Top runners prevail at KVAC cross country championships
Four KVAC Titles Fall Easily to Top Runners at Cony High School
AUGUSTA — The Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference cross country championships delivered little drama on Saturday, as the conference’s premier runners made the final stretches look effortless. Across both the large and small school divisions, every championship came easily, with the average margin of victory among the four winners settling in at just over 1 minute, 12.8 seconds.
In the Class A boys race, Bangor’s Sam Bergmark was the uncontashed favorite, leading the pack and capturing the large school title with a commanding performance. Bergmark attributed his win to a straightforward drive to succeed rather than overthinking the competition.
"I just wanted to go kind of hard because I didn’t want it to be a race — I just wanted to win," Bergmark said. "I just wanted to see how things were going to go, and once we got on the gravel, I went at my own speed."
While Bergmark dominated the large school boys' field, Medomak Valley’s Colby Daigle won the small school boys' title with an even larger margin. The senior took the lead from Cony’s Brady Cloutier by well over a minute, finishing in a time of 17:36.9.
On the girls' side, Hampden Academy’s Addison Elliott claimed the large school championship, beating teammate Isabelle Clark by nearly two minutes in a time of 18:39.0. Elliott's victory was a statement of the team's sustained improvement, crediting the shared energy of her squad.
"I’m just so proud of our girls," Elliott said. "We keep getting better, and I think we ran really, really well today. I think that shared energy between us really fed into how we did today."
Because large and small schools compete in the same race, the final exchanges featured an interesting dynamic. Elliott and Lincoln Academy’s Karen Higgins were neck-and-neck for a significant portion of the course. By the middle of the race, Elliott had forged ahead, allowing her to capture her third consecutive girls' team title.
Meanwhile, Higgins enjoyed a dominant performance in the small school division, repeating as champion. Her competitive spirit was evident in her interactions with Elliott, but her comments also highlighted the physical demands of the course and the recent dry conditions.
"It was nice to have her with me, because that definitely pushed me to go under 19," Higgins said. "Running with her, at least for the first bit, that was fun."
Higgins also praised the challenging terrain and favorable trail conditions. "It’s very hilly (here), but I enjoy it; I really like the hilly course," she said. "(The conditions were good); there was only like one spot where it was a little bit slippery, but I’d say since it’s been dry, it’s absorbed it all into the trails, so it was good."
Looking ahead, Higgins expressed confidence that the upcoming Class B South regional at Twin Brook next Saturday will feel significantly easier. For Hampden, the season remains on an impressive trajectory, and the weekend's results underscore a consistent theme: when the top runners converge on a demanding course, the titles fall quickly, and the state's best athletes keep sharpening their edges.
