BELFAST — The members of the Mt. Blue High School Cross Country boys’ and girls’ teams all turned in fast times in the annual Festival of Champions in Belfast on Saturday. Almost every runner turned in a season best time and most of them had lifetime bests for a 5K race.

There were six races throughout the day. First up was the unseeded boys’ race, which saw the top four Mt. Blue runners in a tight pack that moved up throughout the race. Daniel Dalton was the first to cross the line in 12th place, followed by Eli Hoeft (16), Andrew Robinson (20), and Noah Civiello (33). Ben Daku also showed the most improvement of the day, cutting over three minutes off his best time.

In the girls unseeded race, Mt. Blue was led by Brielle Tinker in 25th place and Cassidy Hardy (42nd). Addie Colello also raced to her best time of the season.

Next up were a pair of freshmen only races. Mt. Blue’s Luke Doscinski (9th) and Ben Hatch (11th) proved to be two of the top 9th graders in the meet, while the girls’ competitors were Elizabeth Strickland (56) and Molly Patterson (96).

The boys seeded race saw Cyrus Evans proving he could run with the top runners in the meet, placing 9th. Henri McCourt, who had won the freshman race a year ago, showed he could compete well against runners in the upper grades as he placed 22nd. Kodi Quimby also raced to a lifetime best.

The girls seeded race saw all four Cougar girls finish within a 46 second span. Lucinda Carroll led the way in 65th place, followed by Nora McCourt, Natalie McCarthy, and Moriah Reusch.

In the team competition, Mt. Blue’s boys team finished 10th out of 59 scoring teams, while the Cougar girls were 18th among 55 scoring teams.

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