Northern Maine Class B Regional XC Preview


Northern Maine Class B Regional XC Preview

The Class B meet will feature mixture of teams from the KVAC & PVC as teams and individuals look to punch their tickets to Class B State meet at Twin Brook next weekend. 7 girls teams will look to qualify along with 8 boys team, along with the top 30 individuals in each race.


Individuals

Freshman Nick Dall was the surprise winner of the KVAC Class B title last weekend as he edged out Morse senior Chris Walfield by 3 seconds. Dall's winning effort was 17:46.10 a solid time for a the difficult course. Earlier this fall at FOC, Dall ran 17:31.97 at Belfast as he finished 3rd. Considering his time from a week ago it would appear Dall is ready to run in the low 17's.

Caribou senior Chathu Karunasiri will challenge for the individual title, Karunasiri is coming off a 13 second win as he captured the PVC Large School title at Mattanawcook XC last Saturday. Karunasiri has a best 5k of 17:36.75 this fall which came at FOC.

Caribou also should have Evan Desmond & Tsion Macleod in the front pack they finished 2nd & 3rd respectively at the PVC Championship as the edged out Presque Isle's Jason Bartley (17:13.17, to 17:13.99 to 17:14.93) Expect this trio to battle it out for a top 5 performance. Bartley ran 17:42 at FOC where he finished ahead of Desmond (17:54).

Waterville's Billy Chambers placed 5th at the KVAC Class B meet and has the 5th fastest time in region this fall with his 17:44.76 effort from FOC. Camden Hills sophomore Ricky Smith finished just .20 behind Chambers last weekend.

Camden Hills Caleb Love-Webb is a bit of a wild card. Love-Webb has the fastest 5k of all those competing this weekend, his 17:24.33 came way back on September. Caleb didn't finish the race at FOC, and his most recent result was a 17:47.57 effort at Camden Hills. He didn't compete last weekend at KVACs but MaineTrackXC has confirmed he's healthy and will be on the starting line this weekend. If he returns to form he could win it all.

Look for Waterville's Soren Nyhus,Peter Philbrook of MDI, & Daniel Rudolph of Caribou to contend for top ten finishes

Teams

Based off the fastest 5k of the season Caribou is seeded to win the meet with 48, with Waterville seeded for second place with 87. It looks like 8 boys team will advance to the State meet.

Last weekend at PVCs the Vikings of Caribou scored just 20 points, with an impressive 52 second split for their scoring 5 with a 17:26 average for 3 miles. Caribou got the best of the Panthers at FOC, and are the favorites capture the first Northern Maine Regional title.

The Panthers won the KVAC B title by 35 points over Belfast. Waterville has a 2:09 pack time and a 18:55 5k average.

Camden Hills was missing 2 of their top 3 runner at KVACs, so expect them to run much better this weekend. KVAC B runner-up Belfast has home course advantage which will help them lock up a state meet spot.

Old Town, Mt Desert Island from the PVC along with Winslow & Erskine Academy are other team likely to make the state meet.


Top 10 Individuals in 2015 (Click for all Individuals)


Top 3 Boys Teams (Click for all Team Scores)