Northern Maine Class C Regional XC Preview
Special to MaineTrackXC by Paul Nantkes
The Eastern Regional Cross Country Championship meets will be held at the Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast Maine Saturday October 24th. Class C action is set to start at 1:20pm for the girls and 1:55 for the boys. The weather is predicted to be mostly sunny and in the low 50's. The top 1/2 finishers of teams that start the race qualify for States. The top 30 individuals qualify for States.
GIRLS RACE PREVIEW
Orono High School was the winner last year placing their top 5 runners in the top 8 finishers. Hannah Steelman finished 1st overall with the best time of the day in 19:03. With Hannah Steelman, Kassidy Dill, Camille Kohtala and Olivia Fandel all returning this season, Orono looks good to claim top honors this weekend. Tia Tardy is a transfer student to Orono High School this season and adds to the teams depth. Tardy has the fastest 3 mile and 5k girls times in Maine to date. The Red Riots are predicted to finish 1,2,3,6 and 7. George Stevens Academy should finish 2nd overall placing runners 4,5,8,10 and 11. Mattanawcook Academy has a chance to finish third, but with injuries may open the door for Limestone to finish in the top half. Foxcroft Academy is predicted to finish 4th and qualify for the State Meet.
Tia Tardy, Hannah Steelman and Kassidy Dill of Orono High School should finish in the top 3. Eliza Broughton and Zeya Lorio of GSA should round out the top 5 runners. Camille Kohtala of Orono, Olivia Fandel of Orono, Mary Richardson of GSA, Jen Clawson of Foxcroft Academy and Hannah Gutow of GSA are expected to round out the top 10. Other individual runners expected to qualify for the State Meet are Grace Graham of Greater Houlton Christian Academy, Natasha Clement of Bucksport, Allison Johnson from Limestone, Kassie Farley and Emilia Churchill of Washburn and Jordan Tanguay of Fort Kent. Mattanawcook Academy's top runners Vanessa Twombley, Elyssia Smith, Lauren Morrison and Kyleigh Oliver finish as a pack and are predicted to qualify as a team if healthy or as individuals finishing top 30.
Top 10 Individuals in 2015 (Click for all Individuals)
Top 3 Girls Teams (Click for all Team Scores)
BOYS RACE PREVIEW
The Orono High School boys scored 40 points placing their top 4 runner in the top 10 last year. Orono has a strong team this year and is predicted to repeat as champions this Saturday. Tristan Butterfield of Orono finished 1st last season in 16:34. Matt Keresey, William O'Neil, Gavin McDonald, Jonathan Steelman and Lowell Ruck represent some of the Orono depth this season and should all finish in the top 10. Orono High School is predicted to finish 2,4,6,7 and 8. George Stevens Academy led by John Hassett (top 3 mile and 5k times in Class C) is expected to finish 2nd Saturday. Foxcroft Academy, Washburn and Lee Academy are predicted to qualify for States. Bucksport has an outside shot as Mattanawcook Academy may not have a full squad to compete this weekend.
John Hassett finished 3rd last year, but has improved greatly over last season. Hassett is predicted to be the individual winner. Tristan Butterfield of Orono, Ollie Dillon of GSA and Matt Keresey of Orono High School will all be top contenders for runner up. Will Entwisle of GSA, William O'neil of Orono, Gavin Mcdonald of Orono, Jonathan Steelman of Orono, Lowell Ruck of Orono and Derek Baker should round out the top 10. Look for one of Orono's top runners Jonathan Spencer to return this week to add to the Red Riots depth. Other individuals to watch are Derek Baker of Washburn, Gabe Piquette from Foxcroft Academy, Skyler Fraga of Bucksport, Wesley Ganglfinger and Cole Winslow of Greater Houlton Christian Academy, Joshua Burris of Mattanawcook Academy, Daniel Gonczy of Bucksport and Howie Francis from Lee Academy. All of these fine runners are predicted to qualify for States.
Top 10 Individuals in 2015 (Click for all Individuals)
Top 3 Boys Teams (Click for all Team Scores)
Tardy and Hassett looking for PR's.
In preparing the Class C North preview I had an opportunity to speak with Tia Tardy of Orono High School and John Hassett of George Stevens Academy. Both runners have had an amazing transformation since last season. Tia Tardy and John Hassett are the predicted individual winners for the Class C Regional Meet this Saturday. John has the fastest time for Class C boys in the 3 mile and 5k runs this season. Tia has the the fastest times in Maine overall in the 3 mile and 5k runs.
I posed the same questions to Tia and John. "What are your goals for Regionals? What are you doing this week to prepare for Regionals? What did you do this Summer to improve so much over last XC season?".
Tia Tardy has a goal for her team to win the event. Her personal goal is to set a PR and finish in the 18:20's. "I hope all runners have PR's this weekend" Tardy stated. John Hassett has a personal goal of breaking 16:00 on Saturday. Both John and Tia seem to be preparing for this weekends race by hydrating, eating healthy, cutting back a bit on mileage, going over the race in their heads and getting more sleep. "Sleep is the key to a great race" said Tardy. Hassett stated "I am cutting back on mileage to be very fast at Regionals".
This summer both runners upped their mileage and trained with a plan. John increased mileage, did core work, lots of fast 1000m and mile repeats. John did most of this on his own. Tia did the same mileage increases over the summer along with strength training and core work. Tia worked with the club team that she co-founded, the Lincoln Lakes Track Club this summer.