ESSEX — In a major early high-school cross-country meet that drew many Division I teams, the D-II Middlebury boys’ and girls’ teams settled for mid-pack finishes in this past Saturday’s Essex Invitational.
The Tiger boys were seventh out of 14 teams, and the MUHS girls were sixth out of 12. Freshman Luke Klingensmith finished 25th to lead the MUHS boys’ team, and senior Isabel Olson took 30th to lead the Tiger girls.
Vergennes junior Ben Huston enjoyed the best individual day among local runners, taking 14th in the boys’ race on the 5,000-meter course. The Commodores were 11th. Junior Liam Davison led the 14th-place Mount Abraham team by taking 86th.
Essex won the boys’ race with 50 points, with U-32 and Champlain Valley next, each with 88. Middlebury scored 202 points, VUHS came in at 260, and the Eagles finished with 444.
CVU coasted on the girls’ side with 30 points, followed by Essex (87), Burlington (93), Harwood (102), U-32 (125) and MUHS (185). Harwood and U-32 are competitors for the Tigers in D-II.
The boys’ winner and local finishers were:
1. Henry Farrington, Essex, 15:42.9; 14. Huston, VUHS, 17:48.4; 25. Luke Klingensmith, MUHS, 18:02.8; 27. Thomas Nevins, MUHS, 18:12.2; 47. Erich Reitz, VUHS, 18:41.0; 51. Gabe Praamsma, VUHS, 18:56.8; 55. William Carpenter, MUHS, 18:59.1; 57. Lucas Palcsik, MUHS, 19:05.5; 58. Elvis McIntosh, MUHS, 19:06.1; and 86. Davison, Mt. Abe, 20:14.7.
Also, 87. Luke Bergmans, VUHS, 20:27.3; 89. Chris Therrien, VUHS, 20:37.0; 94. Hugh Ball, Mt. Abe, 21:44.0; 97. Trystan Jones, MUHS, 22:09.1; 99. Kieran Sheridan, MUHS, 22:22.2; 100. Sean Davison, Mt. Abe, 22:30.2; 106. Liam Beatty, Mt. Abe, 23:15.8; 107. Paul Thurber, Mt. Abe, 23:18.5, and 109. William Iliff, Mt. Abe, 24:32.2   
The girls’ winner and local finishers were:
1. Alicia Veronneau, CVU, 19:06.6; 30. Olson, MUHS, 21:15.7; 32. Mary Ann Eastman, MUHS, 21:24.3; 41. Sofia Stefani, MUHS, 21:45.7; 49. Ella Landis, MUHS, 22:14.5; 51. Fairley Olson, MUHS, 22:18.7; 56. Maddy Stowe, MUHS, 22:36.4.