Any difference between the girls’ cross country teams from Lisbon, Boothbay and Monmouth this season has been measured in small increments.

One second or two here. A late-race pass there.

Small wonder that Saturday’s MVC championship meet at the University of Maine at Augusta was a game of inches, too.

Sophomore Adrianna White passed a Monmouth runner late in the race, and it was enough to push Lisbon past Boothbay by one point in the final standings. Monmouth finished third.

Lisbon is the fourth different school to win the title in the past four years. It’s the first trip to the top of the podium for the Greyhounds since 2008.

“We had the exact placement that we set up to do,” Lisbon coach Hank Fuller said. “I believe our first six runners finished before Boothbay’s five.”

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Sophomore Bree Sautter repeated her rookie effort as Lisbon’s leading runner in fourth. Kaylin Le, a freshman, was seventh.

“They’re all freshmen and sophomores,” Fuller said, “which is pretty neat.”

Boothbay might have entered the meet as a slight favorite, thanks in large part to senior Sophia Thayer.

Thayer defended her title and won for the third time in four years. Emma Wilson of Hall-Dale was second.

“The keys for us were that we had the leadership up front, that we were able to break up Boothbay’s one-two-three and split their pack, and that the rest of our pack was able to beat the necessary scoring runners from the other teams,” Fuller said. “If we could do that, we felt that Boothbay’s four and five were their weakness. And Monmouth’s score is deceptive. It felt like they were a lot closer to us than it showed.”

Lisbon tied Monmouth for third a year ago, when Dirigo edged Boothbay for the championship.

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“It was a perfect day. The course was in perfect shape. There are a billion ways to analyze it,” Fuller said. “Before the scores were announced, we told them, ‘Whether it ended up being first, second or third, be proud of the things you did today.'”

Josef Holt-Andrews of Telstar repeated as boys’ champion, while Boothbay took home the team title after finishing as runner-up to Hall-Dale a year ago.

Ben Allen of Winthrop was 20 seconds behind Holt-Andrews in second.

Lisbon sophomore Nick Harriman was the top non-senior, third overall.

koakes@sunjournal.com


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