BELFAST, Maine — The competition in Saturday’s Class C North championship meet was largely the same for the Orono girls cross country team as it was a week earlier when the Penobscot Valley Conference determined its title holders.
And while the added lure of being crowned best in the region provided enhanced motivation, the result was nearly identical as the Red Riots used the 1-2-3 finishes of juniors Tia Tardy, Hannah Steelman and Kassidy Dill to top second-place George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill for the second straight weekend, this time by a 19-36 score at the Troy A. Howard Middle School.
“There’s something about having a positive mentality, of telling yourself something new every race,” said Steelman. “Definitely today was one of those days where you just had to tell yourself, ‘no excuses,’ and really go for it.
“Last week was a little more chill, but this week really brings out the intensity.”
Tardy turned in the fastest time of the day regardless of class, with her 18 minutes, 34.19 seconds also topping her previous best of 18:40 for the 3.1-mile route set earlier this month at the Maine Cross Country Festival of Champions.
“I went out really fast,” said Tardy. “We were trying to hit 6-minute miles, but it’s hard to tell because on this course the first mile is really, really fast. But we settled into a pace for the rest of the race and it worked out.”
Steelman was next in 19:09.32, followed by Dill 36.3 seconds later as Orono went on to place five of the top seven finishers with freshman Camille Kohtala sixth and senior Olivia Fandel seventh.
GSA was paced by the 4-5 finishes of sophomores Eliza Broughton and Zeya Lorio.
Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln (97), Washburn (129) and Lee Academy (160) also qualified Class C teams for next week’s state meet at Cumberland.
Also winning North regional titles were Class A Brunswick and Class B Waterville.
Brunswick used a second-place finish from senior Tessa Cassidy and classmate Tiffany Tanner’s eighth-place effort to defeat second-place Mt. Blue of Farmington 55-82 and reverse a one-point loss to the Cougars at last week’s Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference meet.
Cony of Augusta (113), Hampden Academy (117), Mount Ararat of Topsham (130) and Lewiston (131) also advanced to states.
Cony junior Anna Guadalupi pulled away from Cassidy during the second half of the regional race to win the individual title in 19:10.24.
Waterville was led to the Class B North crown by the 1-3 finishes of senior Lauren Brown (19:01.29) and junior Cecilia Morin.
The Purple Panthers totaled 66 points to top second-place Caribou (92), with Presque Isle (94), Old Town (111), Mount Desert Island (112) and John Bapst of Bangor (124) also earning state-meet bids.
John Bapst junior Amanda Boyd placed second in 19:36.79, while Presque Isle senior Mandy Graham was fourth and MDI sophomore Emma Strong fifth.
