Decker debuts with win, Smith kicks hard

Decker debuts with win, Kristina Smith kicks home for victory. Cape Elizabeth top teams @ Lake Region

Boys Results | Girls Results | Photos | Girls Race Video | Interview w/Ben Decker

It was a wet affair at Lake Region High School this afternoon as the rain came down throughout both races. The girl’s matchup featured 3 of the top programs in the Western Maine conference with #2 ranked Greely, # Yarmouth & unranked Cape Elizabeth. Greely’s distance standout Kirstin Sandreuter opted to rest today instead of race.

The runners started on the track with 300m before headed out the narrow gate towards the soccer fields, this was a different start than usual because of a field hockey game on the old starting line. The start on the track actually added distance to the 2.8 mile layout. Kristina Smith of Greely, a transfer from Poland took the early lead with Caitlin Teare of Yarmouth on her heels. Smith and Teare would start to pull away from the pack over the first mile, with Smith taking the pace. Teare’s sister Ellie worked her way up to third, followed by a pack of Cape Elizabeth runners led by Rhoen Fiutak & Samantha Feenstra.

As the field circled the fields and headed into the woods the duel between Smith & Teare continued. As the returned from a trip around the middle school soccer fields, Teare had opened up a 3-4 second gap on Smith, Ellie Teare continued to run in third, but the Cape Elizabeth pack had moved up well as it was now 4 strong as freshman Emma Shedd & senior Dana Hatton joined the pack,

Teare continued to lead as they hit the track with 300m to go, but Smith quickly responded with a strong move to take the lead back with just 100m to go. It was a back and forth battle over the last 100m as Teare took back the lead with 75 meters to go before Smith unleashed a devastating  kick with 50m to go. Kristina opened up her stride to take the win in 19:13, with Teare a few strides back in second, 19:15.

Ellie Teare held the third position (19:40) then came a strong close from Fiutak (19:44). They were followed by sophomore Sam Feenstra (19:50), who held off a fast closing Blais (Lake Region), 19:55. Cape had 2 more across with Shedd (19:56) & Hatton (19:57), taking 7^th & 8^th respectively. Stickney of Greely was 9^th (20:10) with S Laveirde (Yarmouth) in 10^th.

The team race proved to be a nail biter, but in the end it was the Capers of Cape Elizabeth pulling the upset. Cape tallied 40, while Yarmouth was second with 41, and Greely finished third with 42. If this race was indicative of what is to come the WMC girls team race should be excellent.

 

 

The boy’s race saw the much anticipated debut of Yarmouth senior Ben Decker. Decker who has been rumored to have been running a few xc races this fall in addition to playing soccer, toed the line for the first time.

Decker wasted no time to assert himself at the front of the pack as he sprinted off the line followed by his teammate senior Braden Becker. The Greely packed followed with Cape’s pack a few paces back.

Decker continued to push the pace and opened up his lead as he hit the fields for the first time. Becker ran comfortably in second while Cape’s Liam Simpson moved up to 3^rd. Greely’s  Ryan Morrison & Connor Rog were next with the Cape’s Will Britton, Kyle Kennedy, Peter Doane following closely behind.

After the runners disappeared into the woods, down around the middle school soccer fields, Decker emerged first with a significant lead over the rest of the field. Becker remained second while Simpson had started cutting into the gap. Cape’s pack of three was next with Mitch Morris making a move to catch his Cape teammates. Rog & Morrison 8^th & 9^th with Julian Pelzer of Cape sitting 10^th.

Not much changed over the final 1k of the race. Decker cruised into the finish line, securing a 20 second win, with a 15:16 clocking, a fine time considering the conditions.  Becker would hold off the hard charging Simpson by 2 seconds for the runner-up finish, 15:36 to 15:38. Next came 4 more Capers led by Will Britton’s 4^th place, 16:05 finish, Kennedy was 5^th, Doane 6^th, & Morris was 7^th.

The #1 ranked Capers of Cape Elizabeth tallied 25 points for the win, “We got a strong workout in with 10 minutes of tempo work at the beginning and then finish hard over the final 5-6 minutes” Cape Coach Derek Veilleux said of his team’s effort.   Yarmouth pulled a slight upset over Greely for 2^nd, the Clippers had 48, while the Rangers scored 58.

 

See What Ben Decker had to say about his first xc race