The best part of Fall has come, post-season! And I'm not talking about the MLB (go Mets). The first week of Championship season starts with conference finals. The WMC's will be held at the beautiful St. Joes campus. Ever since they moved the conference meet here in 2011 it's been unpredictable about who's going to win. It's a relatively flat, and fast for the first 2 miles, the last mile is make or break for everyone, where it's filled with rolly hills, and windy trails. The hardest part about this course is, no one runs it through out the season, so it's almost a surprise to some runners.
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Division 1
Girls
Individuals
The Greely girls make their way to this race looking to take away another win as the duo of Katherine Lagget-Barr and Carolyn Todd look to lead the field. Barr has just come off an injury that she's been battling all season and at the right time too. The two have been together all season and just recently ran to new PR's this past week at NYA. going 19:03 and 19:15. Of course, Todd being a freshman, she hasn't ran this course, but neither has Barr. It will be a new experience for both of them. The defending champ returns to the course looking to repeat, (if Greely sits their top 3 like last year.) Mira Wyman of Falmouth ran 20:17 last year to win. If she runs smart again and hold back during the first 2 miles, she could run to a new PR like she did last year. Her PR this year is 19:50 from FOC, keep an eye on her at the front of the pack. Cape Elizabeth's Liv Palma is another to watch, she ran to a PR of 19:27 at FOC two weeks ago. This past week on her home course she won in a 19:26. Last year, Palma placed 3rd out of all the Division 1 runners with a 21:04 and will look to improve that mark. Also running with Palma is her teammates, Sam Feenstra, and Emma Shedd. Last week the two finished 2nd and 4th with Shedd leading Feenstra. They went 19:37 and 19:44 for 3 miles. Last year Feenstra lead her team on this course finishing with a 21:01 and finishing 2nd, but Shedd struggled a little while fighting an injury as she was just outside the top 10 with an 11th place finish. Look for her to be up with Palma and Feenstra this week. Also coming out of division 1 is Freeport's Lily Johnston. Johnston won her last meet, 2 weeks ago, in a 20:59 at Poland. She sat out last week at NYA to keep her legs fresh for this week. Like Barr and Todd, this will be a new course and a new race for her. She has a PR of 20:24 from Manchester. Look for her to be in the top 10. York's, Kathryn Miller, will try to run to another top 5 finish like she did last year. She was 21:21 on this course last year, and has shown that she's capable of running with Cape's front runners, Watch as she makes her way up the pack.
TOP 10 D1 Girls Individuals in 2015
Teams
It's going to be #2 Greely running away with things. After losing to Falmouth in the first week of the season 25-35, they turned things around and started to dominate all their opponents. Their highlight so far is finishing 2nd at the Manchester invite small schools race. Last week they won at NYA with score of 21 with a 20:16 average and a 2:04 split.
It's going to be a fight for 2nd between #4 Cape Elizabeth and #5 Falmouth. Falmouth has beat Cape two out of the three meetings they've had. Last week Cape got the better end of things as their #5 runner ran with confidence, and the result was a 19 point margin of victory for the Capers. If they can replicate their same results they'll easily snag 2nd, and maybe even give Greely a run for their money. But it's been shown that Cape's weakness is hills, They had a strong split of 55 seconds on their home course, with a 19:50 average over 3 miles, while Falmouth had a tighter split of 44 seconds but a 20:09 average.
Boys
Individuals
According to the Virtual meet, Freeport is going to finish 4th, but that's with everyone's PR's. The Falcons were cursed with injuries this season. If Henry Jaques recovers from his skateboard accident, they should have their top 7 ready to rumble this week, Chandler Vincent and Henry Jaques have been one of the best 1, 2 runners in the state this fall. Jaques has a PR from Manchester with a time of 16:28, Chandler's SB is 16:37. Last year he was 5th out of all the division 1 runners with a time of 17:26, Watch for him to lead the division 1 field. If Jaques runs, he'll be right behind Chandler. Last year he finished 30th with an 18:57. Matching Jaques PR last week was Ryan Morrison from Greely. Morrison put some serious miles in over the summer and he hasn't let them go to waste. Last year he was 11 seconds behind Chandler with a 17:37 and finishing 6th, this year he's looking to be at the top. His teammate, Kyle Hansen is looking for a top 10 appearance as well. He has a PR of 16:59 from Manchester. He was 9th out of the division 1 runners last year, going 17:44.
The Falmouth Yachtsmen have clocked some of the fastest times out of all the WMC reams with Jeremiah Sands leading the way. Last week he won over Cape's 3 mile course in a 16:11. This is his first year running and has posted a few impressive times. At FOC he was 10th with a 16:29. Not far behind him are his teammates Sean Soucy, Josh Simensky, and Ben Wyman. Soucy has a SB of 16:47. He's no stranger to this course as he's ran it for the past 3 years. Something went wrong last year as he was 11th with a 17:47… which was the same exact place and time he ran the year before! Watch as he'll be paced by his teammates. Surprise, Josh Simensky didn't race this last year nor the year before, it'll be almost new to him. He has a SB of 17:09 from racing at Yarmouth. He won't be far behind Soucy. Finally, Ben Wyman has been stepping it up for the Yachtsmen as their #4 runner and has been doing quite a good job at it. He won the JV race last year in an 18:24.
Last year Rex Brockelman from York was 8th with a 17:42, he and his teammates, Sam Sewall, and Ress Schaeffer, will go for a top 10 finish. Sewall was 12th with a 17:48 while Schaeffer was 16th with an 18:12.
TOP 10 D1 Boys Individuals in 2015
Teams
#2 ranked Falmouth comes into this meet as the reigning champs and will try to go back to back. With Sands in the line-up, they most definitely can do that, even if Freeport is at 100%. Falmouth won at Cape Elizabeth with only 22 points a week ago. They had a 16:33 average with a 50 second spread. Their 1-5 split is what makes them the stronger team over Freeport.
Last week #7 Freeport had an interesting meet. They had 2 guys from their top 7 actually race, then a few others paced their JV team and 1 who sat out. They haven't raced as a whole nor at 100% since the first week of the season. This week should be different for them. If Freeport isn't at 100% though, that means York will snag the runner-up spot.
The #4 York boys won with 17 points at Traip's 3 mile course. They had a split of only 28 seconds and an average of 16:18. That's faster than what Falmouth ran at Cape, But we saw at FOC York can't run man to man with Falmouth.
Also in the competition for second is #5 Greely, who's been improving with each race trying to show that they're a team to beat. They were the 3rd place team at Manchester at the end of September and won last week at NYA with a score of 24. They averaged 17:35 with a 1:43 split. They will look to compete with York & Freeport in what could be a state meet preview in a few weeks.
Division 2
Girls
Individuals
The Yarmouth Clippers will look to put on a show and go girl for girl, runner for runner with Greely as Abbey Hamilton, who's beaten Barr once this year, will try to do it a second time on a course she's got a slight advantage on. Last year she was 4th for the division 2 girls as she ran to a 21:03. She's made some big changes this year as she's been leading her team and winning almost every race. She sat out of last week's race and put in some hard training. She looks to be the best in the whole WMC. Along with Hamilton, her teammates, Grace Cowles and Anneka Murrin will try to run with her. Cowles lead her team last year to a first place finish with a 20:26, while Murrin was just behind Hamilton with a 21:10. These 3 runners have been Yarmouth's advantage all season and will try to use this perk again to get yet, another win. The key for the Yachtsmen may be junior Georgia Giese who ran her first career xc race last week in 21:11 at Sacopee Valley, she switched from field hockey in early September but last week was the first week Yarmouth was able to get her into a race. She could be the X factor down the stretch for the Clippers.
The duo from Fryeburg has been putting on a show for the state to see. Anna Lastra and Emily Carty have come up and dropped big PR's this year. Lastra had a big day last week as she ran with Greely's freshman, Carolyn Todd. She placed 3rd with a 19:17, a new PR for her. Last year, she had to drop out the conference championship but this year she looks to prove herself and complete the race with a top 5 performance. Carty didn't run as strong as Lastra did last week, as she was 4th with a 19:48. Carty has a PR of 19:28 on the year and was 6th with a 21:16 last year. Fiona Ahearne from Maine Coastal Waldorf will lead her team this week. She was 3rd at Cape's 3 mile course with a 19:41. She's been consistently in the mid-high 20's all season. But the 6:33-6:34 pace she ran last week should build her confidence some to help her ran with the pack and place in the top 10.
Teams
No question from Division 2 that the #3 ranked Yarmouth Clippers will repeat as champs. They were without #1 and #2 runners last week and still averaged 21:03 for a 5k. They've been running hard and strong all year and the additon of Giese makes them even better.
Fryeburg will look to get the runner up position and appear to be in good shape with Lastra and Carty leading the way for this team. They finished 2nd to Greely last week at NYA as they averaged 21:14 with a 3:31 split. If they can bring their rear up and close that spread a little more, they'll be in a strong position to just challenge even some division 1 teams.
Boys
Individuals
The 2nd fastest runner currently in the State, Luke Laverdiere, will try to get another "W" underneath his belt as he goes into St. Joes. Running this race last year, Laverdiere ran with some of the top runners as placed 3rd overall, 1st out of the division 2 runners. He has a PR of 16:03 from Manchester. Last year he was 17:10, this year he hasn't even gone above 16:40. He's had the past 2 weeks off from racing and put in a lot of hard training. Unless if something goes horribly wrong, he'll be the race winner. Laverdiere's teammate, Sammy Potter, will make a run at the top 10 for division 2. He has a PR of 17:22 from Manchester. Potter took last week off with Laverdiere and put some serious training in. He's gonna have fast legs for this week. He didn't run St. Joes course last year. He'll be in for a new adventure. Also watch for Patrick Carty, he was the runner up out of the division 2 runners last year and looks to do it again. He was 17:23 last year and will attempt to go under 17 this week. Running at NYA, he was 16:54, a new seasonal best for him. With the speed of division 1 pushing the pace, he could potentially run to another SB this week. Maine Coastal Waldorf's, Tucker Pierce has run this course a handful of times, with the experience he's gained from the past two times, should help him move up and challenge Carty more. He was 3rd last year with a 17:41. This past week he was in the mix of Falmouth runners going 16:27 for 3 miles at Cape. Watch as he tries to challenge Carty and see who gets the last laugh at the end of the hills.
Teams
According to the virtual meet, the Yarmouth gents look to get the win. But again, it's only looking at PR's. Yarmouth is lead by Laverdiere, and that gives them a huge advantage over all the competition. Even though Laverdiere and Potter sat last week, the Clippers still won over Waynflete and Kennebunk as they averaged 18:33 with a 1:01 split. Of course that split will be much broader when Laverdiere races, but that average will drop almost 45 seconds with Laverdiere and Potter in the lineup.
Wells would be in the competition too if their #5 runner could move up. Wells is lead by Wesley Moody and Mitch Libby. Wells finished 2nd to York last week with a 2:18 spread and a 17:31 average. Wesley has some experience for the team as he's run this course in the past, last year he ran an 18:42. That's a good start for them considering he was under 16:40 for 3 miles last week. If they can get their #4 and #5 runners to come up and tighten that pack time, they'll be safe with snagging the runner up position.