Even's Insight

 

Let us take a look SMAA Preview Week 5

"Even's Insight" is our latest feature at MaineTrackXC. Each week Westbrook girls coach Tim Even will preview each meet in the SMAA, be sure to check it out. 

 

 

South Portland, Thornton, Westbrook @Biddeford

The Blue Blazes have come on strong here as the Regional meet draws closer, and will look to close the regular season out with a win over at Rotary Park this weekend. Saad Zackaria will get the chance to face his old teammates for the first time since transferring back to Westbrook, after spending the fall of ’13 as a Red Riot. Zackaria along with James Phelps and Josh Lombardo, will lead the #12 ranked Blue Blazes in an effort to take the win against a solid field including a rapidly improving South Portland squad. Cam Mondor of Thornton will most certainly be in contention for the win after his strong 17:09 effort last week at Cheverus.

The girls’ meet will have a whole host of talent, as the surging Red Riots and Trojans will take on #9 Westbrook. The Blue Blazes are coming off of a strong win last week at Deering Oaks, while the Riots were second behind Scarborough in a strong effort.  Thornton has also come on as of late, and were within 1 point of Cheverus last week at the home of the Stags. This race will feature a slew of top 10 regional talent with Casey Loring and Serena McKenzie of South Portland, Halee Phelps and Gabbi Pabst of Westbrook, and Kathleen Leblanc and Abby Runnells of Thornton. Also keep an eye on the tough Lani Melton of Biddeford who figures to be an individual qualifier for the state meet.

 

Cheverus, Deering, McAuley @Portland

The Battle of Portland will take place at Deering Oaks this week with the Cheverus Stags hoping to come away with a win to close out the regular season. Parker Montano has been very solid for the Stags who are hoping to get into the state meet in a few weeks. He will lead Cheverus up against one of the toughest 1-2 crews in the state in Deering’s Yahye Hussein and Iid Sheikh-Yusef. Both boys blew away the field last week going 1-2 and running 16:26 and 16:27 on their home course. Cheverus will look to use their depth to come away with the win after putting 8 boys under 19:00 last week.

The Cheverus girls will hope to come away with their 2nd win of the season after their fine showing at home last week. Kaitlyn Dostie has been very strong all year and could lead her team and the field when these four squads face off. Georgia Caso has closed the gap on her teammate and could be a part of a 1-2 finish that would go a long to help Cheverus to the win. The challenger of the meet looks to be Deering High School who will be fighting for a state meet spot next week in Cumberland. Their top 3 runners are all freshman, and all turned in strong season bests last week at home (20:36-22:23-22:39). The Rams have been coming on all year long and will look to have one more strong showing to tune up for Regionals. As I said last week…Deering could be a very dangerous team in the next few years with all that young talent

 

Massabesic, Noble, Sanford @Marshwood

The #4Massabesic boys will try and close out their regular season with a win over at Marshwood this week. Michael Aboud will lead the Mustangs (as he has all season) in their last tune up before their show down next week with #2 Falmouth and #1 Scarborough. Assuming this meet is held at Vaughn Woods, don’t expect pr’s to be raining down, as this is considered the toughest course in the SMAA.

This girls’ matchup could potentially be very intriguing. #11 Marshwood busted out at Belfast a few weeks ago, and then had a strong showing last week against #9 Westbrook at Deering Oaks. With Maddy Doyle at the helm, Piper Wilber coming on strong, and 3-5 also turning it up a notch, Marshwood has turned into a team that not many will want to face over the next few weeks. #6 Massabesic has rolled through the SMAA this fall, and will go for an undefeated regular season this week. Look for Marshwood to give Massabesic a challenge on their home course.

 

Gorham, Scarborough, Windham @Bonny Eagle

The #1 Scarborough boys have been impressive all year long and will look to close out their regular season undefeated. Jacob Terry and Co. will take on strong teams from #10 Gorham and Windham. Gorham and Windham have been strong and also have some of the states top runners in Ben Foster, Jesse Southard, and Ben Breton. If everyone races, this could be a fun and fast race to watch over on the improved course at Bonny Eagle.

The Red Storm have come on strong as the regular season draws to a close, and will look to close out with a win in Standish. Laura Volan, Bethany Sholl, Sam Saraceno, Marissa Carbone, and Morgan Mckeown form a formidable top 5 that will certainly be one of the teams challenging for the win next week at Class A Western Regionals.  With their top end talent and strong 4-5 runners, they could possibly be the most dangerous team going into the final few weeks. Anna Slager of Gorham has run three straight sub 20:00 performances and will try and close out her regular season with yet another W.