AUGUSTA — Matt McClintock didn’t quite reach his goal, but he was dominant nonetheless.

The Madison Area Memorial High School Senior cruised to victory at the Mountain Valley Conference Cross Country Championships on Saturday at the University of Maine at Augusta, finishing the soggy course in 16 minutes, 23 seconds.

He dominated from start to finish, easily beating Boothbay’s Chase Brown, who finished in 16:56.

“I wanted to go under 16 minutes on this course and be one of the few who has done that,” McClintock said. “I didn’t quite get it today.”

Telstar won the boys race with 45 points, placing three runners in the top 10. Boothbay finished second with 65 points, followed by Winthrop (69), Lisbon (103) and Hall-Dale.

Meagan Thomas of Lisbon won the girls race in 21:33, beating Boothbay’s Sophia Taylor by nearly 20 seconds. The Monmouth girls won the team title, despite placing just one runner in the top 10, with 73 points.

St. Dom’s was second, followed by Lisbon, Boothbay and Madison.

Last fall, Brown beat McClintock at the MVC championships. It was the only race McClintock hasn’t won in two years. McClintock said that didn’t really enter his mind Saturday.

“I’ve just wanted to go out all year and run good as a whole,” McClintock said. “I wasn’t worried about what I won or what I lost, I just wanted to run well my senior year.”

McClintock said the course was wet and the windy conditions made it a little challenging, especially at the end of the race.

Tiffany Pease, who finished eighth with a time of 23:17, was the only Monmouth runner to finish in the top 10. The Mustangs, however, won the team title thanks to a tight pack. They had two other runners finish in the top 14 (India Pickett was 12, Jordyn Mann 13th).

Also for Monmouth, Becki Bryant finished 17th.

“A lot of girls had to step up for this to happen,” Monmouth coach Tom Menendez said. “I figured the top four teams would be seperated by 15 points.
“Our fourth and fifth runners came to run.”

Monmouth’s Emily Szotkowski finished 28th and Christine Kahl was 30th.

For the Madison girls, Bronte Ellis finished fourth with a time of 22:38 and Allie McClintock was ninth at 23:28.  

Scott Martin — 621-5618
smartin@centralmaine.com