For the first time in 10 years, the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School cross country teams are league champions after racing to first place in the boys and girls divisions at the Cape and Islands League championship meet Tuesday afternoon at Cape Cod Academy in Osterville.

Eight teams and over 150 runners participated in the meet where cool fall weather made for ideal race conditions along the narrow and twisty 5K course. The Vineyarders dominating performance was catapulted by a clean sweep of the top five finishers in the girls race and eight runners in the top 10 finishers of the boys race.

“The team had already seen the course and knew what to expect,” said coach Joe Schroeder. “We didn’t have an expectation of anyone running a certain time. It was all about the team yesterday.”

After winning league title, team looks ahead to division and state meets. — Mark Alan Lovewell

Wren Christy finished first of the 53 runners in the girls race with a time of 20:23. The next four finishers were also Vineyarders: Yayla Dechiara (20:32) in second place, Eloise Christy (20:38) in third, Amber Cuthbert (21:53) in fourth and Catherine Cherry (21:54) in fifth. The girl team’s average time was 21:04. Peter Burke just narrowly missed taking the top spot in the boys race, crossing the finish line just two seconds behind the winner with a time of 17:37. Vineyarders rounded out the rest of the top five with Owen Porterfield (18:00) in third, Isaac Richards (18:11) in fourth and freshman Zach Utz (18:12) in fifth. The seven through ten spots were also captured by Vineyard runners: Kieran Karabees (18:21) in seventh, Owen Atkins (18:23) in eighth, Bora Tolay (18:26) in ninth and Nate Porterfield (18:39) in tenth. The boys team’s average time was 18:04.

The team will race next at the Mooney Coaches Invitational in Wrentham on Saturday, a meet that Mr. Schroeder called a “preview” for the MIAA Divisional Meet held on the same course on Saturday Nov. 10. He said seven Vineyard runners will participate in the divisional meet with the chance to advance to the MIAA All-State championships later in the month.

“Hopefully we add another week to our season,” he said.