Now that the madness of the Festival of Champions is behind us, it is time to head into the homestretch of the regular season. Onto Week #4 we go!
Bonny Eagle, Portland, Westbrook @ Marshwood
With Vaughn Woods being a thing of the past, this week's meet will take place at the new course at the Great Works School in South Berwick. Bonny Eagle and Westbrook are both coming off of top 20 performances at FOC last week, while Marshwood was the #8 team from Class A West in the results. The performance by Marshwood was even more impressive given the fact that their #1, Kelly Dube, was out due to injury. The Hawks often peak at the right time of year, so look for them to make a run at making the State Meet if their lineup can be at 100% by the 24th. Bonny Eagle lost their #2 during the race at FOC, and were without their #5 due to SAT's. They did, however, get season bests out of the other 3 members of their scoring 5 including a 19:03.63, 8th place performance from Kaliegh Marston. Depending on who runs this week, they should be the favorite to win the meet outright, with all of their front-end talent.
The boys meet will feature one of the states best teams, when the Blue Blazes roll into town. Westbrook has been a surprise to many, and will look to keep it going in Week #4 of the SMAA schedule. Josh Lombardo has been outstanding, breaking 17:00 in each of the last two weeks. #2 runner Amanuel Sentayehu, has been among the states most-improved athletes, while Noah Knapton has put together a great rookie campaign thus far. Marshwood has excelled as a team with their top 3 all posting 17:30 or better performances last week at FOC. Look for The Hawks to run well on their home course, and challenge the Blazes for the win.
McAuley, Scarborough, South Portland @Noble
The Red Storm had some strong runs last week at the Festival of Champions, and still posted a top 20 finish despite losing Bethany Sholl mid-race and also missing their #6-7 runners. Laura Volan led the way with a 20:04 with Sam Saraceno 6 seconds back and Marissa Carbone hitting 20:28. With Hannah Griffin coming off of back-to-back PR weeks, and Lawsure and McKeown expected to run, Scarborough should have more than enough fire power to run to another win down at Noble this week. Serena Mckenzie has run well all year, and will try to outlast the Scarborough pack for her third win of the year. Look for the Red Riots to also continue to improve as a team after 9 of their athletes recorded season bests at FOC
The Scarborough boys had a banner day last week, after winning the Festival of Champions by a handsome 42 points. With the 4-5-8 finishers on the day, the Red Storm had more than enough to get the job done. Scarborough was excellent across the board, and should be able to run well enough to win down at Noble this week. Sholl, Doughty, and Tardiff all hit sub 16:30 performances at Belfast, which would make them the top 3 seeds going into this Friday by over a minute.
Cheverus, Gorham, Thornton @Massabesic
Massabesic put together their best showing of the season last week, finishing as the 2nd Class A team at FOC. Running on their challenging home course, they should roll here this week to a team victory. Emily Wasina rebounded after a tough weekend at Manchester, with a 20:21 performance, which was good for 39th place. Dimasrantonio followed up her strong day at Manchester with another sub 21:00 performance, while freshman Kylie Johnson was also under 21:00. The Mustangs are starting to heat up, so watch out for them as the season rolls on. Anna Slager and Meadow Fortier had strong runs for Gorham over at Thetford Academy, VT last weekend, which is a course that is comparable in difficulty to Massabesic's. If Slager is able to repeat her performance from Saturday, she should run at the front of the pack from the gun.
Jesse Southard kept his great season rolling with a top 25 finish at Thetford last week, while Cheverus made great strides towards claiming a State Meet spot. The Stags had a 21st place finish with 10 of their boys hitting season or personal bests. Josh Veroneau hit 17:11 to lead his team, while 3 more of his teammates broke 19:00 on the day. Look for the Stags and the Rams to lock horns in a pretty good team battle, with the team who is better on hills coming out on top.
Biddeford, Deering, Windham @Sanford
This will be a great matchup between several teams who have a very good shot to make the state meet. Biddeford has done nothing but improve all year long with their young roster, and will get quite the challenge when they take on the tough course at MacDougall Orchard. The trio of Mcneil, Young, and Laverriere came out strong and ran personal bests and sub 22:00 performances last week at FOC. While #2 runner Leia Dorais did not finish, look for her to make a comeback this week along with Lani Melton, which should help Biddeford win the battle of 4-5 runners. Deering will also make a strong push for the victory with their top 3 running better than almost any other in the SMAA. With this being an unforgiving course, don't expect fast times.
Ben Breton and Co. had a good weekend last weekend in VT, and beat the #9 ranked Blue Blazes on their home course two weeks ago. After coming off of a tough course, they should be prepared for the challenging hills that they will be presented with on Friday. Although Windham is tough, Biddeford and Deering will be right there pushing them for the victory. Abdi Hassan will lead the Rams into this contest, after running sub 17:00 last week. Jordan Cook just missed sub 17:00 at FOC and will lead Biddeford who has been one of the surprises of the SMAA this fall. This may very well be the best team battle of the day, so keep an eye on what happens down in Sanford this week.