BELFAST, Maine — It’s unusual to see cross country meets come down to the narrowest of margins once during the course of a three-week championship stretch.
But the Orono High School and George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill girls have entered that rarefied air twice already in two postseason confrontations.
The first round, at the Penobscot Valley Conference championship meet two weeks ago, went to the Red Riots on a sixth-runner tiebreak. Round two, Saturday’s Northern Maine Class C regional meet at Troy Howard Middle School, went to the Eagles by a thrilling 35-36 count.
“It is a bit awesome,” said Orono coach Lin White. “We knew all year they were going to be the [main] competition.”
Round three between the teams will come on this same 5-kilometer battlefield a week from Saturday, this time with a state championship on the line.
“Our girls, they close remarkably well,” said GSA coach Erich Reed. “I think we’re really looking forward to next week.”
The top five Class C girls teams will return to Belfast next weekend, so that means Limestone (119 points), Greater Houlton Christian Academy (120) and Narraguagus of Harrington (136) will join Orono and GSA in representing northern Maine.
The Class B crown went to Mount Desert Island of Bar Harbor while Brunswick captured gold in the Class A race.
The top 30 individuals also will return to the midcoast next weekend for the state championship races.
Orono senior Kassidy Dill won her second consecutive postseason race, but the Eagles countered with a 2-3-4 effort from Eliza Broughton, Mary Richardson and Zeya Loriao. Camielle Kohtala (fifth) and Hannah Steelman (seventh) were the other Riot runners in the top 10.
“I’m so proud of all our girls,” said Dill, who covered the course in 19 minutes, 40.14 seconds.. “If we didn’t have them we would not be the team we are today. We knew it was going to be close.”
Tess Williamson (12th) and Bella Cimeno (14th) rounded out the Eagles’ scoring runners. Liza Gallant was 10th and Marta Ehringhaus 13th to complete the Red Riots’ scorers.
“Orono’s such a strong program, it makes us have to raise our game considerably,” Reed said.
Now, the question is, can the third and deciding round top either of the first two?
Class B: MDI senior Tia Tardy took care of business in winning the individual race comfortably, but it was the pack behind her that enabled the Trojans to outlast Camden Hills of Rockport.
Tardy, who was timed in 19:02.41, wasn’t concerned with what the stopwatch had to say at the finish line. Almost immediately after finishing the race, Tardy turned back toward the homestretch of the course, eagerly waiting for teammates to come in.
“I just wanted to run a solid race today,” said Tardy, whose Trojans tallied 57 points to the Windjammers’ 73.
Four other Trojans — Katelyn Osborne (8th), Louise Chaplin (13th), Olivia Watson (17th) and Emma Banks (18th) recorded top-20 finishes to help overcome a 2-3 effort by the ‘Jammers’ Emma Trapani and Grace Iltis.
Joining MDI and Camden Hills in representing the North will be Caribou (80 points), Ellsworth (118) and Waterville (126).
“We’re a very close-knit team and that obviously helps when we get to the bigger meets and stuff,” Tardy said. “We’re always pushing each other. I’m very happy with how everyone performed.”
Class A: Mount Ararat of Topsham’s Katherine Leckbee went on to record the fastest time of the afternoon (18:46.77), but Brunswick overwhelmed the rest of the field in the team competition.
The Dragons compiled 71 points, well ahead of runner-up Cony’s 114. Mount Ararat (119), Mt. Blue of Farmington (119), Brewer (120) and Messalonskee of Oakland (134) also qualified for the state meet.
Paving the way for Brunswick’s winning effort was a 3-4 finish from Macaela Ashby and Isabella Pols. Caitlin Kelly was the other Dragons’ runner in the top 10 in eighth.
Local runners qualifying for the state championships individually were Simone Withers of Hampden Academy (seventh) and Lydia Gilmore of Bangor (12th).
Follow Ryan McLaughlin on Twitter at rmlclaughlin23
