Even's Insight

The Red Storm of Scarborough looked like the defending champions that they are, after a quality Week #1 win over at Smiling Hill. The top three of Bethany Sholl, Laura Volan, and Sam Saraceno came away with the top 3 spots to lead Scarborough to a 24-34 victory over Massabesic. In the process, all three of those ladies broke 21:00 on a fairly challenging course. This week they will travel to Cheverus to try and keep their great start rolling, and will face the Lady Blazes of Westbrook who are coming off of a Week #1 win of their own. Westbrook will look to make a dent in the tough Scarborough pack, and continue to develop their young roster in the process. With the way that Sholl has been running early on, she should be the favorite to take home the individual win. With the weather looking good for the week, and the course being a runner friendly one, we could be in for some strong times on Wednesday at Cheverus.

The Scarborough boys bested their competition last week, and rolled to a 22-58 win over Biddeford on their home course. Connor Doherty and Andrew Sholl ran stride for stride for the 1-2 finish, and then the Storm went on to claim 4 more of the top 10 spots. Scarborough will try and make it two wins in a row, as they head to Cheverus and will face a strong Westbrook team who surprised Gorham last week with a 29-39 victory. The team battle favors the deep and experienced Scarborough team, but look for the Blazes to challenge and try to break into Scarborough's pack. The individual battle could be a fun one to watch, with Doherty, Sholl, and Josh Lombardo of Westbrook all running between 17:07-17:09 last week. With both rosters being loaded with track speedsters, look for them to take advantage of the fast course to record some good times.

Biddeford, Gorham, McAuley @Marshwood (Moved from McAuley to MARSH)

The Tigers of Biddeford followed up their excellent run at the Relays with a very good showing at Smiling Hill in Week #1. Riley Mcneil showed that she belonged with the front runners, with an 8^th place finish, to pace her team to a 3^rd place finish against last years top 2 teams in Class A. Fellow sophomores Dorias and Young also put in good first XC 5k performances, and will look to build off of them this week at Marshwood. Biddeford will try to go for the win here this week, and will get their biggest challenge from a Gorham team that has two of the top runners in Class A West. Anna Slager dominated at home last week, with teammate Meadow Fortier turning in a sub 21:20 performance in her first XC race. Bridget Rossignol sat out for a second straight week, but if she is able to go on Friday, it may prove to be the difference in this matchup. Both teams figure to be fighting for a spot to get into the State Meet, so this will be a great preview matchup. Keep an eye on Kelly Dube of Marshwood as well, after her stellar 4^th place showing on the challenging Windham course last week.

Gorham's Jesse Southard threw his name into the ring for potential State Champions last week, with an outstanding 16:23 effort on a slick and wet course at Gorham. His time was the fastest of the week, and gives him the fastest 5k time of any Class A athlete so far this fall. The Rams also had a great showing as a team and will try and come away with the victory this week down at Marshwood. Don't sleep on Biddeford however, as they had 5 boys run under 19:40 at Smiling Hill, including Jordan Cook who ran to a 3^rd place finish behind Doherty and Sholl of Scarborough. Brody Bate of Marshwood continued his strong junior campaign last week with a 18:23 on a tough course, and could challenge for a top 3 spot this week.

Bonny Eagle, Massabesic, South Portland @Deering

This girls meet should be the meet of the week, with 4 strong teams in attendance. Bonny Eagle had a good day at home last week, beating TA 18-43. Katie Leblanc of TA was the only person standing between them and a perfect score. With no Marston in the field, freshman Christine Toy earned her first high school win with a 21:06 effort. 4 of their 5 scorers were freshman, which is a good sign for their future. Massabesic had a strong effort against Scarborough on Friday, placing 5 in the top 10 with their spread being just over a minute. South Portland cruised to a victory at Windham, with the duo of Mckenzie and Loring going 1-2, while Deering went 2-5-6 in their race at Gorham to bring their team within 4 points of the win. This will set up a fast and strong team race through the streets and neighborhoods of Deering here this week, with teams most likely chasing the experienced Mustangs of Massabesic. South Portland and Bonny Eagle are also candidates for the win, due to their outstanding front ends (Mckenzie-Loring and Marston-Toy), and their strong 3-5 packs. Do not be surprised to see Deering up there if their 4-5 runners can continue to improve. Sophomore Julia Lancia was just under a minute faster last week than she was at any point last year, and sophomore Morgan Aponte-Clarke had a good first run and should be a solid #4/#5 for the Rams this season. With this being a race run entirely on the roads, this could be a very fast day with all of the talent in the field. Do not be surprised to see a handful of sub 20:20 performances.

Gavin Damian-Loring and Xander Keiter had great races last week, going 2-3 at Windham. The duo led the Red Riots to within 9 points of Windham for the runner up position, and could lead their team to victory here this week at Deering. The Rams had a pretty darn good start of their own, with 4 of their athletes recording sub 19:00 performances on the slippery Gorham course, and 3 more running under 20:00. Freshman Alex Troxwell had a great showing, covering the 5k course in 18:11. Troxwell could lead the Rams past South Portland at home on Friday, if Deering wins the battle of the 4-5 runners. Also, do not count out Massabeisc who had a solid meet at Smiling Hill. With this course being much faster, it could put the Mustangs in the mix for the win.

Noble, Thornton, Windham @ Portland

Windham has run well so far this year, and claimed 6 of the first 15 spots on their home course last week en route to a second place finish to South Portland. Their top group has packed up well, which has given them a leg up in their hunt to make this years State Meet. Coming off of a challenging course, the Eagles should do pretty well here at Deering Oaks, which is very runner friendly. Look for 400m specialist, and jack-of-all-trades Amanda Turner, continue to lead Windham, as they go for the win here this week. Katie Leblanc of TA had a strong run last week at Bonny Eagle, and broke up the Scot's bid for a perfect score with a 3^rd place finish. With how well she has been competing here in the early going, she will be in contention for the win, with runners like Amanda Turner chasing her.

The Eagle boys ran to a victory on their home course last week led by Ben Breton. With their great depth and formidable front-runner, they should be in position to compete for the victory this week over at Deering Oaks. Junior Jeremy Bennett has done well as the #3 for Windham and was around 20 seconds back of Breton last week. This strong and developing 1-2 punch could prove to be a difference maker later on in the season, so look for that combination to have a great week this week. Do not overlook Portland and their squad, after senior Brad Ravenelle had a great race at Smiling Hill, clocking 17:47 and running to a 4th place finish. Their #4-5 runners are newcomers to XC, which could mean rapid improvement and an excellent October for the Bulldogs.