Allen & Wilson individual champs, Monmouth girls & Boothbay boys best in MVC
Boys Results | Girls Results
Interview: Ben Allen
Race: Boys
Photos by Peter Cole
While the morning had overcast skies and a gloomy look by the time the boys of the MVC toed the starting line, the clouds were gone and a bright warm sun was shining down on the harriers. With the previous days rains making the course a little soft, combined with the unseasonable weather conditions, as well as the tough course at UMA, fast times weren't going to happen. However that didn't stop Winthrop senior Ben Allen from setting a strong pace
"My plan was to go for it today" Allen said after the race.
Allen took control of the race early setting the early pace, only Nick Harriman of Lisbon opted to try to match it. For the first mile Harriman matched Allen stride for stride, but in the woods the senior used his experience to his advantage.
"There are a lot of blind corners in the woods, and everytime I would put in a surge" was home Allen broke away. Once the gap opened up there was no catching him. He would run away with the MVC XC Championship title on the difficult 5k layout covering the course in 17:20 good for a 35 second win over Nick Harriman of Lisbon. His winning time was 3 seconds better than his winning effort at the MVC Preview meet.
Harriman was able to hold on to second place after his strong start, the junior clocked 17:55. The battle for third was a good one as Luke Thombs of Monmouth Academy & Joey Palillo of Boothbay matched eachother stride for stride for the first 2.5 miles. Thombs would pull away on the final field loop to finish third runnign 18:02, 6 seconds in front of Palillio. This was reverse of how they finished a month ago at the preview meet.
Jacob Hickey of Winthrop had a strong effort as he rounded out the top 5 with his 18:36 clocking. Hickey who ran 19:13 a month ago for 10th showed marked improvement today.
Boothbay the team favorites heading into the meet had 4 runners in the top ten to easily take the team title over Winthrop. Besides Palillo, they had Kyle Alamo (6th), Kyle Ames (7th), Kyler Carty (9th) & Trystan Mercier (12th) for their scoring 5 runners. The 31 points was good enough for a 27 point win over the Ramblers. Lisbon was third with 89.
On the girls side Emma Wilson of Hall-Dale was the champion as she ran the course in 21:52, the only girl to run under 22 minutes. Her winning effort was 33 seconds faster than runner-up Sydney Sirois of St Dom's.
Wilson set the pace right from the start & only Hannah Morely of Boothbay would attempt to go with the pre-race favorite. The humidity along with the soft conditions had an effect on the times, as Emma's winning time was 23 seconds off her winning effort a month ago at the preview meet.
Sirois of St Dom's had a great day, she was 7th a month ago runnign 23:02, today she moved all the way up to the runner-up position, and improved her time 37 seconds.
Hannah Morley of Boothbay finished third while Gabi Stone of Telstar was next. Carey Knowles of Monmouth Academy was 5th overall leading her team to victory.
Monmouth Academy pulled the upset with a 44-50 win over St Dom's. One of the keys for Monmouth was the 5-6-8 finish of Knowles, Asleigh Hartford (6th) & Jordyn Mann (8th), at last month's MVC preview meet the trio finished 6-10-13. Boothbay finished in third place with 78 points