LINCOLN, Maine — The Orono High School girls cross country juggernaut performed true to form at the first of three straight weekends of championship events Saturday.
The Red Riots, a veteran squad bolstered this fall by the transfer of one of the state’s other top distance runners to the program, won their seventh consecutive Penobscot Valley Conference small-school championship over the 3.0-mile course at Mattanawcook Academy.
Coach Lin White’s club placed its six varsity runners among the top 13 small-school finishers to fend off a challenge from George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill, while Mount Desert Island of Bar Harbor edged Caribou to retain the conference’s large-school girls crown.
Junior Tia Tardy, a former Mattanawcook star now at Orono, posted the afternoon’s top time regardless of class of 18 minutes, 42.52 seconds — good for a course record on a cool day and despite a sometimes muddy track.
Tardy, 2014 state Class C individual champion Hannah Steelman and reigning state meet runner-up Kassidy Dill finished 1-2-3 overall to help the Red Riots outscore GSA 21-35.
“We are definitely working our way up to the meets that are to come, the (North) regionals next week and states the week after that,” said Steelman. “Today we were given target times, and those were for the first two miles we tried to run at 6:10s and then bring it home the last mile. We also wanted to all work together as a team to make us even stronger going into the other championship meets.
“We ran it exactly to plan.”
Freshman Camille Kohtala and Orono’s lone senior varsity runner, Olivia Fandel, finished seventh and eighth, respectively, while sophomore Liza Gallandt rounded out the Red Riots’ varsity contingent in 13th place.
“All the girls are running amazing so we’re definitely in a great place right now,” said Dill.
Three sophomores, Eliza Broughton, Zeya Lorio and Mary Richardson, finished 4-5-6 among the small-school field to lead GSA.
Host Mattanawcook, led by senior Vanessa Twombly’s 15th-place finish, was third with 78 points.
Sophomores Emma Strong and Emily Banks used top-10 finishes in the large-school division to lead MDI to a 59-65 victory over Caribou, with Presque Isle (74), Old Town (81) and John Bapst of Bangor (85) adding quality depth to the field.
Strong placed third in the division while Banks was seventh, with Xingyao Chin, Olivia Watson and Erin White also finishing among the top 20 for the Trojans.
Caribou was led by juniors Simone Michaud (sixth), Emma Belyea (10th) and Madeline Gudde (11th) in edging Aroostook County rival Presque Isle by nine points for second place.
Presque Isle senior Mandy Graham was second in the large-school race, trailing only Amanda Boyd of John Bapst, the top large-school finisher in 20:16:24.
Freshman Audree O’Meara placed fourth to lead Old Town, while Foxcroft Academy senior Jen Clawson finished fifth.
