On Saturday, October 31 the Lincoln Academy Cross Country team (LAXC) competed in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B Cross Country Championship at the Quarry Road Trails in Waterville. Like so much of this season, the day proved to be quite surreal and borderline normal feeling all at the same time. Gone were the large crowds and the 150 runners or so that we've come to expect in each of the three races typically offered at the KVAC Championships. In its place was a combined championship meet and state qualifying event for the top 7 varsity runners from each team only with five teams missing from the mix including Lawrence who found out they wouldn't be able to compete Friday afternoon after Somerset County had been designated "yellow" by the state department of education. From that standpoint, we were lucky to be racing at all.
First up was the boys race on the two loop, hilly course. Liam Card (5th) and Will Sherrill (7th) led the way starting in the first wave. Nick Russ (13th), Aiden Jacobs (19th), Cedar Cannon (27th), Thaddeus Eddyblouin (28th), and Conor Glasier (33rd) followed 15 seconds later in the second wave of runners. The LA guys got out well and picked things up over the second loop of the two loop course. When all was said and done, the boys team came in second overall which was an awesome feat for such a young team. Outside of the four titles secured by Lincoln from 2016-2019, the only other time LA placed as high as second in the last 15 years was back in 2013.
Several LA boys also secured individual honors. Liam Card and Will Sherrill snagged first team all-conference honors by placing among the top seven finishers. Nick Russ earned second team all-conference by placing among the next seven finishers. He did so while running a 27 second personal best on a course that certainly does not lend itself to PRs. This marks the fifth year in a row that Lincoln has had three or more all-conference selections. Cedar Cannon also stepped up to run a ten second PR and finish as LA's 5th runner.
Like the boys, two girls - Adeline Hall (10th) and Audrey Hufnagel (11th) - started in the first wave with the rest of the team - Marina McManus (22nd), Rebecca Tomasello (23rd), Violet Bailey (27th), Margo Fairfield (30th), and Clara Goltz (34th) following 15 seconds later in the second wave. While the boys race played out in a pretty predictable manner based on seed times, that was not the case in the girls race. Waterville exploited its home course advantage and benefited from an amazing first race by its second runner, to take home top honors with 54 points. After that the scoring was tight with Morse benefiting from a one-minute PR by its third runner to finish 2nd in the team race with 64 points followed by Maranacook (70), Leavitt (71), and Lincoln (78). Given how close the team scores were, Lincoln was clearly in the mix and, despite not qualifying for states, the future looks bright for this young squad.
Adeline Hall and Audrey Hufnagel earned second team all-conference honors by placing among the top 14 finishers. That's an impressive way to cap off their first seasons in an LA uniform and is just the third time since 2006 that Lincoln has had two all-conference selections in the girls race.
Complete results are posted here. Boys race photos can be found here, girls race here. The Facebook livestreams of the boys race can be found here and the girls race can be found here.