The Class C state champion Orono girls cross country team ran to a 10th-place finish Saturday at the New England high school championships held at Thetford (Vermont) Academy.
Junior Tia Tardy led the Red Riots and all Maine runners in the girls race, finishing 12th overall with a time of 19 minutes, 31.2 seconds for the 3.1-mile course.
Teammates Hannah Steelman (61st), Kassidy Dill (71st), Olivia Fandel (142nd), Camille Kohtala (173rd), Liza Gallandt (234th) and Lilliana Levitsky (245th) also represented Orono in the event. Fandel is the lone senior among the seven Red Riots in the race.
Greely of Cumberland Center was second among the Maine girls teams, placing 19th overall with 443 points. The Rangers had two runners among the top 20 finishers — junior Katherine Leggat-Barr (17th) and freshman Carolyn Todd (20th).
Hannah DeBalsi, a senior from Staples High School in Westport, Connecticut, won the individual title for the third straight year. The Stanford University-bound DeBalsi was timed at 18:20.9.
LaSalle Academy of Providence, Rhode Island, swept the girls and boys team championships.
The LaSalle girls, who won this year’s Maine Cross Country Festival of Champions at Belfast in October, placed four runners among the top 18 finishers with a total of 60 points.
The LaSalle boys, led by individual champion David Principe Jr., finished with 76 points.
Reigning Class A champion Scarborough led Maine boys teams, placing 21st overall with 498 points, just ahead of Falmouth (22nd with 538 points) and Greely (23rd) with 540 points.
Principe, a junior, posted the winning time of 15:48.4.
Hampden Academy junior Paul Casavant was the top Maine individual in the boys race, finishing 20th overall in 16:48.0. Greely’s Ryan Morrison was 47th in 17:11.1 and John Hassett of George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill was 55th in 17:16.0.
Class A individual state champion Osman Doorow of Lewiston fell early in the race and subsequently withdrew due to injury.
