CUMBERLAND — A former soccer player turned in the fastest time of the day at the Western Maine girls’ cross country regionals Saturday at Twin Brook Recreation Area.
Katherine Leggat-Barr, a Greely High sophomore who played striker on the junior varsity soccer team last fall, completed the 5-kilometer course in 19 minutes, 46.76 seconds, finishing 35 seconds ahead of runner-up Grace Cowles of Yarmouth in the Class B race.
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“The mud was not as bad as I expected, so it was really nice to have it dry,” Leggat-Barr said of her home course. “I felt like I never got in the groove, but I was really happy with my race.”
Massabesic in Class A, Yarmouth in Class B and Waynflete in Class C were the team champions, leading the list of qualifiers for the state championships next Saturday at Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast. The top 30 individuals and top 50 percent of teams in each class advance to the state meet.
Despite three days of heavy rain earlier in the week, the course was in good shape.
“The conditions were a little wet, and I felt it slowed me down a little bit,” said Hannah Austin, a senior from North Yarmouth Academy who won the Class C race. Austin finished in 20:44.23 seconds, 25 seconds ahead of Olivia Skillings of Merriconeag.
Freshman Anna Slager of Gorham won the Class A race in 20:04, beating Marshwood senior Maddy Doyle by 3.78 seconds.
Massabesic finished 11 points ahead of second-place Scarborough, as the Mustangs’ top five runners were among the first 18 to cross the finish line.
Scarborough Coach Ron Kelly was satisfied with the performance of his team, which placed four runners among the top 10 after failing to qualify for the state meet a year ago.
“This is not the best course for us,” Kelly said. “I think we’ll do a lot better next week. There are a little less hills in Belfast, and we usually run well there.”
Falmouth, Marshwood, South Portland, Westbrook, Windham, Thornton Academy and Cheverus also qualified for the Class A state meet.
Yarmouth placed four runners among the top six in Class B to claim the team title with 39 points, six better than Greely. Cape Elizabeth, York, Maranacook and Morse also qualified in Class B.
Waynflete captured its second consecutive Western Class C title when its first five runners finished among the top 15, paced by Ellie Chidsey in third place (21:14.41).
“We won this last year, so we know the course,” Waynflete Coach Brian Gillespie said. “We consider it our home course. It’s kind of tough for the up-state schools to come down and deal with this course.”
Merriconeag, NYA, St. Dominic Academy, Monmouth Academy, Telstar and Boothbay were the other qualifiers for the Class C state meet.
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