KVAC XC Championship Preview
The best of Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference will be on display Saturday at Cony High School, as the conference championship is ready to kick off at 11am. While there will be a seperate score for the Class A teams & Class B teams all will run together in one race as 4 teams will be crowned conference champions for each gender.
Class A Boys
This race will feature 3 ranked teams from the MaineTrackXC Fan/Athlete Poll headlined by third ranked Hampden Academy, Also featured will be 6th ranked Mt Blue, 8th ranked Messalonskee plus a strong Brunswick team. Hampden will be the team to beat in the Class A race behind the powerful 1-2 punch of senior Caleb Lord & sophomore Paul Casavant, plus 3 others who rank in the top 20 inidivduals. Hampden has run undefeated in KVAC action all fall and will look to greatly improve on their 5th place from a year ago.
Mt Blue is one of the team that could challenge Hampden, the Cougars have the best 1-2 duo in the meet with Aaron Willingham & Dan Lesko that are expected to give them two low sticks. Mt Blue will need their 3-4-5 runners to step up in order to contend. Last fall Mt. Blue finished 3rd as a team
Messalonskee will be another team to watch, the Eagles sit as the 8th best team in Maine in the latest team poll. They are coming off a runner-up finish behind Mt Blue at the recent Mt Blue Relays over 2 miles. They have a strong 1-2 at the front with sophomores Owen Concaugh & Zach Hoyle along with possibly the best 3rd runner of any team Natale Cardillo
Brunswick came on strong at last week's Camden Hills Invitational, the Dragons now have lineup of 5 that have run under 18 minutes on the season. They will need a repeat performance to jump into the mix on Saturday as they lack the front runners of the other contending teams.
Don't sleep on Lewiston, the Blue Devils have two of the best leading the way in Isaiah Harris & Osman Doorow, their last time out at Festival of Champions they showed marked improvement and will be looking to continue that momentum on Saturday
Individually six of the top fifteen in the XC Watchlist will headline the individual race. Mt. Blue's Aaron Willingham #3 & Isaiah Harris of Lewsiton #4 will square off again, last time out Harris was 5th in 16:12 at Festival edging Willingham by less than a second. Earlier this fall Willingham got the best of Harris at Leavitt, while Harris took the opening season win at the Laliberte Invite. This will be round 4 and the first of three consecutive weekend where the senior stars will face off. This course tends to favor Aaron with the hills but certainly don't ever count of Isaiah Harris, expect these two to push the pace.
Other XC watchlisters who can contend are Dan Lesko of Mt Blue who has posted a best of 16:07 for 5k this fall, and has run under 17 minutes 4 times in 2014. He was the 3rd best KVAC runners at the Festival of Champions two weeks ago. Lewiston's Osman Doorow currently ranked #9 is another top individual looking to make a mark on Saturday, Doorow has beaten both Harris & Lesko this fall, while posting a best of 16:20 for 5k. Hampden Academy's Caleb Lord is the fastest returner from the KVAC Championship in 2013, a year ago he ran to a runner-up finish. So far this fall Lord has been running strong with 3 wins under his belt along with a 16:29 best effort, his teammate Paul Casavant is the top sophomore in the state, he showed he likes big races with his 13th place finish at FOC.
The winner should come from this group of seven if it is someone else it would be a huge upset.
Class A Girls
Unlike the boys team race there is only one top 12 ranked girls squad as the Brunswick Dragons come in as the 10th ranked team in the state. Brunswick is coming off there finest performance of the season at the Camden Hills Invitational where the top 7 runners all ran seasonal bests. Leading the way for Brunswick is Tessa Cassidy who is currently the #2 ranked girl in the state. Against the rest of the KVAC at the Festival of Champions Brunswick was the top team, they will be looking to improve on their runner-up finish in 2013.
The other team team to watch for would be defending champion, Hampden Academy who has been in the top 12 at different times this fall. The Broncos are coming off a 5 point win over Caribou at the Pendale Invitational.
Based off best times for 5k this fall Mt Blue & Cony look to be the next bext teams. The young Cougars will look to have a strong day on a tough course, while Cony has home field advantage.
The individual race should be very competitive with 3 XC watchlist athletes squaring off. All eyes will be on Brunswick's Tessa Cassidy who has been on fire the last two weeks, Cassidy was 4th at FOC running 19:05, and lowered her personal best to 18:43.85 last week at Camden Hills.
Cony's Anne Guadalupi is one of the finest girls xc runners in the state, and will have home course advantage on Saturday. Gaudalupi finished as the runner-up a season ago and no doubt will be looking to make the jump to the top this weekend. Anne has been very strong all fall winning 5 races. She has a best of 18:59 for 5k this fall, and finished 8th at FOC. Last week she tuned up in fine fashion breaking Abby Mace's course record at the Mt Blue Relays.
The other girl to watch for is senior Elizabeth Labun of Hampden Academy who finished 4th in this race last fall. Labun has run a best of 19:29 this fall, and currently is ranked #13 in the MaineTrackXC Watchlist. Last time out Elizabeth ran to the win at the Pendale Invitational clocking 20:03 for 5k.
Class B Boys
While there are no ranked teams in the Class B Boys race the battle for the conference title is still expected to be a good one. Expect defending champion Maranacook to be in the mix, along with Belfast & Camden Hills. At the Festival of Champions the Black Bears were the top Class B KVAC team finishing 2 spots ahead of the Lions & 4 in front of the Windjammers.
Maranacook has 4 runners seeded to finish in the top 30 lead by Ethan Harriman. They finsished 5th at the Mt Blue Relays. Belfast is coming off a fine performance on a fast Camden Hills course so they got a big boost in the 5k rankings. They will have to repeat that type of performance on Saturday to upend the defedning champions. Look for Roger Quehl to lead the way for the Lions.
Camden Hills will be paced by sophomore Caleb Love-Webb, and looking to make up ground on Belfast & Marancook. They were 40 points back of Belfast last week albeit without Love-Webb.
Two XC watcher listers will face off for the individual title with #6 Chris Walfield of Morse squaring of against #8 ranked Harrison Knowlton of Leavitt. These two have both excelled this fall, Walfield has four wins under his belt, with a best of 16:19 at FOC. Knowlton broke out big time at FOC where he finished 9th with a life-time best 16:18 which was one spot in front of Walfield. Last week Walfield got the win at Camden Hills with under sub 17 performance, while Knowlton had the third fastest time (11:04) at the Mt Blue Relays. Considering these guys will be in the same race as the Class A boys, expect them to mix it up and run with them.
Last year's runner-up Chris Cote of Waterville hasn't been back to last year's level but don't count him out. He ran his best 5k, 17:09 at FOC, and was tied for 4th fastest time at Mt Blue Relays. Tying him for 4th was Maranacook Ethan Harriman who has a best of 17:14 for 5k this fall.
Don't sleep on Camden Hills Caleb Love-Webb who ran a lifetime best 17:00 for 34th at FOC, while Belfast's Roger Quehl continues to improve from 17:30 to 16:53 at Camden Hills last week.
Class B Girls
Like the boys there are no ranked teams but expect the team race to be close. Defending champion Maranacook will be looking add another conference title to their collection. The Black Bears seed out only 3rd in the virtual meet but don't be fooled they were the top KVAC Class B team at the Festival of Champions. They will be lead by Hannah Despres a contender to win the individual title. Maranacook is coming off a win at the Mt Blue Relays
Morse leads the way in the virtual best and they come in hot after a fine performance at the Camden Hills invite where they pushed #10 ranked and top KVAC Class A team Brunswick finishing just 4 points back. They have 3 runners that have run under 21 minutes for 5k in their lineup.
Don't sleep on the Panthers of Waterville who are getting better each week. Waterville was the runner-up at the Mt Blue Relays, and have some firepower at the front with Lauren Brown & Cecilia Morin
Camden Hills is another team to watch for, the Windjammers are led by sophomore Emily Kessel. They will need to have a big day to challenge, they were well behind Morse at Camden Hills Invite.
Individually Maranacook's Hannah Despres is the favorite to win the title. Despres who placed 4th a year ago has the fastest time for any KVAC Class B runner on the year with her 20:00 effort from FOC where she placed 24th. Despres was third in last week's Mt Blue Relays, 20 second faster than the next Class B runner.
Waterville's Lauren Brown finished 4th at the Mt Blue Relays last week, she was the second KVAC Class B runner across the line. On the year Brown had her finest effort at FOC where she placd 36th running 20:27, she'll need to have a big ace to chase down Despres but it's not out of the question.
Morse's Ruth Nadeau returned from an extended layoff at Camden Hills last week, to clock 20:24 for a course just short of 5k, if she can repeat that effort she'll be in the mix on Saturday. Two other runners to watch who finished in the top 10 a year ago are Joann Bourgoin of Winslow & Julia Labbe of Leavitt. Labbe finished 8th at the Mt Blue Relays. Finishing one second in fron of Morin at Mt Blue wa Waterville's Cecilia Morin who has a best of 20:59 for 5k this season.