YORK - The girls' cross-country team has amazed everyone, including themselves, with second-place finishes at both the Western Maine Regional meet and the Maine Class B State meet.
Despite placing fifth at the WMC, all of the York girls stepped it up and came away with a second-place finish with 88 points. Cape Elizabeth won the meet with 49 points, while close competition came from Falmouth (95), Fryeburg Academy (109) and Freeport (111), among others. Despite missing the WMC meet the previous week, freshman Michaela Swiatek came in first for York and eighth overall, which proved to vastly improve York's ranking.
Perhaps the best race of the day came from sophomore Monique Boutin. Boutin, normally a solid number-5 runner for York, stepped it up and cruised past her teammates, ultimately having a phenomenal finish as the second York runner. Boutin and junior Molly Carl duked it out at the finish line in a sprint finish, placing 16th and 17th, respectively. Sophomore Reaha Goyetche finished close behind in 19th, and was later followed by senior Glenn Swanson in 28th, junior Kirsten Dean in 45th and senior Kylie Vallee in 46th.
The following week was the state meet, and no one knew what to expect. The York girls proved that they have the talent to compete with the best, and they came away from the meet as Maine Class B State Runners-Up.
The team trekked up to Leavitt Area High School in Turner on Oct. 27 to run in the cold and the rain. The Class B girls got the benefit of racing first that day, which proved to be vital because by the time the Class C and Class A girls got to the course it was an impossible mud pit. The Leavitt course is considerably difficult, featuring a long, steep hill in the last mile that all runners refer to as "Satan's Inferno."
Finishing first for York was Swiatek in 12th place, an amazing feat for a freshman. Right on her trail was Carl, who finished in 15th place. Boutin and Swanson ran together throughout the race, finishing 25th and 27th, respectively, and were followed by Goyetche in 32nd. Dean and Vallee also fed off of each other's energy throughout the race, finishing 68th and 73rd overall, respectively.
Winning the meet was Cape Elizabeth with 50 points, followed by York (98), Falmouth (114), Freeport (139), Mount Desert Island (148) and seven other teams. The second-place finish this year is even more impressive for York considering that they did it without the three top runners that led the team to a third-place finish the year before. Their finish also grants them an invitation to the New England Cross-Country meet in two weeks.
On the boys' side, York pulled off a fourth-place finish at the Western Maine Regional meet with 154 points. Winning the meet was Cape Elizabeth with 59 points, followed by Greely (88), Fryeburg Academy (115), York and nine other teams.
Alex Moser had an impressive race, finishing ninth. Dan Herbein (29th), Nick Lumenello (30th), Tristan Palhof (41st), Nat Freeman (42nd), Ryan Means (50th) and Brian Farrell (51st) rounded out the rest of the York team. The team is still trying to recover from 2005, when six of the top seven runners were lost to graduation. This year the boys' team placed 10th at states, but with all but two of the top runners being underclassmen, they have the depth for years to come.
Moser was the only York runner to medal at states, finishing 10th overall. Teammates Palhof (55th), Lumenello (57th), Herbein (65th), Freeman (74th), Means (84th) and Farrell (86th) completed the York team in their last race of the season.
