.28) and Jana Larlee (21:19.35) went 1-2-3 for the Lynx, while Foxcroft’s Shannon Marden (21:38.10) placed fourth.

In Class A, the fifth runner was the difference in this meet as KVAC power Brunswick upended perennial PVC contender Hampden Academy 57-73.

Places 1-4 were fairly even between the teams, but the Dragons’ fifth runner, Kristen Merrill, finished 11 slots ahead of the Broncos’ fifth, Rachelle Bourgoin.

Defending state champ Mount Ararat of Topsham was third with 93 points, Bangor fourth (123), Cony of Augusta fifth (125) and Mt. Blue of Farmington’s 162 rounded out the state-meet qualifiers.

“They ran well today, it was a good effort,” said Brunswick coach Dave Delois. “We thought that probably Hampden, Cony, and Mount Ararat were gonna be the top four teams, and as it turned out, Hampden was second and Ararat was third.”

Mount Ararat’s Krystal Douglas (19:02.70) finished first, followed by Hampden’s Molly Peverada (19:07.26), Oxford Hills of South Paris’ Mandy Ivey (19:14.14), Brunswick’s Chelsea Leeman (19:51.33), and Bangor’s Jolene Belanger (20:01.13).