RANDOLPH — A fifth-place finish by the Vergennes Union High School boys’ cross-country team highlighted local runners’ efforts at the Randolph Invitational this past Saturday, Sept. 15.
A duo of Middlebury Union High School harriers claimed the top two spots and the Tigers won the boys’ race in Tuesday’s cross-country race in Milton.
On Saturday in Randolph, Ben Huston’s 24th-place finish led five Commodore scorers, all of whom finished within 40 seconds and 20 places of one another in a meet that included 15 scoring boys’ teams.
Middlebury runner Tom Nevins had the best local boys’ finish, taking 13th. St. Johnsbury won the boys’ race with 31 points, followed by U-32 (80) and Harwood (132). VUHS totaled 164 in taking fifth. The Tigers were eighth (200), and Otter Valley was 14th (348). Parker Todd finished 52nd for OV’s best result. St. Johnsbury’s Even Thornton-Sherman led the field with a time of 17:04.4.
The Tiger girls finished sixth to lead local teams. Mary Ann Eastman was 13th individually to pace MUHS. VUHS, with four runners, could not score, but Marin Howell led a tight pack of Commodores by taking 39th. OV finished 10th out of 10 scoring teams, with McKenna White in 59th. Harwood’s Ava Thurston won the race in 20:18.8.
The U-32 girls prevailed overall, edging Harwood, 51-69. MUHS scored 142 to earn its sixth-place result.
The local boys’ teams’ scorers were:
•  VUHS: 24: Ben Huston, 19:26.4; 32. Gabe Praamsma, 19:48.1; 34. Erich Reitz, 19:51.5; 37. Wade Mullin, 19:56.7; 44. Spencer Hurlburt,   20:06.2.
•  MUHS: 13. Thomas Nevins, 18:45.6; 21. Nico Brayton, 19:15.4; 33. William Carpenter, 19:50.4; 70. Gabe Cason, 21:46.5; 94. Samuel Klingensmith, 22:39.9.        
•  OV: 52. Parker Todd, 20:45.3; 63. Joseph Cijka, 21:33.8; 80. Liam Murphy, 22:07.6; 110. Hayden Gallo, 24:08.3; 143. Tamar Foster, 30:42.3.
The local girls’ teams’ scorers were:
•  MUHS: 13. Mary Ann Eastman, 22:26.2; 20. Fairley Olson, 23:03.2; 36. Maisie Newbury, 24:30.3; 49. Sofia Stefani, 25:25.3; 50. Kate Wallace, 25:28.5.
•  OV: 59. McKenna White, 26:29.9; 60. Madilyn Morgan, 26:32.3; 78. Gracie Coolidge, 28:04.8; 87. Sarah Calvin, 28:56.6; 107. Brittany Corey, 31:59.6.
•  VUHS: 39. Marin Howell, 24:39.5;  40. Ashley Cray, 24:43.5; 41. Grace LeBeau, 24:43.9; 42. Emma Beauchemin, 24:45.2.
Meanwhile, at the BFA St. Albans Invitational in St. A on Saturday, the Mount Abraham Union High School boys’ cross country team placed 9th out of 10 teams. The Eagles were led by freshman Noah Engvall, who placed 30th.
The Mount Abe scorers were: 30.          Noah Engvall, 20:28.60; 49. Brewer Atocha, 22:32.80; 54. Dawson Philips, 23:47.80; 55. Louis Beauchaine, 23:48.20; and 56. Caleb Hunter, 24:09.70.
ARROWHEAD CROSS COUNTRY MEET
The Middlebury boys’ cross country team bounced back on Tuesday, Sept. 18, to win the nine-team Arrowhead Race at Arrowhead Golf Course in Milton.
Tiger sophomores Jack Christner and Thomas Nevins went 1-2 in the 5K race. The Tigers’ other scorers were Nico Brayton (ninth), Elvis McIntosh (13th) and Nathaniel McVeigh (23rd). MUHS topped the team results with 48, edging out Spaulding, which had 51. Mount Abraham was 8th with 170.
Freshman Noah Engvall again led the Eagles, this time with a 12th-place finish. Eagle boys scoring were Liam Davison (29), Dawson Philips (32), Louis Beauchaine (50) and Brewer Atocha (51).
The MUHS girls at Arrowhead were paced by freshman Maddie Stowe in eighth place. Fellow ninth-grader Ruby Markowski was the top Mount Abe girl in 24th place. The Tiger girls were fifth in team scoring with 108; Mount Abe didn’t have enough varsity runners to have a team score.
The local boys’ teams’ scorers were:
MUHS: 1. Jack Christner, 19:29.43; 2. Thomas Nevins, 19:33.56; 9. Nico Brayton, 20:33.62; 13. Elvis McIntosh, 20:55.51; 23. Nathaniel McVeigh, 21:41.87; 47. Hunter Heffernan, 24:25.11; 49. Caleb Hamilton, 24:34.14; 52. Kieran Sheridan, 24:36.38; 53. Nicholas Suchomel, 24:57.91; 55. Ben Munkres, 25:03.90; 68. Frazier Milligan, 26:46.48; and 83. Griffin Schneider, 30:42.85.
Mt. Abe: 12. Noah Engvall, 20:51.91; 29. Liam Davison, 22:29.91; 32. Dawson Philips, 22:49.14; 50. Louis Beauchaine, 24:34.47; 51. Brewer Atocha, 24:35.69; 60. Caleb Hunter, 26:03.39; and 79. Gavin Kouwenhoven, 28:47.62.
The local girls’ teams’ scorers were:
MUHS: 8. Maddie Stowe, 23:30.53; 20. Mira Maglienti, 26:11.16; 32. Eve Huntington, 29:58.11; 40. Sarah Reiderer, 32:26.51; and 41. Catherine Dyer, 32:26.85.
Mt. Abe: 24. Ruby Markowski, 27:00.89 and 57. Emmaline Heilman, 49:27.00