SWANTON — The Middlebury Union High School boys’ and girls’ cross-country teams won the small-school championships at Saturday’s Northern Vermont Athletic Conference championship meet, hosted by Missisquoi Valley.
Tiger David Dregallo won the boys’ race and led five MUHS runners in the top 10 as the Tiger boys scored 23 points to easily outdistance runner-up Milton, 23-65.
Andrew Raymond finished 17th to lead the Mount Abraham boys, who finished fourth among the six scoring teams with 100 points. Quinn D’Andrea led a non-scoring contingent of four Vergennes boys by taking 32nd.
The Tiger girls won a closer competition with BFA-Fairfax, 32-48, with two runners in the top 10, Caroline Kimble (fifth) and Isabelle Welker (ninth). Rice’s Charlotte Boyden won the girls’ race, but her team did not score.
Delaynah Leavitt led the fourth-place Eagle girls (88 points) by taking 13th, while VUHS junior Sophia Callis finished 22nd to pace three Commodore runners in the small-school girls’ race.
Saturday’s NVAC races were the final tune-ups for the fall’s main event in the sport, the state championships this coming Saturday in Thetford. The Division II Tiger boys and girls should fare well, but will face tough challenges from teams that will include U-32, Montpelier and Harwood, who are not NVAC competitors.
The complete NVAC small-school boys’ team scores were: 1. MUHS, 23; 2. Milton, 65; 3. BFA-Fairfax, 98; 4. Mount Abe, 100; 5. Rice, 101; 6. Spaulding, 141.
The complete NVAC small-school girls’ team scores were: 1. MUHS, 35; 2. Fairfax, 48; 3. Milton, 65; 4. Mount Abe, 88; 5. Spaulding, 126.
The top boys’ finishers for each local school and their times were:
MUHS:1. Dregallo, 17:00.6; 3. Willem Landis, 17:20; 4. Henry Ganey, 17:24.2; 7. Haven Tate, 17:54.8; 9. Tobias Broucke, 17:58.4; 10. Christopher Garner, 18:15.4; 13. Matt Ferguson, 18:27.7.
Mount Abe: 17. Raymond, 19:03.9; 19. Lyn Ackert-Smith, 19:11.9; 23. Aidan May, 19:20.9; 26. Roman Mayer, 19:33.4; 31. Jude Bunch, 19:49; 48. Ross Carr, 20:41.8; 54. Will Aldrich, 21:18.7.
VUHS: 32. D’Andrea, 19:53.3; 35. Xavier Provencher, 19:59.6; 52. Spencer Hurlburt, 20:53.1; 69. Silas Mullin, 22:08.6.
The top girls’ finishers for each local school and their times were:
MUHS:5. Kimble, 20:46.7; 9. Welker, 22:10.4; 16. Indigo Woods, 22:16.9; 24. Kate Wallace, 22:27.6; 35. Natali Sullivan, 22:45.7; 47. Kate Oster, 22:49.7; 62. Danielle Morris, 23:26.1.
Mount Abe: 13. Leavitt, 22:34.1; 23. Ally Hoff, 23:25; 41. Harmony Taggart, 24:47.4; 60. Madeline Bernoudy, 25:00.2; 88. Cora Funke, 28:26.8.
VUHS: 22. Callis, 23:44.3; 37. Sophia Parker, 26:19.7; 54. Elise Martin, 31:40.2.