CUMBERLAND — When Chandler Vincent played football in middle school, he was an offensive tackle and defensive end. During rest breaks he would run hill sprints.

So it wasn’t hard to guess his favorite aspect of the Twin Brook Recreation Area’s 5-kilometer cross country course.

“The Pain Cave,” he said of the steep plunge-and-climb that comes just before emerging from the woods late in the course. “I’m not elegant at all in how I run, so I like to have a little bit of roughness in the course to give me that edge.”

A Freeport High senior, Vincent led a surprising 1-2 finish with teammate Henry Jaques to lead the Falcons to a second straight Class B boys’ state title Saturday.

In Class A, Scarborough also mounted a successful title defense by holding off Falmouth and in Class C, George Stevens Academy became the first team from Northern Maine to win that division’s state title since Sumner in 1998.

Over the same Twin Brook course a week earlier, Vincent and Jaques finished third and fourth in the regional meet behind Yarmouth sophomore Luke Laverdiere and Greely senior Ryan Morrison. Those two shared the early lead with Vincent and Jaques through the first mile before Vincent sensed an opening.

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“I noticed they were dialing it back a little bit to rest for the last mile,” he said. “So I’m glad Henry read off me in that we both took over there and we were just trading off the lead, pacing off each other until the Pain Cave, and then I tried to make my move.”

Vincent won by 7 seconds in 16 minutes, 34 seconds, with Morrison another 18 seconds back in third place. Laverdiere, who won all his previous races in Maine this fall, faded to 13th and missed qualifying for the New England meet.

“He said he got to the 2-mile mark and he just hit a wall,” Yarmouth Coach Bob Morse said.

Backing up Vincent and Jaques for Freeport were senior Erik Brobst in sixth, freshman Alex Les in 19th and sophomore Tom Doyle in 30th. Runner-up York packed all seven of its runners among the top 25 but couldn’t overcome Freeport’s big three and wound up 10 points behind, 52-62. Greely was third with 80 points.

“You need to have the confidence that you’re going to win the race,” said Vincent, the runner-up a year ago. “Otherwise you’ve already given up. So I think we both had that plan in mind, and that gave us that mental edge, because we were getting pretty beat up like the rest of them.”

Scarborough had a similarly effective trio with seniors Colin Tardiff in fourth, Connor Doherty in sixth and Andrew Sholl in eighth. Junior Andrew Goodwin (25th) and sophomore Luke Grover (31) completed the scoring as the Red Storm finished with 60 points to Falmouth’s 80. Hampden Academy was a distant third with 141.

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“Falmouth picked it up a notch from last week,” Scarborough Coach Jim Harmon said. “They were with us like man-to-man coverage in basketball, so it was a very good battle.”

Lewiston senior Osman Doorow ran away with individual honors, posting a fastest-in-any-class time of 16:17 to win by 14 seconds over Hampden junior Paul Casavant. Doorow said he was aiming for a 16 flat but wiped out on the final corner.

“I was going fast and it was slippery,” he said. “It was an accident.”

Lewiston Coach Kim Wettlaufer reminded Doorow that being a state champion – after placing second four times in indoor and outdoor track – was the main thing.

“We talked about that this week,” Wettlaufer said. “He wanted to run a fast time but I said let’s make sure we win first. That’s most important.”

Gorham senior Jesse Southard, who was fifth at last week’s regional meet, improved to third, beating Tardiff by two seconds. Mt. Ararat junior Cameron Meier was fifth.

In Class C, George Stevens junior John Hassett won in 16:46 as GSA beat runner-up Orono, 60-71. Maine Coast Waldorf School junior Tucker Pierce was second in 17:13.

Joining the three class champions in qualifying for the New England meet Nov. 14 in Thetford, Vermont were Falmouth, York and Greely, and individuals with the 25 fastest times overall.

 


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