Beavers capture
‘C’ state cross country crown
Carsyn Koch wins for third consecutive year,
Worcester and Bragg also in top 10
Staff photo/Kevin Sjoberg
STATE CHAMPS — Members of the Washburn girls’ varsity cross country team display the Class C state championship trophy they captured in Belfast Saturday. From left are, Mikayla Churchill, Emilia Churchill, Brittany Hernandez, Hannah Heald, Nicole Olson, Carsyn Koch, Carmen Bragg, Laina Mette, Mackenzie Worcester and Marianne Helton.
Staff photos/Kevin Sjoberg
OUT IN FRONT — Washburn’s Carsyn Koch (825) was among the early front runners in the Class C state championship meet, held Saturday in Belfast. Koch ended up earning her third consecutive individual title in a time of 19:30.56 and helped lead the Beavers to the team title as well.
SIXTH PLACE — Sophomore MacKenzie Worcester ended up in sixth place overall in Saturday’s Class C state cross country championship in Belfast.
ALMOST THERE — Marianne Helton of the Washburn Beavers leads a group of runners toward the final stages of Saturday’s state championship meet.
BELFAST — Cross country was not even an activity offered at Washburn District High School from 2003 through 2009.
Now, the school can boast its first-ever team state championship in a girls’ sport outside of basketball following Saturday’s victory in the Class C state meet, which was held at Troy Howard Middle School.
“Obviously I couldn’t be more pleased, only being in the third year of the program and at state champion level,” said Mike Waugh, who has coached the team since the sport was revived in the fall of 2010. “It’s pretty remarkable. We have an extraordinarily gifted group of girls who have worked hard for everything they have right now.”
Leading the way was junior Carsyn Koch, who placed first in the state meet for the third consecutive year. Koch had a time of 19 minutes and 30.56 seconds on the 3.1-mile course, which turned out to be almost a full minute faster than runner-up Lily Koffman of Orono.
“She is a solid, tough runner in every race,” said Orono coach Linwood White of Koch. “She runs it from the start and it doesn’t matter who the competition is. She doesn’t back down.
“She’s a fun athlete to watch.”
The Beavers also placed two other runners in the top 10 as sophomore Mackenzie Worcester placed sixth in 21:06.42 and junior Carmen Bragg was ninth in 21:13.88.
“I could really start to feel it in my legs at the end,” said Bragg, who had run in the Eastern Maine meet and played in two playoff soccer games during the previous week, “but I really wanted to make top 10 and knew I was right there.”
Emilia Churchill, a freshman, came in 14th in 21:52.9 and Waugh said “that sealed [the team victory] for us.”
Washburn totalled 58 points to finish ahead of second-place Orono, which posted 82. Waynflete was a close third with 83 and last year’s state champions, Merriconeag Waldorf of Freeport, was fourth with 84.
“They are an outstanding group of athletes,” White said. “We always look forward to going up against them because we know they are going to pull the best out of us.
“We’re still chasing them and we plan on chasing them for awhile. Our girls ran great, but the Washburn girls were truly incredible.”
Marianne Helton was the other Beaver scorer, placing 52nd overall in 23:43.72. Hannah Heald (56th, 23:52.29) and Laina Mette (58th, 24:16.17) were the team’s other competitors.
Noah Caron of Washburn competed in the ‘C’ boys race as a freshman and placed 65th in 19:36.44.
