Lincoln Academy’s Karen Higgins won the girls cross country race in a time of 18:16.86 on Thursday, Sept. 18 in Waldoboro. (Mic LeBel photo)
Karen Higgins, of Lincoln Academy, placed first in the girls race at the Medomak Elizabeth Bianchi Homecoming XC Invitational on Thursday, Sept. 18 in Waldoboro. Panther Ava Collamore placed second with a time of 19:48.98. Higgins led the Eagles girls team to a first place finish with 21 points, Morse was second with 38. Medomak did not have enough runners to register a team score.
Higgins set a personal record in the race through the woods and fields at Medomak Valley High School with a time of 18:16.86. She has won every event she has competed in for the Eagles since transferring from Boothbay Region High School, which competes in Class C.
“It has been a lot of fun meeting new teammates at Lincoln and training with them,” Higgins said. “I’m still learning the race courses which are different from the schools where I ran in Class C.”
Higgins said she has not changed her technique, strategy or mindset much this season after switching from Class C to Class B.
“We have a really big team at Lincoln and there are a lot of good runners that help push me to be faster,” Higgins said. “I also ramped up my training a little bit this season to 40 miles per week from around 35 last year.”
Other Eagles girls who placed in the top 25 were Annabel Garvan-Soto (third, 21:56.83), Chloe Anderson (ninth, 23:54.75), Stella Koller (11th, 25:00.47), Alice Kutch (12th, 25:04.88), Zoe Hufnagel (16th, 25:12.15), Hadley Spekke (18th, 26:44.93), Ruby Glen (19th, 26:54.40), Carmella Fraser (21st, 27:41.83), and Meghan Arnold (24th, 28:34.41).
Also competing for Medomak were Kaylee Collamore (sixth, 22:56.73), Maya Catapano-Kangas (17th, 25:56.18), and Tilia Meinersmann (39th, 36:34.53).
Boys Results
The Lincoln boys team also won their race at Medomak with a score of 23. Morse was second with 52. Medomak did not have enough runners to register a team score.
Owen Card led the Eagles with a second place finish in a time of 16:34.70. “It’s cool that Karen (Higgins) and I both hit new personal bests today,” said Card. “I’ve been training a lot over the summer, and I’ve made big improvements in my cadence this season.”
Card expressed optimism about the outlook for the Eagles team as it approaches conference, regional and state championship meets in the next several weeks.
“We’ve got a lot of returners this season, and have more depth on our team this year to collect points (in the races),” said Card. “We also added Harrison White, who I trained with a lot over the summer. He came from Utah and is new to the cross country scene in Maine, but is making an impact.”
Lincoln boys who also earned top 25 placements included White (third, 17:42.86), Thomas Mickael (fifth, 18:21.48), Holden Nehrboss (seventh, 18:38.94), Alva Gandler (ninth, 18:51.85), Alden Fitzgerald Ward (11th, 19:04.23), Isaiah Felton (15th, 20:06.75), Wilton Scott (19th, 20:06.75), Sebastian Morey (23rd, 20:22.14), Nathanael Clark (24th, 20:24.66), and Huckleberry Huber Rees (25th, 20:27.65).
“We had a lot of great pack support and pack running with some determined individual efforts,” said Eagles coach Garrett Martin. “We had 32 team members establish new personal bests, but we still have more work to do to make the most of the talent we have.”
Medomak runner Colby Daigle had a strong finish for the Panthers in the boys race, placing fourth with a personal-best time of 17:55.20.
“I’m very thankful to have so many friends and family come out and support us today,” said Daigle of the large crowd for the homecoming race. “It’s great to be back competing in cross country again. I took last year off from the sport, so it’s been two years since I last ran a race here.”
Grady Emerson was the only other Medomak runner to post a top 25 time in the race, placing 12th with a time of 19:11.18. Also competing for Medomak were Tanner Kopishke (37th, 21:44.60) and Carlo Bria (62nd, 25:13.14).
Daigle lamented the fact that the team does not have enough competitors this year to post a team score each week.
“We’re small in numbers, but we have quality,” said Daigle. “The bonds you make with such a small team are really great.”
Daigle is glad to be back running cross country, but he admitted that it is a warm-up for track and field in the winter and spring, which is his true passion. “I’m already looking forward to a great indoor and outdoor track season,” said Daigle. “My goal is to break a 4:50 mile and 10 minutes in the two mile.”
