AUGUSTA – The sloppy weather conditions had no effect on Tyler Clark. Whether the conditions are rain, snow or shine, it doesn’t matter to him.
At Saturday’s Mountain Valley Conference cross country meet, the Lisbon junior won the individual race going away and led the Greyhounds to the overall title by defeating Winthrop 22-44.
“We practice rain or shine, which helps us prepare for (anything),” said Clark.
“Today, we tried to keep warm before the race and stay stretched out.”
Clark and Winthrop’s Danny Soltan were close together for the first 800 meters before Clark took advantage of a grassy straightaway to pull away just prior to darting into the woods. As Clark came back out of the woods, his lead had increased to a point that Soltan could not make up any ground.
“I took it easy the first 800 meters,” he said, “then I took off.”
Clark’s winning time of 17:14 beat Soltan by 16 seconds. Mountain Valley’s Tyler Jasud was third.
Lisbon captured five of the top seven slots in what turned out to be a two-dog race for the team crown.
Aaron Cloutier finished third while the 5-6-7 runners were a Greyhound pack consisting of Kaleb Boucher, Phil Morlock and Nick Caton.
The Ramblers placed six runners in the top 13.
The Ramblers have been the Greyhounds toughest competition this season and got off to a great start Saturday.
“Halfway through the race they were ahead,” said Lisbon coach Hank Fuller.
“Winthrop’s a scary team. They have a lot of pizzazz. We rallied in the last mile and a quarter.”
The girls’ race was a surprise finish, with Madison’s Danielle Hebert (21:55) holding off Telstar’s Jenifer DeNormandie (22:04) and Hall-Dale’s Megan Ellis (22:05) for the victory. Telstar’s Brianne Bailey (22:11) placed fourth.
“(Ellis) always beats me,” said Hebert. “The last race we had she beat me by about a minute. I guess my day is a rainy day.”
Monmouth took home its fourth straight team title by defeating Telstar 35-65. Freshman Kerstin Grenier led the way with her fifth-place finish. The next five runners to cross the finish line were also Mustang runners. Running in a tight pack is nothing new to the Mustangs.
“They really performed well today,” said Monmouth coach Rick Amero.
“They just go out there and feed off each other.”
“It’s really motivating,” said Monmouth senior Emily Masi, who has been part of all four team titles.
“We talk to each other on the course to make sure everyone’s there. We say stuff like, one more mile’ or you can make it.'”
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