Follow senior Will Shafer as he embarks on his senior season at Gray New Gloucester HS. Shafer is one of the top distance runners in the state, he was the Class B state champion in the 800m, and ran the second fastest 1600m in the state in 2013. Shafer finished 10th in the Class B XC state championship last fall, see what he's doing to get to the next level
Hello everyone,
The cold weather has arrived and it's championship season! Last weekend was the conference championship at St. Joe's, where I surprised myself by taking the win over a strong field of WMC runners. Entering the race I was hoping to hang on Liam Simpson's shoulder for as long as possible. However, I felt fresh as we went through the rolling hills and with about 800m to go I decided to go for the win. With the result insight, I was able to cross the finish line with a huge smile on my face and confidence-boosting victory in my hand.
WMC's were fun but the real, serious racing started today. I'm writing this blog as I'm sprawled on my couch, unable to move, after running on the beast that we call Twin Brook. With the forecast for the race in the low 40s I decided to break out the gloves and arm sleeves for the first time this season (nice compliments to the classic, red headband). The gun went off and Liam Simpson immediately took control of the race. As much as I would have liked to battle with Liam up front, I forced myself to stay under control and work together with my good friend, Ben Decker, over the second half of the race. I believe I can speak for a lot of people when I say that the final, 400m straightaway at Twin Brook takes an eternity, especially when there is a group of hard-charging runners directly behind you. I eventually was able to stagger my way across the line in 2nd for a massive Twin Brook PR of 16:36, well over a minute faster than my time from Regionals last year. Nevertheless, Liam and his teammate and fellow headbanner, Peter Doane, both deserve a lot of credit for their dominant performances en route to taking the team title back to Cape Elizabeth and ensuring a second straight 1-2-3 headband finish.
I would also like to take a moment to congratulate my teammates. At a team meeting on Friday we went over the projected scoring for the Regional meet. Based on everyone's season best times, we were projected to finish 9th, with the top 7 teams making states. We finished 3rd. This is a testament to how hard everyone has worked this season with each runner in the top 7 coming up with big time performances when it mattered most. Not only did we finish 3rd, behind perennial powers Cape and York, we became the first XC team from GNG to qualify for States in 19 years!
Well my blogging time is up. It's time to replace my spikes with dancing shoes as I prepare to break it down at our school dance tonight.
Get those headbands out for next weekend, Will
