Lincoln Academy’s Karen Higgins placed fifth in the girls seeded cross country race at the Maine Festival of Champions on Saturday, Oct. 4 in Belfast. (Mic LeBel photo)
Lincoln Academy junior Karen Higgins earned fifth place among 208 runners competing in the girls seeded cross country race at the Festival of Champions on Saturday, Oct. 4 at Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast.
Higgins completed the race with a time of 18:34.77. Nora Schmidt, of Portland High School, won the race with a blazing time of 17:47.78.
The huge international event was attended by 95 schools from Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Nova Scotia with 1,011 boys and 744 girls running in seven different races at the meet. The event featured four divisions of competition for the boys and three divisions for the girls, including a seeded race with the top runners, an unseeded race, and a freshmen race. The boys had an extra unseeded race.
More than 100 runners take off from the starting line during the boys unseeded cross country race at the Maine Festival of Champions on Saturday, Oct. 4 in Belfast. (Mic LeBel photo)
In addition to Lincoln Academy, athletes from Medomak Valley and Boothbay-Wiscasset competed at the event. Beyond Boothbay Wiscasset’s 33rd place finish out of 43 teams in the boys unseeded B division, the two squads did not have enough runners to record a team score.
Despite Higgins’s fifth place finish, the Lincoln girls did not have enough runners to qualify for a team score in the seeded division. Chloe Anderson was the only other Lincoln competitor in the race, finishing 178th with a time of 24:35.37.
The Eagles girls freshmen team (71) had the top local team result of the day, earning a third place tie with Camden Hills (71) and just one point behind Hampden (70) and Mt. Desert Island (70). Seven schools recorded a score in the division.
Annabel Garvan-Soto was the top Eagles runner in the freshmen race, placing fourth with a time of 21:08.16. Other top Lincoln runners scoring points in the girls freshmen race included Ruby Glenn (49th, 25:16.52), Alice Kutch (53rd, 25:31.42), Hadley Spekke (57th, 25:44.24), and Olive Tomko (82nd, 27:51.28).
The Lincoln girls placed 11th out of 16 teams in the unseeded division. Zoe Hufnagel led the way with a 61st place finish with a time of 25:26.40. Other top Lincoln runners scoring points in the race included Liv Remmert (104th, 26:39.35), Carmella Fraser (143rd, 27:42.68), Valerie Ruhle (169th, 28:29.80), and Joslin Gladu (204th, 29:46.63).
Ava Collamore had the top placement for Medomak Valley during the meet, finishing 36th in the girls seeded race with a time of 20:48.40. Also running for the Panthers were Kaylee Collamore (161st seeded, 24:01.31), Maya Catapano-Kangas (84th unseeded, 26:06.64), and Tilia Meinersmann (270th unseeded, 38:03.81).
Competing for Boothbay Wiscasset were Maddie Andreasen (136th seeded, 23:30.03), Audrey Robinson (55th freshmen, 25:37.79), Maggie McCarthy (59th freshmen, 25:58.66), Lexi Hughes (144th unseeded, 27:43.54), Rose Campbell (175th unseeded, 28:37.84), and Abby Orchard (209th unseeded, 30:14.85).
Owen Card, of Lincoln Academy, runs through an open field in the boys seeded cross country race at the Maine Festival of Champions on Saturday, Oct. 4 in Belfast. (Mic LeBel photo)
Boys results
The Lincoln boys (337 points) placed 14th out of 18 schools recording a score in the seeded race, which was won by Yarmouth (84).
Owen Card led the way with a 41st place finish (17:29.73). Other Eagles scoring points in the race included Holden Nehrboss (107th, 18:32.04), Alva Gandler (166th, 19:20.09), Thomas Mickael (172nd, 19:23.00), and Harrison White (177th, 19:26.44).
Thomas McKitrick placed 65th (21:08.81) to lead the Lincoln boys to eighth place out of 12 teams in the boys freshmen division. Also scoring points were Nevan Paulino (74th, 21:29.64), Cy Zammuto (102nd, 22:30.59), Owen Sandrock (116th, 22:54.38), Olive Popken (149th, 25:19.30), and Sam Johnson (154th, 25:30.95).
The Lincoln boys placed 18th out of 36 teams in the unseeded A division. Calvin Wicks was the top finisher in 48th place (22:29.48). Others scoring points included Leif Gentalen (102nd, 23:51.20), Phin Hansbury (119th, 24:14.36), Brennan Mathiau (165th, 26:06.13), and Pamir (Mertcan (171st, 26:26.68).
The Eagles placed 19th out of 43 teams in the unseeded B division, with Isaiah Felton leading the way with a 40th place finish (19:44.04). Also scoring points were Wilton Scott (58th, 19:59.23), Nathanael Clark (112th, 20:49.39), Huckleberry Huber-Rees (146th, 21:20.89), and Forest Storer (205th, 22:25.39).
Colby Daigle was the top runner for the Medomak boys, placing 64th in the seeded race with a time of 17:49.78. Other Medomak boys competing included Grady Emerson (133rd seeded, 18:51.84), Tanner Kopishke (165th unseeded B, 21:30.02), Carlo Bria (151st freshmen, 25:20.82), and Boston Poulin (208th unseeded, 30:44.76).
A.J. Crocker had the best time among the Boothbay-Wiscasset boys runners, placing 67th in the seeded boys race with a time of 17:51.81. Other Boothbay-Wiscasset boys competitors included Louie Caidoc (179th seeded, 19:28.20), Jackson Zehm (33rd unseeded, 19:37.42), John Cooper (70th freshmen, 21:16.96), Ben Gapski (143rd unseeded B, 21:18.92), Nathan Percival (214th unseeded B, 23:17.34), and Carson MacKusick (175th freshmen, 28:07.25).
