Oyster River High School girls second in New England Cross Country Championship
BELFAST, Maine — The Oyster River High School girls cross country team fell just over a second short of claiming first place in the New England Cross Country Championship this past weekend.
Led by an 11th place-individual finish by Bobcat's Haley Kavanagh, 19th-place finish by Mackenzie Cook, Oyster River finished second (1:34:50.85) overall in a field of 29 teams at Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast, Maine.
Champlain Valley Union (Vermont) was first with a time of (1:33:38.27).
"It's kind of what we've become accustomed to, based on (the team's) strong performance all season," Oyster River coach Patrick O'Brien said. "We knew we had a shot to mix it up with some of the best and finish somewhere in the top three and it was a great day for them."
Out of 251 runners, Kavanagh's 11th-place finish in the 5k run was in a time of 18:21.30, and Cook finished in 18:34.18.
"Haley, specifically, has had a pretty interesting season," O'Brien said. "She struggled a little early on, and we had to make a couple of changes. But she stayed positive, worked together with her teammates all the way through and trusting that process really ended up paying off. And her best races came at the end of the season, the Meet of Champions, in New England, and some of the most important races. And that's kind of the athlete she's always been. She shows up when it counts, and Saturday was no different."
"We're pretty lucky to have two aces on our team," O'Brien said of Cook. "Mackenzie is one of the most consistent runners I've ever seen. Week after week, she brings her A game every time. Super steady, has led our team in many of these races and another strong performance inside the top 20 on Saturday."
Other Bobcats include Haley Bezanson (46th, 19:00.62), Neely Roy (49th, 19:03.23) and Madelyn Cook (92nd, 19:51.52), Jahrie Houle was 180th (21:17.56), Talia Banafato was 211th (21:50.79).
The second-place finish in the New England Cross Country Championship came a week after the Bobcats placed first and won the NHIAA Meet of Champions in an 18-team field.
"It's cool to watch, I continue to be super impressed with the consistency race over race," O'Brien said. "These girls they show up and they take control of the race early every race, and there hasn't really been an off day for any of them, so it's been cool to watch them do it together and be consistent all the way through."
It was the Bobcats' first time racing at Troy Howard Middle School. The night before the race, the group was able to see the course, preview it and get a few laps in.
"It was a cool course," O'Brien said. "It was fairly flat compared to some of the courses we've ran this season, but it had its little hills and had some cool, unique features that made it a good course. There was no pavement or anything, so a true cross country course."
More Seacoast girls teams perform well in New England meet
York placed 18th overall in New England with a total time of 1:41:56.55, Dover was 19th (1:42:14.76) and Exeter was 23rd (1:43:05.67).
Individually, York's Cary Drake finished 8th (5:50.4), Molly Kenealy was 100th (20:02.72), Madelyn Hitchins was 108th (20:06.52), Karianna Hultstrom was 187th (21L24.04), Audrey Drennan was 224th (22:14.62) Madelyn Herman was 230rd (22:19.74), and Katelyn Bloomer was 238th (22:38.74); Exeter's Eli Cross finished 16th (18:29.07), Izzie Bremer was 126th (20:23.08) Brianna Paterna finished 173rd (21:11.32), Austin Williams was 179th (21:17.17), Delaney Roche was 206th (21:45.03), Amber Orleans was 209th (21:46.82) and Madeline Ralabate was 214th (21:56.66);Dover's Anique Poulin finished 28th (18:44.22), Margaret Spuler finished 101st (20:02.72), Alyson Bortz was 123rd (20:16.99), Madeline Bachrach was 182nd (21:18.93), Isabel McIntyre was 212th (21:50.82), Janelle Poulin was 213th (21:53.80), Evangeline Alexander was 236th (22:31.09) Winnacunnet's Charlotte Koutalidis finished 64th (19:28.30) and Newmarket's Alanna Hagen finished 81st (19:37.55).
Additionally, Cross (Exeter) was the third finisher from New Hampshire, and was the first freshman overall to finish the race in all of New England.
Seacoast represented by boys teams, too
Coe-Brown placed 18th (1:25:54.88).
York's Aidan Ring placed 45th (16:22.73), Coe-Brown's Jamie Lano was 53rd (16:27.73), Sanjity Nomula was 54th (16:27.83), Luc Kerouac was 131st (17:10.35), Liam McLean was 199th (17:53.87), Keegan Sousa was 201st (17:55.10) and Liam Graveline was 234th (18:36. 42), Portsmouth Christian Academy's Jonas Teeter was 69th (16:37.73), Exeter's Gavin Malark was 77th (16:42.05), Marshwood's Henri Rivard was 85th (16:48.13).
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Oyster River girls 2nd in 2023 New England Cross Country Championship
