Let us take a look SMAA Preview Week 1
"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.
Biddeford, Massabesic, Portland, Scarborough
This matchup on the boys side brings two of Class A’s top teams in Scarborough and Massabesic. The Red Storm dominated the Relay meet last Thursday even without the services of Colin Tardiff. Massabesic has found ways to fill their gaps from graduation a year ago and could give Scarborough a bit of a challenge. Top Individuals going into the meet include Connor Bouffard of Biddeford, Michael Aboud of Massabesic, and Jacob Terry, Andrew Sholl, and Colin Tardiff of Scarborough.
The girls meet will bring much of the same as the boys. Massabesic and Scarborough were separated by less than 5 seconds at the relay meet last week and it promises to be a good team battle here on Friday. Laura Volan and Co. are much improved from a year ago and hope to give the Mustangs a challenge. Top individuals for this meet include Laura Volan and newcomer Bethany Sholl of Scarborough, and Maquila Dimasrantonio, Emily Wasina, and Gabby Johnson of Masabesic.
Cheverus, Marshwood, South Portland, Windham
A crew of solid state meet hopefuls will take on the course at South Portland this week. Windham has had a good preseason so far after winning the Lake Region Invitational and finishing 4th at the SMAA Relay meet. Cheverus, So. Portland, and Marshwood are young and upcoming teams that are hoping to give Windham a challenge here this week. Look for Ben Breton of Windham and Xander Keiter of South Portland to lead the Pack
On the girls side South Portland is coming off of a solid 3rd place performance at the Relays and is hoping to get the regular season off to a fast start. Casey Loring will lead this strong team against Marshwood who has another one of the states top runners in Maddy Doyle, Cheverus who has a great 1-2 punch in Dostie and Caso, and Windham who is consitently one of the most solid programs in the west. Look for this meet to be one of the more competitive ones on Friday afternoon.
BE, McAuley, Sanford, TA
This meet should be fairly closely contested on the guys side with Bonny Eagle, TA, and Sanford all finishing within 40 points of each other at the relay meet last week. Cam Mondor will look to get his regular season kicked off with a win on his home course.
On the Girls side Kialeigh Marston will run her first meet of the season. Sanford was the only team to field a scoring squad at the Relays last week, but look for BE to challenge for the win with the combo of Marston and Libby at the front. Kathleen Leblanc and Abby Runnells will also hope to get off to a fast start on their home course.
Deering, Gorham, Noble, Westbrook
Gorham and Westbrook finished close together last week (3rd and 5th) and Deering was not so far behind at 7th. These teams hope to be in the mix for a spot in the state meet at the end of next month and will get that battle kicked off tomorrow. Westbrook got a key pickup last week with Saad Zackaria coming back from South Portland for his senior year and Ammanuel Sentayehu may also be back for the Blue Blazes. Gorham hopes to come away with the win with the strong 1-2 duo of Foster and Southard leading the way, and Yahya Hussein will battle for the individual title.
The Girls meet will have a few of the states top promising runners coming out with Anna Slager and Bridget Rossignol of Gorham coming to town. Both freshman posted top 10 finishes last week at the Relay meet and hope to lead Gorham to a top finish. The Westbrook girls will look to take a win on their home course with Halee Phelps and Gabbi Pabst leading the way for them. The Blazes will get their #5 back as well, which will help their cause. Also keep an eye on Lucy Tumazicus of Deering who won the freshman race last week.