enlarge Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

Kennebunk sophomore Abbey Leonardi approaches the finish line at Twin Brook Recreation Area in Cumberland to win the Class A girls’ cross country state championship for the second year in a row. Leonardi posted a time of 18 minutes, 8.50 seconds to beat Western Maine champion Emily Durgin on Cheverus by 13 seconds.

enlarge Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

Abby Mace of Maranacook jumped ahead of Cape Elizabeth’s Emily Attwood from the start and won the Class B girls’ race by more than a minute, while Attwood placed second to help the Capers earn their third consecutive team championship.

enlarge Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

Martha Veroneau, right, and Amy Allen finished 1-2 in Class C while leading Waynflete to the team title, by one point over NYA.

STATE CHAMPIONS

CLASS A GIRLS

TEAM: Cheverus

INDIVIDUAL: Abbey Leonardi, Kennebunk

CLASS B GIRLS

TEAM: Cape Elizabeth

INDIVIDUAL: Abby Mace, Maranacook

CLASS C GIRLS

TEAM: Waynflete

INDIVIDUAL: Martha Veroneau, Waynflete

CUMBERLAND — She knew that hanging behind the shoulder of Cheverus sophomore Emily Durgin was the right thing to do, but Kennebunk sophomore Abbey Leonardi could only wait for so long.

She had planned to make her move after 2 1/2 miles of the 3.1-mile Class A cross country state championship race Saturday morning. Not long after they passed 2 miles, however, Leonardi took off and never looked back.

"I just got excited and impatient," she said.

One week after losing the first race of her high school career, Leonardi won her rematch with Durgin in convincing fashion – with a blazing time of 18 minutes, 8.50 seconds – to kick off a sun-splashed celebration of distance running over the hills and through the woods of Twin Brook Recreation Area.

Durgin finished second in 18:21.67, and only one other girl all day joined them in breaking 19 minutes, Class B state champion Abby Mace of Maranacook, another sophomore, who won her race by more than a minute in 18:48.30.

Durgin's Cheverus teammates, with a big boost from No. 5 runner Madeline Woods, ran away with the Class A state title. Cape Elizabeth took the Class B crown by the largest margin in any class or gender, and Waynflete nipped North Yarmouth Academy to win Class C by a point.

Waynflete freshman Martha Veroneau, sixth in last week's regional meet after losing a shoe, led a 1-2 finish with senior teammate Amy Allen. Veroneau will join the 24 runners with the fastest times in all three races Saturday at next weekend's New England championships in Manchester, Conn.

The three team champions also qualified for the New Englands, along with three wild-card teams, all from Class A: runner-up Massabesic, Mt. Blue and Thornton Academy.

The Cheverus victory was historic in that it marked the school's first state championship by a female team since the formerly all-male institution opened its doors to girls in 2000.

"This has been our goal all season," said Cheverus sophomore Fiona Hendry, who placed eighth, just behind senior teammate Liana Rubinoff. "We're very proud of all the work we put in."

Amelia Lundkvist, a senior, and Woods, a sophomore, made the biggest strides from the regional meet, cutting 39 and 35 seconds from their times over the exact same course. Woods not only was the fastest fifth runner (21:24.10), she also beat everyone else's No. 4, regardless of class.

"That's incredible. If you see her walk between races, she looks like she has only one good leg," Cheverus Coach Valerie Guillet said of Woods, who has been undergoing physical therapy for much of the season, first because of a calf injury, then a knee injury.

Cheverus finished with 52 points to 101 for Massabesic, with Mt. Blue (126), Thornton Academy (143) and Gorham (160) rounding out the top five.

Massabesic senior Hannah Pierce edged Brunswick sophomore Katie McMahon by one second for third place.

In Class B, Cape Elizabeth romped to a 46-110 victory over York.

The Capers put five runners among the top 25 – Emily Attwood (second), Rachel Nichols (fourth), Kelsey Barton (ninth), Emma Inhorn (20th) and Hannah Doss (21st) – and none remained upright through the finish chute, so complete was their effort.

"You just try so hard that your energy is maxed out," Barton said. "Your legs just can't support you anymore."

Without the displacement of individual runners in Class C, NYA would have beaten Waynflete by six points. But with 18 of the first 30 spots left blank for scoring purposes, Waynflete edged NYA 37-38, with Freeport third at 53.

"We were so focused on Freeport that we fell asleep against NYA," said Waynflete Coach Brian "Ziggy" Gillespie. "They ran very well."

Staff Writer Glenn Jordan can be contacted at 791-6425 or at:

gjordan@pressherald.com