Katherine Leggat-Barr’s start was anything but graceful, but her finish was the only thing that mattered.

That finish was of the first-place variety as the Greely High School sophomore completed the 5k course at Troy Howard Middle School in 19 minutes, 17.12 seconds, to claim the Class B girls’ individual state title Saturday. Teammate Izzy Evans finished second in 19:33.58.

With rain pouring down on the course over the event’s final two hours, the dirt track had turned to mud by the time the Class B girls’ race — the final race of the day — began. As expected, traction was hard to find, especially on the turns. Leggat-Barr slipped out of the gate even with three-eighth spikes. 

“The course was slick,” Leggat-Barr said. “It was super slick. You had to go fully around the turn. You couldn’t cut through a turn. I slipped at the start and I slipped coming out of a turn, so it was very slick.” 

After regrouping from a tough start, Leggat-Barr had plenty of time to watch her step as she wasn’t challenged through the second half of the race. She finished 16 seconds ahead of Evans and 24 seconds clear of the nearest opponent. 

“The conditions got sloppier and sloppier,” Greely coach David Dowling said. “The boys had already told us they fell in the previous race. We had the three-eighths spikes in, wish we had the half-inch, but it was all about running against the bodies of the other teams.” 

By the end of the day, Greely had more than just Leggat-Barr’s individual title to celebrate. On the heels of their 1-2 finish, the Rangers claimed the Class B state team title with 59 points. They edged Yarmouth by five points. Yarmouth had four runners place in the top 15.

“We knew we could run with Yarmouth,” Dowling said. “They were our targets the last two weeks. We pretty much trained through the regional meet, so the kids were a little stale last week. We know Izzy could run right behind Katherine. Emily Mason, our third runner, broke up that Yarmouth pack of four, a great pack they have.” 

Mason took 11th at 20:10.54.

The Rangers will compete for a team title at the New England Championships in Manchester, Conn., on Nov. 8, and both Leggat-Barr and Evans will be amongst the individual field. 

Dowling said Leggat-Barr, the regional champion, and Evans have finished 1-2 before, but not on a stage as big as the state meet. 

“They went out with a purpose,” Dowling said. “They knew to put the spikes on and go. They had some time goals in mind but those went out the window when it started to rain. They knew they could be one and two. They had done that in other races, but this is the one that counts. They feed off each other.” 

Scarborough completes team sweep 

The Scarborough girls couldn’t surpass what the boys’ team had done just a half-hour earlier, so they matched it instead. 

After the boys’ team claimed the Class A team title on their side, the girls did the same, winning their respective Class A team title with a score of 92 points. The Red Storm topped Massabesic by four points for the title. 

“That was really surprising and impressive because both teams came in as the underdog,” Scarborough coach James Harmon said. “Both teams came in second in the regionals. Both gave a hundred percent at regionals. Both teams gave one hundred percent today and you couldn’t ask for more. It was really a great day for us.” 

Freshman Bethany Sholl paced Scarborough with an 11th-place finish, completing the race in 20:06.38. Sholl’s time was good for a spot in the New England Championships, placing 23rd overall. 

Scarborough’s top four runners finished in the top 20, the only team among Class A girls to do so. 

“If you could plan it out and ask each runner to do exactly this, where they have to finish in order for us to have a good meet, they all did it,” Harmon said. “They were all impressive and it wasn’t just one runner.”

Westbrook’s Halee Phelps won the Class A individual title in 19:10.42.

Orono dominated Class C, winning both the individual and team title. Orono’s top five runners finished in the top 11. Hannah Steelman won the individual title for the Red Riots in 19:16.99. Teammate Kassidy Dill took second in 19:53.59.