By MAUREEN DOHERTY

LYNNFIELD —Outstanding Pioneer distance runner Tia Patterson captured first place in the 2-mile race at the Cape Ann League Championships Feb. 3 at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.

Patterson, a senior captain, set a fast pace as she was the first to cross the finish line in the fastest time of her indoor career at 11:45.06. Head Coach Liane Cook said this time topped Patterson’s previous personal best by six seconds. Her nearest competitor, Madeline Quigley of Triton, finished second in 12:06.26.

As the winner of the race Patterson earned 10 team points and was also awarded the CAL All-League title for that event.

Kate Mitchell also had an impressive day for the Pioneers. She ran to a second-place finish in the 1,000-meter race in a time of 3:09.57 This time beats her personal record in the event by four seconds, Cook said.

Mitchell, who is just a freshman, earned eight team points for the Pioneers. The race was won by Emily DeMarco of Ipswich in 2:59.85.

The 18 total points gave Lynnfield a ninth place finish overall out of the 11 teams at competing at the meet.

Three qualify for states

Both Patterson and Mitchell will compete in their respective events at the state Division 5 championships on Sunday, Feb. 15 at 1 p.m. at the Reggie Lewis Center. They will be joined by senior captain Bailey Fanikos, who will compete in the 55-meter dash with the qualifying time of 7.87.

Tickets to the meet are available online at www.miaa.net, where the seedings of each competitor was posted on Wednesday, Feb. 11. Monday’s snowstorm gave coaches one extra day to submit final track and field qualifying results to the MIAA for the state divisional meet.

The personal bests posted by both Patterson and Mitchell at CALs should improve their overall seeding among their Div. 5 peers, which factors into heat placements and position on the track in races. Mitchell is seeded sixth out of 26 qualifiers in the 1,000 meters. Patterson is seeded eighth out of 23 competitors. Fanikos is seeded 29th out of 35 sprinters in the 55m dash.

Top finishers at the Div. 5 meet will qualify for spots at the MIAA All-State Meet when the best athletes across all divisions compete for the top state-wide honors in the sport on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 9:30 a.m. at the Reggie Lewis Center.