Iid Sheikh-Yusef of Deering win boys, Anna Slager of Gorham takes girls WM Class A titles
Falmouth boys & Massabesic girls claim team titles
Photos: Boys | Girls
Race Videos Girls | Boys
Race Interviews Iid Sheikh-Yusef | Anna Slager | Jacob Terry | Maddy Doyle
It was upset city in the Class A boys individual race as Iid Sheikh-Yusef of Deering was able to kick past Jacob Terry of Scarborough over the final stages of the race. Sheik-Yusef who has finished behind his own teammate Yahya Hussein for most of the season wasn't the one talked about pre-race. Certainly after the race there was plenty of talk about Iid.
Gorham junior Jesse Southard led the pack off the line ensuring the pace of the first 800m was going to be fast. As the group made there way along the outder fields, it was Falmouth's Bryce Murdick who led the way at 800m, crossed in a very quick 2:34. Behind Murdick, in a single file line was Southard, Terry, Sheikh-Yusef, Yahya Hussein of Deerng & Andrew Mongiat of Massabesic.
At the mile hit in 5:13, Murdick continued to be the pace setter, with Sheikh-Yusef, Terry & Hussein. There was a small gap back to Michael Aboud of Massabesic & Mongiat.
Coming back into the B loop, Murdick & Terry had 5m of seperation from the Deering duo but nothing was decided at this point with the tough last mile laying ahead including a trip up the pain cave.
The clock read 10:43 at 2 miles as Murdick & Terry continued to run stride for stride, Sheikh-Yusef had moved past his teammate Hussein into third and was in hot pursuit of the leaders. Aboud started to pull away from his teammate Mongiat, while Spencer Brown of Falmouth & Colin Tardiff where running stride for stride about 10m back.
No one would have answer for Sheikh-Yusef of Deering in the final mile, as he caught the lead pack, and used the downhills to his advantage before dropping Terry of Scarborough on the pain cave
"Once I got the lead, I was confident in my kick " Sheikh-Yusef said
His 16:43 effort ended up being the fastest of the day, and vaults him into the conservation for individual Class A state champion.
Terry held off all other challengers to finish as the runner-up, his 16:46 was the third fastest performance on the day out of all the classes. Murdick finished third, while Hussein held off a hard charging Brown & Tardiff for fourth place.
The team race was intense as expected as #1 Scarborough was up against #2 Falmouth, & #4 Massabesic. At two miles it was a virtual dead heat between Scarborough & Falmouth with Massabesic right on their heels. Each team had 5 runners all together as they hit the final mile. Scarborough got their low stick with Terry finishing 2nd, Falmouth countered with Murdick's 3rd. Spencer Brown (Falmouth) was able to outkick Colin Tardiff (Scarborough) for 5th place. Scarborough's Connor Doherty came up big with his 9th place finish. But it was kick of Scott Lambert & Sean Soucy that gave the Yachtsmen 12th & 13th spot, right in front of Andrew Sholl (Scarborough) in 14th. Josh Simensky sealed the deal for Falmouth as he finished 16th giving Falmouth all 5 scorers. Scarborough's Jacob Bloom finished 21st to round out the scoring for the Red Storm.
Massabesic fought hard, and showed they aren't afraid to push the pace with these two juggernauts. The Mustangs were led by a Michael Abound (7th) & Andrew Mongiat (8th), and they also got an outstanding performance from freshman Alexander Swett in 10th. Remington Gaetjens like he did at FOC struggled to the finish line losing numerous spots when he fell more than once in the finishing straight. That'll be a wilcard for Massabesic headed into next week.
What is clear is there isn't much that seperates these two teams, just 3 points today. This sets up for an epic state meet battle at Belfast next weekend.
Coming into the Class A girls race the individual title was up for grabs with a handful of ladies capable of crossing the finish line first.
As the pack hit the 800m mark right before entering the A loop there was no clear favorite. In the pack was Anna Slager of Gorham, Maddy Doyle of Marshwood, Casey Loring of South Portland, Halee Phelps & Gabbi Pabst of Westbrook, Mira Wyman of Falmouth, Abby Runnells of TA, Serena McKenzie of South Portland, & three Scarborough runners Laura Volan, Bethany Sholl & Marissa Carbone
At the mile the pack was still all together with the Westbrook duo of Phelps & Pabst pushing the pace.
Mile two saw things seperate as freshman Anna Slager & senior Maddy Doyle broke away and were running stride for stride, back about 10m was Pabst of Westbrook with Loring then a small gap back to Sholl & Phelps.
In the final mile, Doyle & Slager went toe to toe, but the youth prevailed as Slager pulled away over the final 600m of the race for a 3 second victory. The freshman will be one of the favorites to capture the Class A title next weekend in Belfast. Doyle will be a threat as well, she ran very well at Belfast at the Festival of Champions.
Finishing third was Pabst of Westbrook as she held off the fast closing Loring of South Portland. Rounding out the top 5 was Phelps of Westbrook giving the Blue Blazes the best top two in the field. Scarborough took 4 of the next 5 spots as they went 6-7-9-10, with Emily Wasina of Massabesic breaking them up at 8th. Leading the way for Scarborough was a pair of freshman in Bethany Sholl & Samantha Saraceno
Despite 4 in the top 10, Scarborough had to settle for the runner-up trophy as they were 11 points behind the Mustangs of Massabesic. Massabesic had only Wasina in the top 10 but packed in their remaining 4 scorers between spots 13-18th. With a pack time of just 33 seconds Massabesic will be the favorite to win the Class A title next weekend. Falmouth (101) finished third with Marshwood (129) in fourth. Rounding out the top 5 teams was South Portland with 143 points.
Boys Top 30 Individuals who qualify for states
1 Iid Sheikh-Yusuf SR Deering High School 16:43.58 1 2 Jacob Terry SR Scarborough 16:47.94 2 3 Bryce Murdick SR Falmouth 16:53.47 3 4 Yahye Hussein SR Deering High School 17:02.71 4 5 Spencer Brown SR Falmouth 17:03.16 5 6 Colin Tardiff JR Scarborough 17:03.56 6 7 Michael Aboud JR Massabesic 17:08.98 7 8 Andrew Mongiat SR Massabesic 17:19.60 8 9 Connor Doherty JR Scarborough 17:23.89 9 10 Alexander Swett FR Massabesic 17:26.47 10 11 Jesse Southard JR Gorham High School 17:29.60 11 12 Scott Lambert SR Falmouth 17:29.94 12 13 Sean Soucy JR Falmouth 17:29.99 13 14 Andrew Sholl JR Scarborough 17:30.68 14 15 Ben Foster SR Gorham High School 17:44.00 15 16 Josh Simensky JR Falmouth 17:44.82 16 17 Donovan Duffy SO Massabesic 17:46.46 17 18 Iain Kurry SR Falmouth 17:52.86 18 19 Gavin Damian-Loring JR South Portland 17:55.05 19 20 Josh Veroneau JR Cheverus 17:56.19 20 21 Jacob Bloom SR Scarborough 17:59.30 21 22 Joshua Lombardo SO Westbrook 18:01.27 22 23 Biruk Moore JR Marshwood 18:02.65 23 24 Brody Bate SO Marshwood 18:02.86 24 25 Matt Pritchett SO Marshwood 18:04.26 25 26 Sean McGovern SR Scarborough 18:10.02 26 27 Jordan Cook SO Biddeford 18:12.53 27 28 Reese Preston JR Windham High School 18:13.08 28 29 Parker Montano SR Cheverus 18:15.71 29 30 Jonathan Bland SR Windham High School 18:17.90 30
Top 8 Boys team qualifying for states
1 Falmouth High School 49 3 5 12 13 16 18 34
Total Time: 1:26:41.38
Average: 17:20.28
2 Scarborough High School 52 2 6 9 14 21 26 43
Total Time: 1:26:45.37
Average: 17:21.08
3 Massabesic High School 75 7 8 10 17 33 37 49
Total Time: 1:28:07.04
Average: 17:37.41
4 Gorham High School 146 11 15 39 40 41 58 87
Total Time: 1:31:47.42
Average: 18:21.49
5 Windham High School 163 28 30 31 32 42 86 102
Total Time: 1:32:12.83
Average: 18:26.57
6 Marshwood High School 175 23 24 25 36 67 71 72
Total Time: 1:32:39.38
Average: 18:31.88
7 Deering High School 183 1 4 44 55 79 101 104
Total Time: 1:32:03.09
Average: 18:24.62
8 Cheverus High School 195 20 29 47 48 51 52 66
Total Time: 1:33:14.17
Average: 18:38.84
Girls Top 30 Individuals who qualify for states
1 Anna Slager FR Gorham High School 20:04.00 1 2 Maddy Doyle SR Marshwood 20:07.78 2 3 Gabriella Pabst JR Westbrook 20:31.36 3 4 Casey Loring JR South Portland 20:32.81 4 5 Halee Phelps SR Westbrook 20:40.53 5 6 Bethany Sholl FR Scarborough 20:57.53 6 7 Samantha Saraceno FR Scarborough 21:02.83 7 8 Emily Wasina JR Massabesic 21:03.51 8 9 Marisa Carbone SO Scarborough 21:10.21 9 10 Laura Volan JR Scarborough 21:16.43 10 11 Mira Wyman SO Falmouth 21:16.69 11 12 Katie LeBlanc JR Thornton Academy 21:16.75 12 13 Roshelle Morrison JR Massabesic 21:20.01 13 14 Gabrielle Johnson SR Massabesic 21:21.97 14 15 Serena McKenzie SO South Portland 21:22.02 15 16 Vishva Nalamalapu JR Falmouth 21:24.37 16 17 Maquila Dimastrantonio JR Massabesic 21:33.40 17 18 Brianna Drew JR Massabesic 21:37.16 18 19 Antoinette Lambert SO Falmouth 21:48.53 19 20 Gabby Fogg SO Kennebunk 21:53.99 20 21 Lucy Tumavicus FR Deering High School 21:55.69 21 22 Kaitlyn Dostie SR Cheverus 22:00.17 22 23 Hannah Berzinis SO Falmouth 22:02.78 23 24 Abby Runnells JR Thornton Academy 22:03.67 24 25 Jessica Bachry SR Marshwood 22:04.77 25 26 Olivia Ducharme SO Massabesic 22:10.93 26 27 Amanda Turner SO Windham High School 22:11.93 27 28 Delphi Bourassa FR South Portland 22:12.21 28 29 Julia Rand SR Windham High School 22:12.39 29 30 Piper Wilber JR Marshwood 22:12.49 30
Massabaesic won the girls WM Girls title by 11 points over Scarborough (Photo by Sherri Johnson)
Top 9 Girls team qualifying for states
1 Massabesic High School 70 8 13 14 17 18 26 55
Total Time: 1:46:56.05
Average: 21:23.21
2 Scarborough High School 81 6 7 9 10 49 50 56
Total Time: 1:47:44.13
Average: 21:32.83
3 Falmouth High School 101 11 16 19 23 32 42 48
Total Time: 1:48:47.00
Average: 21:45.40
4 Marshwood High School 129 2 25 30 34 38 44 57
Total Time: 1:49:46.50
Average: 21:57.30
5 South Portland High Schoo 143 4 15 28 35 61 83 89
Total Time: 1:50:41.28
Average: 22:08.26
6 Westbrook High School 156 3 5 33 53 62 63
Total Time: 1:51:03.19
Average: 22:12.64
7 Windham High School 191 27 29 37 40 58 59 75
Total Time: 1:53:36.13
Average: 22:43.23
8 Thornton Academy 242 12 24 46 70 90 97 104
Total Time: 1:56:46.55
Average: 23:21.31
9 Cheverus High School 251 22 31 54 66 78 80
Total Time: 1:56:34.28
Average: 23:18.86