Of the 75 boys’ teams represented at the Festival of Champions cross country meet in Belfast, only 14 came from out of state to compete. But those 14 definitely made noise on Saturday.
Out-of-state teams put up five of the top ten individual times, including Bishop Guertin (Nashua, New Hampshire) junior Matthew Giardina, who came in first at a blistering 15:27.2.
It was a come-from-behind victory for Giardina, who was trailing Noble senior Maddox Jordan for most of the race.
“It was a fun course to run, with a lot of really tight turns,” Giardina said. “Overall it was in pretty good shape, wasn’t too muddy.”
Giardina finished tenth at last year’s New England Championships in Rhode Island, which will be held at Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast this year.
Jordan ended up finishing second with a time of 15:30.5. Portland senior Nathan Blades was the next best Maine finisher, coming in fifth with a time of 15:43.5.
Out-of-state teams also flexed their depth on Saturday, recording three of the seven lowest team scores this year. Scores are determined by summing together the top five individual placements of every team.
E.O. Smith High School of Mansfield, Connecticut won gold (95 points scored), with senior Jack Mattingly placing third individually, and four other Panthers finishing in the top 35.
Rounding out the top five were Portland (184), Bedford (New Hampshire; 258 points), Scarborough (275) and Freeport (294).
Hampden Academy was northern Maine’s best team, finishing in tenth, with 362 points. Hampden senior Harrison Shain finished 17th overall with a time of 16:21.7, setting a 13-second personal record in the process.