THETFORD — The Middlebury Union High School girls’ team finished 13th overall and first among Vermont Division II teams at Saturday’s Thetford Trail Run, a major annual cross country running meet hosted by Thetford Academy that drew four dozen schools from around New England.
Tiger senior Sam Hodges posted the best overall individual result among local racers, taking 14th in the 5K boys’ race.
The Tiger girls scored 441 points to finish well behind winner Champlain Valley (78) and runner-up Burlington (121), but ahead of U-32 in 15th (516), the next-best showing by a Vermont D-II program on the course that will host the state meet on Oct. 28.
Senior Caroline Kimble led the Tiger girls by taking 42nd place out of almost 600 runners, and sophomore Isabel Olson cracked the top 100 at 92nd. Freshman standout Camille Malhotra did not compete for MUHS.
Emma Beauchemin led a non-scoring Vergennes contingent by taking 200th, and McKenna White led OV by finishing 316th. OV (1,150 points) was 39th as a team.
The Tiger boys took 23rd in a race in which U-32 (118) edged Burlington (119) for the win. Tiger freshman Jack Christner was 75th, and VUHS junior Spencer Hurlburt led a non-scoring group of four Commodore runners by finishing 87th in a field of more than 600 competitors.
Freshman Parker Todd finished 182nd to lead OV, which finished 37th with 1,074 points. Senior Aidan May led Mount Abraham in 311th as the Eagles took 50th with 1,504 points.
The girls’ first-place finisher and local teams’ top placers in the 5K race  were:
1. Jacqueline Gaughan, 18:18.42, Exeter; 42. Caroline Kimble, 21:37.18, MUHS; 92. Isabel Olson, 22:42.67, MUHS; 124. Malia Hodges, 23:08.89, MUHS; 126. Sofia Stefani, 23:09.10, MUHS; 134. Mary Ann Eastman, 23:18.93, MUHS; 172. Kate Wallace, 24:00.21, MUHS; 200. Emma Beauchemin, 24:32.51, VUHS; and 214. Maisie Newbury, 24:44.50, MUHS.
Also, 288. Ashley Cray, 26:29.37, VUHS; 316. Mckenna White, 26:54.65, OV; 406. Madilyn Morgan, 29:41.37, OV; 411. Miah Cushman, 29:49.41, MUHS; 443. Anoushka Pschorr, 31:39.55, OV; 497. Brittany Corey, 38:58.97, OV; and 502. Shannon Oudman-Blackwood, 44:23.81, OV.
The boys’ first-place finisher and local teams’ top placers were:
1. Drew Thompson, 15:56.67, Fairfield Prep; 14. Sam Hodges, 17:27.32, MUHS; 75. Jack Christner, 18:43.32, MUHS; 87. Spencer Hurlburt, 18:51.20, VUHS; 120. Wade Mullin, 19:16, VUHS; 182. Parker Todd, 19:54.65, OV; 184. Wesley Smith, 19:54.65, OV; and 213. Thomas Nevins, 20:11.78, MUHS.
Also, 235. Erich Reich, 20:25.71, VUHS; 238. William Carpenter, 20:27.74, MUHS; 241. Gabe Praamsma, 20:29.35, VUHS; 275. Nico Brayton, 20:45.43, MUHS; 285. Thomas Hussey, 20:50.82, MUHS; 304. Daniel Wisell, 21:04.72, MUHS; 311. Aidan May, 21:07.62, Mt. Abe; and Hayden Gallo, 21:10.36, OV.
Also, 331. Joseph Cijka, 21:19.18, OV; 496. Ryan Adams, 23:26.15, Mt. Abe; 498. Anthony Rovi, 23:26.63, OV; 525. Liam Davison, 32:42.62, Mt. Abe; 597. Colby Smith, 25:30.88, OV; 609. Brian Cousineau, 25:58.19, Mt. Abe; 638. Mickeen Hogan, 27:58.12, OV; and Owen Farrell, 39:29.84, Mt. Abe.
BRISTOL XC RACE
The Thetford race followed an Oct. 4 meet at Mount Abraham in Bristol — a meet that was rescheduled from a September rain-out. MUHS won both the boys’ and girls’ team events, and Sam Hodges won the boys’ race. Malhotra was second, about 38 seconds behind winner Konstanze Wendeln of Rice.
In boys scoring, MUHS tallied 36, followed by Rice (67), Milton (75), Missisquoi (101), CVU (114) and BFA-Fairfax (139). The girls team scoring went MUHS (27), Rice (62), Missisquoi (78), CVU (96), Milton (100) and BFA-Fairfax (173).
Mount Abe did not field enough runners to score as a team for either girls or boys. Aiden May led the Eagle boys in 17th place and Ally Hoff lead the Eagle girls, also in 17th.
In the girls’ race the local finishers were: 2. Camille Malhotra, MUHS; 3. Caroline Kimble, MUHS; 6. Malia Hodges, MUHS; 7. Sofia Stefani, MUHS; 9. Katherine Koehler, MUHS; 11. Isabel Olson, MUHS; 15. Kate Wallace, MUHS; 16. Maisie Newbury, MUHS; 17. Ally Hoff, Mt. Abe; 25. Sophie Marks, MUHS; 27. Greta Hardy-Mittell, MUHS; 28. Audrey Huston, MUHS; 30. Bailey Allard, Mt. Abe; 33. Jasmin Gile, Mt. Abe; and 54. Emmaline Heilman, Mt. Abe.
In the boys’ race the local finishers were: 1. Samuel Hodges, MUHS; 4. Jack Christner, MUHS; 8. Julian Schmitt, MUHS; 9. Thomas Hussey, MUHS; 14. Thomas Nevins, MUHS; 15. Cade Christner, MUHS; 17. Aidan May, Mt. Abe; 18. Daniel Wisell, MUHS; 19. William Carpenter, MUHS; 23. Nico Brayton, MUHS; 30. Ethan Reiderer, MUHS; 31. Gabriel Cason, MUHS; 39. Ben Balparda, MUHS; 41. Ryan Adams, Mt. Abe; 42. Hunter Heffernan, MUHS; 44. Duncan Crogan, MUHS; 46. Liam Davison, Mt. Abe; 57. Samuel Klingensmith, MUHS; 65. Kieran Sheridan, MUHS; 71. Griffin Schneider, MUHS; 72. Brian Cousineau, Mt. Abe; 73. Xavier Wyncoop, MUHS; 75. Jaime Gonzalez, MUHS; 76. Nicholas Suchomel, MUHS; 80. Frazier Milligan, MUHS; and 84. Theo Wells-Spackman, MUHS.