The Harwood Union girls cross-country team placed third in the seeded girls’ race at the Maine Festival of Champion last weekend and the boys placed 18th in the 60-field team, according to Harwood Union coach John Kerrigan who traveled with his Highlander teams to Belfast, Maine, for the October 1 race.
There were over 1,100 runners and 80 teams representing every high school in Maine, several schools from southern New England and Nova Scotia, Canada.
Many of teams competing had enrollments that are twice the size of Harwood. The Highlanders with a school enrollment of approximately 500 students had fantastic results, Kerrigan reported.
Hamden Academy of Hamden, Maine, (enrollment of over 800) won the boys’ race. Bonny Eagle High School of Standish, Maine, (total enrollment over 1,100) won the girls’ race. Bonny Eagle placed second in the 2021 New England Championships. Harwood girls placed fifth in the same race held at Thetford Academy in November of 2021.
The individual winner of the boys’ race was Charlie Collins of Hamden Academy with a time of 15:38. The winner of the girls’ race was Ruth White of Orono. She is the returning New England champion and broke her own course record with a time of 17:27.
“The race was much flatter and faster than we see in Vermont. The kids were stoked with their times. Twenty-one Harwood runners participated and 18 achieved personal best times!” said Kerrigan
Indy Metcalf in 56th place led the Harwood boys. He was followed by Chris Cummiskey 94, Quinn Smith 118, and Lincoln Gage 139.
Chapin Rivers placed 32 in the freshman race and 236th overall in the 700-runner field. “With no seniors, three sophomores, one junior and one freshman in the top five, the future potential of this team is tremendous,” Kerrigan said.
Atticus Ellis led the Harwood boys in the unseeded race with a personal best time of 19:36 and a 19th-place finish.
Harwood girls finished third in the seeded section of the race and eighth overall. Charlie Flint, 33, and Julia Thurston, 37, led them. Closely following were Heidi Haroldsen, 66, Celia Wing, 84, Maisie Franke, 112, and Hazel Lillis, 120. There were 600 girls competing.
Pippa Diller finished 38th out of 150 in the girls’ freshman race and Rowan Clough finished 15th in the unseeded girls’ race. Both girls flirted with breaking the 23:00-minute barrier and had personal record times.
Kerrigan thanked all the supporters of the Summer Fun Runs that helped make this trip to Maine possible.
