Pelzer's Look into the WMC

Kennebunk, Lake Region, Merriconeag @ Gray

 

Tucker Pierce of Merriconeag will be looking for his first win of his high school career. Pierce tailed Chandler Vincent for half of race last week before Vincent opened up his stride and broke away as Pierce ran to a 17:27 at Freeport. This week, Pierce looks to do the same as Vincent and run away from this field of runners. Looking to run with Pierce will be Ben Garcia of Gray/New Gloucester. Garcia and Pierce battled it out on Libby Hill a year ago as Pierce edged out Garcia. But Garcia looks to change things this year as he looks to do the opposite. Last week in Fryeburg, Garcia placed third to Matt Malcom and Patrick Carty as he ran a life time best of 17:11. Another name to look for is Zack Neveu of Merriconeag. Neveu ran to a 7th with a 17:53 in Freeport and is looking to improve off his time.

 

Last week Merriconeag got the best of Freeport by point, 44-48, as they took second, even though Freeport had a better average of 17:45 and a 1-5 split of 1:23 where Merriconeag was 18:01 and had a split of 1:30 Mericoneag will be seeking their first win of the season and could easily do so this week. Gray/New Gloucester will take 2nd as Kennebunk will be 3rd.

 

Like the boys race, the girls race will be on almost carbon copy of the boys race as the strong freshman from Merriconeag, Olivia Skillings, looks for her second win of the season. Last week Skillings won in a 20:32, 33 seconds over York’s freshmen Kathryn Miller. Looking to chase Skillings will be Audrey Blais of Lake Region. Blais ran her first 5k of the season on the tough Twin Brook course last week, running 21:24 placing 11th. Earlier this year Blais won on her home course  by 52 seconds. Skillings senior team, Samantha Pierce, will be chasing Skillings and Blais. Pierce last week ran a 21:10 as she placed 3rd. Pierce worked her way up throughout the race as was able to go from 7th to 3rd  Another name to look for this week will be Gabby Fogg of Kennebunk. Fogg was second on her home course. Fogg has already matched up against Merriconeag once this year and out kicked Merriconeag’s junior, Fiona Ahearne, in a 21:34 to 21:35 as she placed 9th.

 

Merriconeag looks to run away with their first win as well. Merriconeag averaged a 21:59 last week with a 3:28 split. They look to improve their times this as they go up and down the hill in GNG. Kennebunk will look to coast to 2nd while Gray/New Gloucester will try to edge out Lake Region.

 

 

 

Cape Elizabeth, Sacopee Valley, Waynflete @ York. 

Cape’s dynamic duo, Kyle Kennedy and Mitch Morris, will be sitting out this race as they’ll challenge the top runners of New England in Manchester the next day. Cape and York have already matched up once this year where Cape was nearly ran over, as York put their top 5 in front of Cape’s #3, and running on York’s home course, it’ll nearly the same result. Leading the way will be the junior, Sam Sewell of York. Last week in Freeport, Sewell was 3rd as he ran a 17:36, but he wont be too far ahead as his teammate Evan Hultstrom will be pushing him.Hultstrom got the better of Sewell in Yarmouth two weeks ago but was York’s #2 runner last week as he ran a 17:41 with his teammate Rex Brockelman. Brockelman was nearly edged out by Hultstrom at Freeport, but looks to get the better of his teammate this week. Though we  can’t tell how York’s top 5 will place among the team, or even where the top 7 will place, we can tell that they can perfect score Cape with Kennedy and Morris running. Looking to break up there 5 will be junior, Jared Duperre of Cape Elizabeth. Duperre last week ran an 18:29 at Twinbrook and a 19:01 in Wells, when Cape and York matched up. 

 

Coming down to teams, York looks like they’ll keep their perfect season alive as they could potentially perfect score Cape Elizabeth, especially since they have the advantage of running on their home course. York has the tightest pack time in the state yet. Last week they had a spread of only 20 seconds! Thats a 10 second drop from last week. The young Cape Elizabeth team will take second over Waynflete, but won’t go down without a fight as they look to break up York’s top 5.

In the last match, Cape dominated York, 22-40 and they look to repeat that. Last time Rhoen Fuitak lead the way for the Capers in a 21:27 fashion. Last week Fuitak challenged the strong Yarmouth and Greely girls but they ran away Fuitak as she placed 10th with seasonal best of 21:22. Fuitak looks to bounce back from last week and show that she is still a top contender and still the #1 Cape runner. Looking to challenge Fuitak will be her teammates, Liv Palma and Samantha Feenstra. At Twinbrook, the two finished a respectful 7th and 8th running 21:09 and 21:12. That was Palma’s first time trekking the hills of Twinbrook and will look to improve off that in her next showing there. Freshman standout from York, Kathryn Miller, will try to break up Cape’s pack. Miller was second to Olivia Skillings of Merriconeag as she PR’d by 6 seconds with 21:05. Look for Miller’s teammates, Amanda Fiorentino and Milia Cryan. Fiorentino and Cryan was 5th and 6th at Freeport with a 21:30 and 21:36. Also look for Cape’s Emma Shedd. She'd come off an injury this summer and is coming back strong. Shedd clocked 21:33 last week and was Cape’s #4 and a week before she was the #3 runner in Cape.

 

Though the winning margin won’t be as great this week, Cape looks pick up there winning streak and steal the show again from York. If Cape’s runner, Eva Brydson run’s this week, they could dominate York like they did in there opening meet. But York will push Cape more this week than early this season. 

 

 

 

Falmouth, Traip Academy, Wells, Yarmouth @ Poland

 

Last week Falmouth rested most of their varsity runners in Kennebunk and still perfect scored Kennebunk. This week the Yachtsmen have a challenge from Yarmouth’s Luke Laverdiere. The Freshman stand out last week ran with Cape’s duo, Kennedy and Morris for the first 2 miles of Twinbrook. But if you go out too hard at Twinbrook, you gonna have a bad time. And with Kennedy and Morris's expeirance on the course, they ran away from Laverdiere to go one, two in the meet. But the freshman standout still ran 17:32. Thats 3 seconds off of Bryce Murdick’s time from earlier this year. Murdick last week won in Kennebunk by 1:02. But Laverdiere won’t be just challenging Murdick, but the whole Falmouth top 5. It’s unpredictable as to where they will finish, But wherever they finish, it wont be far behind their #1. 

With their dominating season, Falmouth looks to get their forth win of the WMC season. Falmouth has been on fire this season with the depth of their top 7 and pack time under a minute, it looks as if no one could stop them. A bat

tle for second will come down to Yarmouth and Wells, but Wells looks like they can edge out Yarmouth. Last week in Fryeburg, Wells ran a split of 55 seconds with an 18:37 average where as Yarmouth had a 2:44 and a 19:21. Even though Yarmouth was at Twinbrook, the week before when they were on their home course, they averaged 19:34 with a 2:00 split.

 

In the girls though, Yarmouth will have the better of Falmouth. The Clippers put their top 3 under 21 minutes at Twinbrook, and leading that way is sophomore Grace Cowles. Being a new comer to the team, Cowles has been dynamite to the team as she’s been leading the way for the Clippers in all their meets this season and she looks to do so again after running a 20:28 at Twin Brook. Looking to chase Cowles down is her teammate Abigail Hamilton. Hamiliton PR’d at the hilly Twin Brook by 19 seconds! Running close to her will be the third Yarmouth runner under 20, and thats freshman Anneka Murrin. She ran with Hamilton for most of the way last week and was just behind her by 1 second. Overall though, the Clippers top 5 ran faster times at Twin Brook than the Yachtsmen’s #1 runner. But that was the opening meet and lots of things have changed since the opening week. Like the boys, the Falmouth girl’s top 5 is unpredictable. The depth of the team is so dense that they can pick each other up on any day when someone is having a bad race.

 

It looks like Yarmouth will have the better of Falmouth. Like Falmouth, Yarmouth lost to Greely, but they ran faster times than Falmouth did. Yarmouth’s #1 runner was more than a minute faster than Falmouth’s #1, which was Antoinette Lambert, 21:36. In third will be Wells who’ll beat out Poland, then followed by Traip Academy.

 

 

 

Manchester Invite

 

Some of the Conference’s best runners are leaving the Pine State to go to Manchester, NH to race against some of New England’s finest runners. in the 40th annual Manchester Invitational. All the action of the WMC runners will take place in the Small School Race as teams from Freeport, Fryeburg, Greely, and NYA along with Kennedy and Morris of Cape Elizabeth will duel. In the boys race, we’ll get to see Matt Malcom of NYA, Patrick Carty of Fryeburg, Chandler Vincent of Freeport, and the duo from Cape Elizabeth all fight for the top spot.

 

These fine gentlemen have matched up only handful of times against each other, but only once have they all ran in the same race. Last 

year during the Western Maine Conference Championship did all 5 of these men run against each other. During the race, it was Junior 

Patrick Carty leading these 5 men through the first mile, only a few strdies back was Vincent of Freeport, then Malcom and Morris with Kennedy further back, rounding out the top 5. Through the seond mile Chandler would pass Carty and start his turnover in the woods. Malcom and Morris would remain Carty with Kennedy still back. Back into the woods and into the hardest mile of St. Joes course, Vincent would remain the front runner and win this five man race in a 17:11. Coming on strong out of the woods was Morris coming in 5 seconds behind Vincent, then it was Malcom edging out Carty in the final stretch as they 17:21 to 17:22, as Kennedy would round out the five man battle in a 17:48. 

 

This season has been faster this year for all of them as they faced each other once this season at different sightings. 

I

Coming up this weekend, it'll be the 2nd meeting where Carty, Kennedy, Malcom, Morris, and Vincent all meet in the same race. The showdown in Derryfield Park will be epic. Kennedy has already PR’d with a 16:50 at Twin Brook and a week before and ran a blazing 15:45 for 3 miles on his home course. He won by 11 seconds over Vincent. Because of his strength and talent that he’s displayed for four meets this year (and winning those four), it would be easy to say that Kennedy would be the favorite to win. But Vincent has showed that he run with Kennedy for most of the way. Vincent coasted to a 16:51 victory on his home course. Thats the same time he ran at New England's in Manchester last year. Vincent will be looking to drop his time even more this year. But Matt Malcom though! He’s won two meets already this year, and in one of those two he’s already out kicked Carty to the finish, he’s still got a lot of talent to show off, and if it comes down to the final 200 meter stretch at Manchester, Malcom will be able to out kick Kennedy. Speaking of Kicks, has anyone seen Mitchell Morris's Kick? Out of these four runners, Morris has the better kick, and displayed that in outdoor during the WMC Championship 3200, (where he matched up against Malcom), he out kicked Malcom in the final 500 meters and win by a 5 second margin. Though Morris is coming off of an injury, he showed how strong he still is with a 17:02 at Twinbrook and a 16:05 for 3 miles. Then there’s Patrick Carty, the youngest of the four. The Junior will look to run in the mix like has done but this time win. We can’t rule Carty out. 

 

So the big question is, “Who's going to win?” We’ll find out Saturday when they toe the line.