Medomak Valley senior Alexander Casas ran the race of his life on Saturday to place 29th in the East Class B championships in Belfast and qualify for the state championships to be held Saturday at Twin Brook Recreation in Cumberland.
The top 30 qualified, and Casas collected the next to last spot in a time of 18:15. He beat out Panther teammate Gavin Felch for the first time all season. Felch “cramped up in the second mile” and was unable to recover, taking 43rd place in 18:34, coach George Goud said.
Also competing for Medomak were: 56. Daniel Bubar, 19:10; 79. Kenneth Scheimreif, 20:20; 101. Deagan Poland, 22:54; and 102. Trent Grover, 22:57.
Ellsworth’s Dan Curtis was the East B champion in 16:03, beating out teammate Brayden Beardsley by three seconds. Ellsworth had five scoring runners in the top nine to win the East B title with 23 points, followed by John Baptst 109, MDI 116, Presque Isle 139, Caribou 160, Camden 167, Erskine 186, Waterville 197, Belfast 202, Old Town 220, Winslow 251, Medomak 299, Hermon 319, Washington 409, and Foxcroft 410.
Rayanne Leach led Medomak Valley girls, placing 49th in 23:11. Panther teammate Jill van der Schaaf missed the meet with a high ankle sprain. Also running for Medomak were: 55. Shannon Staples, 23:25; 61. Krista Hooper, 23:56; 77. Abby Griffin, 25:36; 98. Beth Corson, 28:30; and 101. Jasmin Ramos, 29:58.
