Class B State XC Championship Preview

Class B Girls

Individuals

Anneka Murrin (Yarmouth) Flo50 #4

Senior Anneka Murrin has been the definition of consistent in the XC State Championship in her career. SO far she's recorded a 6th,4th & 5th place effort. On Saturday she hopes to jump up to the top spot, and she showed with her win at the Southern Maine Regional she is fit enough to do just that. 19:31.37 was the winning time for Murrin last week as she pulled away from Lily Horne in the final 400 meters of the race. On the year she has a best time of 18:28.74 for 5k from the Southern Maine XC Classic.

18:46.09	        Maine Class B State XC Championship	Nov 5, 2016	5th	
19:53.72		Maine Class B State XC Championship	Oct 31, 2015	4th
19:52.95		Class B State XC Championship	        Nov 1, 2014	6th

Lily Horne (Freeport) Flo50 #5

Horne has continued her ascension up the ranks of top runners in the state this fall. A 19:53 personal best entering the season she has a best of 18:39.01 on the season, and has been under her previous best 5 times. Last week she was with eventually winner Anneka Murrin until the home stretch. The week prior she won the WMC Championship. A year ago she finished 14th, and no doubt will be going for the top spot on Saturday, she'll just have to figure out how to beat Murrin.

19:53.81	    Maine Class B State XC Championship	Nov 5, 2016	14th
22:39.81     Maine Class B State XC Championship	Oct 31, 2015	56th

Lila Gaudrault (Cape Elizabeth) Flo50 #6

It has been a standout freshman campaign from Gaudrault this fall as she finished no worse than third in any race. Last weekend she ran with leaders for more than two miles before going on to run 19:50.77 good for 3rd in the Southern regional. She has a best of 19:09.38 to her credit. Gaudrault will look to stay with the leaders for the whole race this week, and who knows could pull an upset.

Sophia Laukli (Yarmouth) Flo50 #9

Laukli has done very well in her first year of xc. The senior has only raced four times but when she has she has been very good. Last week was her first effort in three week, and she hung with the leaders for two miles before finishing up her first Twin Brook effort in sub 20 fashion with her 19:58.54. Her best effort of the year was her 18:36.46 performance at FOC where she was the runner-up. Now that she has had a race under her belt, it will be interesting to see if she can challenge for the win on Saturday.

Olivia Tiner (Winslow) Flo50 #13

Tiner has had a tremendous freshman year, that has seen her dominate the on her way to wins in Class B KVAC race & the Northern Maine Regional. Tiner ran away with the last week by over a minute as she ran her second fastest time of the season. This will be here first race at Twin Brook so it's hard to know what to expect but Tiner has shown not to be afraid to run near the front all year.

State Meet Performances - Freshman hasn't competed yet

Others to Watch: Emily Carty (Fryeburg Academy), Kathryn Miller (York)

Teams

Yarmouth enters the Class B State meet as the favorite to raise the trophy at the end of the day. The Flo50 #3 ranked Clippers averaged 21:16 last week in winning the Southern Regional title. Yarmouth has two low sticks up front with individual title threats Murrin & Laukli. They also got a 7th place effort from senior Greta Elder & an 11th place finish from sophomore Sadie Cowles. If there is a kink in the armor if might be that the 5th runner was over a minute behind the Cowles last weekend.

If there is any slip up the York Wildcats showed they are a contender after finishing 14 points back of Yarmouth last week. York was paced by Kathryn Miller who wasn't expected to run due to an injury, she finished 6th but if can find her earlier form could finish higher. York had a 1:04 split for the top 5 last weekend, that is a strength. To beat Yarmouth they will need the pack to move up and run with the 3-4 runners of the Clippers.

Cape Elizabeth has been a ranked team all year long but they struggled at the Southern regional last week placing third well behind Yarmouth & York. Cape will look to rebound on Saturday

Northern Maine champion Caribou won with 45 points last week, they had a 21:20 average at Belfast. Leading the way for the Vikings is Abigail Wimmer who was the Northern regional runner-up. The Vikings will see if they can crack into the top three against the Southern Maine teams.