The midway point of the cross country season is here.

Last Wednesday, the Mountain Valley Conference held its annual mid season race at the University of Maine at Augusta.

St. Dominic Academy won the girls’ team event with 23 points. Ella Brown finished third with a time of 22 minutes on the 5-kilometer course. Her teammates Sydney Sirois (seventh), Megan D’Alessandro (eighth) and Emily Carney (ninth) finished in the top 10. 

“Our top four were in the top ten,” St. Dom’s coach Marc Lepage said. “Our fifth (Isabel Garencer) and sixth (Abby L’abbe) runners were 25th and 27th. So that will make it really hard for other teams to beat us.”

It also helps that the Saints are in midseason form. The girls’ team won all three events.

“We have four runners currently who are absolutely on their game and completely focused,” Lepage said. “We have one senior who’s the captain and three sophomores who really push each other. Pretty much every practice, every run, they are running hard and running as a pack. That really helps in cross country.”

Emily Carney is a senior, while Ella Brown, Sydney Sirois and Megan D’Alessandro are all sophomores for the Saints.

Monmouth (59) finished second as Carey Knowles came in sixth and Ashleigh Hartford ended up in 10th place. Boothbay (75) claimed third, while Hall-Dale (104), Dirigo (111), Carrabec rounded out the six-team field.

Mountain Valley featured three girls in the race, with Emma Somers finishing 19th with a time of 24:31.

On the boys’ side, Boothbay ran away with the team title with 26 points. The Seahawks had their top five finishers appear in the top 10. Winthrop (63) finished in a distant second place, while Lisbon (88) took third. Hall-Dale (110), Madison (125), Dirigo (131) and St. Dom’s (174) capped off the seven-team field.

“For the boys side for the team race, the rest of our pack we decided to run the first mile really conservative,” Winthrop coach Ed Van Tassel said. “For the remaining of the race, it didn’t really workout for us, but we are happy with second.”

Van Tassel thought his Ramblers would score closer to Boothbay, but the final finishing order was the way he expected it would play out. He also said Boothbay had a strong start to the race.

It was a strong day for individual runners. Ben Allen won the event as he crossed the finish line at 17:23, six seconds ahead of Lisbon’s Nick Harriman. Luke Thombs (18:26) finished fourth

“He ran a very good and a very smart race the other day against Ben Allen of Winthrop,” Lisbon coach Jeremy Williams said of Harriman. “We talked leading up to the week. He just needed to stay with Ben and see what he could do the last 800, 1,000 meters to get up with Ben.”

Williams said Ben had a little more left in the tank to hold off Harriman.

Oxford Hills enjoys a tough home course

The course at Roberts Farm in Norway is an uphill battle for all teams. It features a couple of daunting hills for runners.

For Oxford Hills coach Kristin Dacko, a difficult course is a welcomed sight.

“The kids love this course, I mean it’s their home course,” Kristin Dacko said. “They had a good showing (Friday), Julia Dillon coming in second place was huge for her and the team.

“The kids do take a lot pride in having Roberts Farm as their home track.”

“It’s one of the hardest courses we run all year,” Julia Dillon said. “A bunch of us kind of get worked up because it’s our home race and we want to do really well.” 

Knowing the course’s obstacles is half the battle.

“I think the advantage for our kids is they know what’s coming up,” Dacko said. “They know how long the hill is and they know how many hills there are. I think that’s a definite advantage to us. Hopefully in the future we have practice here a lot more.”

For opponents, they don’t enjoy it as much.

“I dread this course,” Lewiston’s Isaiah Harris said. “I don’t like it. I hate the hills.”

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