Boothbay girls & Winthrop boys best at MVC Preview
Race Videos: Boys Race | Girls Race
Interviews: Nick Harriman | Jacob Hickey | Faith Blethen | Sydney Sirios
The old school state meet course at UMA (University of Maine Augusta) was touched up and looked pretty dapper on the cool hump day. Though the course looks flat and fast when you first arrive, it's deceiving and full of hills where you can't see. All the MVC teams showed up ready to tackle the new tracks as they toed the line for the conference preview.
Things started off with the ladies as the freshman from Boothbay, Faith Blethen, asserted herself out front to lead the pack into the wooded field for the first loop. Coming back into the stadium, Blethen held her spot as she was chased closely by St. Doms Junior, Ella Brown. A few strides back was Boothbay's, Hannah Morley, and St. Doms, Sydney Sirois, as they went stride for stride across the back side of the field and into the woods again, where most of the race would take place. Turning it over at the right point, Blethen would separate herself from Brown. She described it as, "a big grass hill, I think it was the mile and a half," where she took off. She would cross the line in a 21 flat fashion. The runner up, Sirois, made a big move in the back woods as well, which helped her run past her teammate and Hannah Morley to a 21:48. Morley would be able to hold off Ella Brown and finish 3rd with a 22 minute 5k. Brown finished a little further back as she was 22:29. Rounding out the top 5 for this preview meet would be Monmouth Academy's senior, Shayna Frost. She would stop the clock at 23:25.
Though there were 14 different schools competing in this race, only 3 teams had enough runners to score. Leading those 3 teams was Boothbay, as they won 29-38-53 over St. Doms and Monmouth Academy. Boothbay will be competing with the majority of the state next week at Belfast.
Interview with race winner Faith Blethen (Boothbay)
On the boy's side of the race, it was a slow, tedious race as the front pack all waited on each other to see who would make the first move. The gun went off and all the boys filed into the trail with no one taking command. Around the wooded field and back to the stadium, the pack was lead by Boothbay's Kyle Ames, and Dirigo's, Keenan Martin. Just a stride behind them, they were followed closely by Winthrop's duo, Jacob Hickey and Will Vance, Lisbon's combo of Nick Harriman and Jordan Cole, and St. Doms, Diego Villamarin.
The men separated themselves from the boys at the long, slow, gradual, hill as they started to push the pace. But when the two mile came around and there was a down hill, Harriman had no hesitation to let himself go and run away from the pack. He would stop the clock at 17:58, not bad for not eating anything earlier, as he talked about in his post race interview. Hickey would be next with an 18:09, followed by his teammate, Vance, who would be under 6 minute pace with a 18:29. Making his way up to the front of the pack and playing it smart was Luke Thombs of Monmouth. He ran to an 18:42. Rounding out the top 5 for the race was Jordan Cole. He had to battle it out with Ames of Boothbay as the two went 18:57 and 18:58.
Unlike the girls race, their were 7 schools who had enough runs to score. Leading this 7 schools was Winthrop as they prevailed 42-57 over Boothbay. Winthrop was able to fit their first 3 runners into the top 10. Making the final podium spot was Lisbon with a score of 69.
Interview with race winner Nicolas Harriman (Lisbon)