ESSEX — Cross-country runners from Middlebury, Vergennes and Mount Abraham union high schools competed in this past Saturday’s Essex Invitational, with the best efforts coming from Tiger sophomore Jack Christner and Tiger junior Malia Hodges.
Christner finished 31st in the boys’ 5K race to lead five Tigers in the top 70. Overall the Tigers were ninth with 242 points, but were third behind U-32 (70 in third place) and Harwood (225 in eighth) among non-Division I teams. Essex (38) won.
Erich Reitz finished 63rd to lead the VUHS boys; the Commodores finished 16th in team competition.
Noah Engvall led a non-scoring Mount Abe contingent by taking 69th.
In the girls’ 5K race, Hodges came in 33rd to lead the Tigers, who were 11th as a team with 256 points. CVU (21) dominated.
VUHS did not have enough runners to score, but Emma Beauchemin led the four-strong contingent in 77th. The Mount Abe girls elected to compete in the JV race.
The Mount Abe team will host MUHS and other schools in Bristol on Tuesday afternoon.
The varsity boys’ placements and their times were:
31. Jack Christner, MUHS, 18:35.0.
46. Thomas Nevins, MUHS, 18:57.9.
59. Nico Brayton, MUHS, 19:19.6.
62. William Carpenter, MUHS, 19:38.9.
63. Erich Reitz (pictured, left), VUHS, 19:39.6.
66. Wade Mullin, VUHS, 19:57.6.
69. Noah Engvall, Mt. Abe, 20:05.3.
70. Elvis McIntosh, MUHS, 20:08.2.
73. Gabe Praamsma, VUHS, 20:11.6.
90. Spencer Hurlburt, VUHS, 20:48.4.
103. Samuel Klingensmith, MUHS, 21:51.9.
105. Liam Davison, Mt. Abe, 22:10.3.
107. Chris Therrien, VUHS, 22:25.1.
108. Ryan Adams, Mt. Abe, 22:37.6.
109. Brewer Atocha, Mt. Abe, 22:43.4.
121. Louis Beauchaine, Mt. Abe, 26:29.9.
123. Caleb Hamilton, MUHS, 27:26.0.
The varsity girls’ placements and their times were:
33. Malia Hodges, MUHS, 22:27.5.
54. Fairley Olson (pictured, left), MUHS, 23:37.5.
68. Maisie Newbury, MUHS, 24:23.1.
70. Sofia Stefani, MUHS, 24:29.5.
76. Astrid Olsen, MUHS, 25:32.6.
77. Emma Beauchemin, VUHS, 25:36.0.
80. Ashley Cray, VUHS, 25:58.2.
88. Marin Howell, VUHS, 26:37.6.
89. Kate Wallace, MUHS, 26:50.5.
94. Grace Lebeau, VUHS, 27:50.8.