Week 3 Preview- by Tim Even
Here is to another week of WMC competition…Let us preview some of the upcoming action!
Freeport, Gray, Kennebunk @ Lake Region
Will Shafer will make a return to Lake Region this Friday where he cruised to an easy win back in August at the Lake Region Invitational. He continues to get stronger this season and hopes to cruise to yet another individual win this Friday. The Freeport boys figure to be the team to beat in this match up after competing well last week against a strong York team.
The Freeport girls will continue their run at a state meet berth, after winning last week against York. Freeport showed no signs of slowing down last week in the wet conditions, placing 6 of their harriers in the top 10. Class A state meet hopeful Laura Broderick (Kennebunk) will challenge for an individual win as will Audrey Blais of Lake Region and several Freeport runners. Blais is putting together a solid sophomore campaign for herself and will be running her home course for the third time this season.
Cape, Fryeburg, Waynflete @ NYA
Cape went 3-7 last week at Lake Region in a solid effort to earn the win. Liam Simpson will lead his buddies into North Yarmouth to have a similar outcome as last week. Simpson is proving to be one of the best runners in Class B (and the state overall) yet again. Keep an eye on the Fryeburg Academy boys, who have put together a strong start to the season thus far. Sophomore Patrick Carty, has been a consistent number one for them this year and hopes to hold that title for another week. The 2-5 of Fryeburg is still a strong team, and they will surely make some noise as the season goes on, so look for them to have another solid week this week.
Hannah Austin will get a chance to defend her home trails as she looks to continue her strong season. Cape Elizabeth will bring a solid team into the meet this week hoping to pull out a win. They were in the closest meet of the week beating Yarmouth and Greely 40-41-42. Their 1-4 was separated by just 13 seconds. If they can pack like that this weekend, they should have a pretty successful afternoon. Fryeburg Academy has gotten a solid 1-2 out of Anna Lastra and Juliet Fink, and their 3-5 continue to move up. They will be without state meet qualifier Liz Grzyb for another week, but still have a strong (and young) team. Look for them to have a solid meet this week.
Greely, York @ Sacopee
The York boys bring a sturdy lineup into Hiram this weekend after pulling off a win at Freeport last weekend. Rex Brockelman will challenge for the win as he leads his team against a Greely team that has had a strong pack (top 5 separated by less than a minute) so far this year. Both teams are state meet hopefuls and hope for winning outcomes Friday
If Kirstin Sandrueter runs…she is the favorite to win this race. In fact she is probably the favorite to run most every race she runs this fall. If she doesn’t run, Greely will still have a strong team to throw at Heather Evans and York. Evans is coming off of a win last week, and hopes to build off of that as she leads the Wildcats into Sacopee Valley.
Poland, Traip, Wells, Yarmouth @ Falmouth
The final matchup takes us to Community Park in Falmouth. Falmouth has had one of the stronger teams in the WMC this fall and will try and run to a team victory at home this weekend. Bryce Murdick has had a strong start and will try to challege the potent 1-2 duo of Becker and Decker of Yarmouth. Falmouth had little trouble securing a victory last weekend, as they placed 8 in the top 10 at Fryeburg. 1-3 was separated by just 6 seconds and 4-7 was separated by 45 seconds.
On the flip side, the Falmouth girls have been just as dangerous and deep this fall. Falmouth put 6 in the top 10 a Fryeburg last week to cruise to an easy win. Madeline Roberts ran away with it all posting a 20:23 for the win. Similar to the boys, Falmouth has a few strong packs within their team to contend with. One of those teams hoping to contend is Yarmouth. The Teare combo (Caitlin and Ellie) will lead a solid squad of Clippers into Falmouth hoping to break into their pack.
