It wasn’t quite the finish the Saints were aiming for, but 2016 was still a high-water mark for the program.

“At the end of the day, it’s probably the best season St. Dom’s cross country team’s ever had. So we’re proud of that,” Saints co-coach Josh Brown said. “We thought we would come in a compete with those two teams; we were a step behind today.”

St. Dom’s finished with 86 points. George Stevens had 52 points and won the state championship, and Orono tallied 61 points.

“I think we had a lot of fun, so we accomplished that much,” St. Dom’s senior and team captain Ella Brown said. “But I think we did good. There’s a lot of strong teams here.

“Last race of the season, we were just going to give it our all.”

Orono’s Kassidy Dill won the individual title, finishing the 5-kilometer course in 19 minutes, 29.97 seconds. George Stevens duo Eliza Broughton and Zeya Lorio were second and third, respectively.

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Sophomore Bugsy Hammerton was the highest finisher for St. Dom’s and the tri-county area, placing 10th (20:30.33). She had another signature finish, running down Orono’s Hannah Steelman in the race’s final yards to move up a spot.

“I dig deep and I find it,” Hammerton said. “Whatever I have, I’m going let it out. No regrets.”

The 10th-place finish caps off an impressive first season of cross country for Hammerton.

“Bugsy has some really tremendous speed for somebody that’s learning how to be a distance runner,” Josh Brown said. “I believe a year or two down the road, she’ll be running down just about everybody.”

St. Dom’s top five runners all finished in the top 31: Caroline Gastonguay came in 13th, Sydney Sirois 16th, Ella Brown 27th and Megan D’Alessandro 31st.

“Megan, who is our fifth runner consistently this year, she had a very good race today,” Josh Brown said. “I’m quite sure that’s a PR for her. It’s right where I thought she needed to be for us to compete.

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“She had a very good race. She’s thrilled.”

Josh Brown wanted to keep the season in perspective, noting that the Saints won the C South regional and Western Maine Division 2 championships this season.

“Regional championship, conference championships — all good stuff,” Josh Brown said.

The five St. Dom’s runners were the tri-county area’s top five placers in the C girls’ race. Monmouth freshman Kaitlyn Hunt was the highest non-Saint, taking 38th, and Winthrop’s lone runner, Maya Deming, came in 42nd. The Monmouth girls finished eighth as a team.

Yarmouth’s Abigail Hamilton ran the fastest time in Saturday’s three girls races, claiming the Class B title with a time of 18:05.31. Mount Desert Island’s Tia Tardy was second (18:14.48), followed by Greely’s Katherine Leggat-Barr (18:14.61) in third and Carolyn Todd (18:39.71) in fourth.

Greely’s two top-four finishes paced it to the team state championship. Yarmouth was second and York took third.

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The tri-county area had three runners in the Class B race, and all three finished 32nd or better: Leavitt’s Julia Labbe was 26th (20:21.44), while Olivia Ouellette (20:23.51) and Samantha Halmos (20:34.63), both of Poland, placed 27th and 32nd, respectively.

The closest individual finish of the day came in the Class A girls race. Malaika Pasch (18:22.02) of Falmouth won the title by edging Kennebunk’s Louise Holway (18:22.50) by less than a half-second.

The best local showing was by Edward Little sophomore Jillian Anderson, who placed 19th (20:16.76). Mt. Blue’s Maggie Hickey came in 26th (20:35.74). Lewiston’s Zaid Teklu was 31st (20:48.53), one spot ahead of Mt. Blue’s Maeve Hickey (20:50.25).

Led by the Hickey sisters, the Cougars finished ninth as a team. Bonny Eagle claimed the team championship, followed by Falmouth and Massabessic.

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