Each week Sam Bonsey will take a look around the state as he recaps the action on the trails, and gives you a few quick takes.
WMC Action
Falmouth junior Jeremiah Sands picked up his second win of the season on Friday afternoon at York high school. Sands showed grit as he covered the three-mile course in 16:53. His teammate, sophomore John Auer, finished second in 17:32, with Connor Piers (17:35) and Yarmouth's Sammy Potter (17:41) finishing right behind. Ryan Simpson was the first running to cross the line for York placing fifth in 17:46. The Yachtsmen dominated the meet finishing 1-2-3-6-7 scoring just 19 points. Yarmouth, who was running without Luke Laverdiere, was second with 53 points.
On the girl's side Yarmouth's potent duo of Abby Hamilton and Anneka Murrin went 1-2 to help the Clippers defeat WMC rivals Falmouth and York. Hamilton got her second win of the season running 18:50, while Murrin was nearly forty seconds back in 19:29. Falmouth was led by junior Malaika Pasch, who finished third in 19:47, followed by Grace Reynolds (20:01), Kathryn Miller (20:21) and Malia Cryan (20:58) of York, who finished second as a team with 43 points. Yarmouth went 1-2-7-8-9 to score 27 points.
At Traip Academy in Kittery the Greely girls cruised to an easy victory over Kennebunk, Traip and Lake Region. Katherine Leggatt-Barr covered the 5k course in 18:12, with teammate Carolyn Todd finishing second in 18:48. Louise Holway of Kennebunk was third in 19:21.The Greely girls scored just 19 points. The Greely boy's finished 1-5 to scored a perfect 15 points. Senior Max Stickeny picked up his first win of the season running 16:46, with Luke Maransanskis 21 seconds back in 17:07.
The Freeport Falcons and Cape Elizabeth Capers went at it at St. Dom's Academy with Freeport edging Cape 32-33. Henry Jaques got his second win of the season running 17:21, which was more than a minute ahead of Jack Bassett of Cape Elizabeth who was second in 18:35. Jaques teammate Yacob Olins was two seconds back in 18:37. On the girl's side, Fryeburg junior Emily Carty got the win finishing in 20:44 with Ella Brown and Caroline Castonguay of St. Dom's finishing in second and third running 21:37 and 21:55 respectively. Kelsey Kennedy finished fourth to lead the Capers to a 38-40 win over St. Dom's. Cape ran as a group to take spots 7-11, and finished with a 1:05 1-5 split.
QT#2: The Class B girls competition looks to be between Yarmouth and Greely this year... Yarmouth has looked very impressive so far in 2016 highlighted by their win at the Laliberte Invitational. Senior Abby Hamilton is off to a tremendous start to her season as she became just the second girl to break 18:00 at Cape Elizabeth running 17:59. With Anneka Murrin Yarmouth has one of the top duo's in the state. However, the Greely Rangers have just of good a duo -- if not better -- with Katherine Leggatt-Barr and Caroyln Todd. The performances from both teams 3-5 runners as the season goes along will likely decide to comes out on top between these two.
KVAC Action
Hampden Academy sophomore Wyatt Lord picked up another win this season as he covered the 5k course at Waterville high school in 16:59. Nick Dall of Waterville finished second in 17:38, while Messalonskee's Zachariah Hoyle (17:56), Will Webb (18:09) and Dominic Sclafini of Oxford Hills (18:41) rounded out the top-five. Sclafini led Oxford Hills to a team win as the Vikings scored 55 points edging Waterville who scored 63. Brewer was third with 70 points, while Hampden Academy, who was running without Paul Casavant, was fourth with 71. On the girl's side, Cecilia Morin defended her home course winning in a time of 21:41, her second win of the season. She finished ahead a trio of Messalonskee finishers (Alexa and Avery Brennan, and Peyton Arbour). The Eagles upended Brewer 35-39 in the team score.
At the Quabacoom Relays at Morse high school Mt. Ararat's Lisandro Berry-Gaviria continued his impressive freshman campaign covering the 2.6 mile course in 13:54 -- the fastest time of the day. He was six seconds ahead of Mt. Blue senior Tucker Barber who was second in 14:00. Jacob Gamache of Edward Little was third in 14:24 with Lewiston's Isse Tawane less than a second behind in 14:24.1. Mt. Blue won the meet as they won three out of the seven individual relays scoring 11 points. Cony senior Anne Guadalupi won the girl's race running 16:30 finishing 17 seconds ahead of Katherine Leckbee of Mt. Ararat, who finished second. Cony took the team competition winning two of the seven relays scoring 21 points.
At Troy Howard middle school in Belfast, Lincoln Academy sophomore Sam Russ led the Eagles to a sweep over Erskine Academy, Medomak Valley, Oceanside and Belfast as he completed the course in 17:42.6. On the girl's side, Tahlia Mullen and Emma Allen both finished in 22:14 to finish first and second respectively to help lead the Eagles to a 24-33 win over Belfast.
QT#1: Wyatt Lord has been the most impressive runner in the KVAC... Lord started his season with a win at Skowhegan high school running 16:40 for 5k, beating the Class B Eastern Maine favorite Nick Dall in the process. His 16:40 currently sits as the second fastest time in the state. After winning quite easily on Friday -- and beating a very experienced senior in Zachariah Hoyle -- Lord has put himself into the discussion as the favorite in Class A. As of right now he has been the most impressive runner in Eastern Maine, but more importantly he has helped the Bronco's fill its no. 1 spot with Paul Casavant recovering from a stress-fracture. If Casavant can return to his 2015 form, Hampden Academy will have the best duo in the state.
QT#2: Lisandro Berry-Gaviria is really, really good Berry-Gaviria is just a freshmen but certainly hasn't run like one in 2016. In the early part of the season he's shown that he's already a favorite in the competitive KVAC. He's already beaten well established runners in the conference such as Zachariah Hoyle and Tucker Barber, and recently ran 17:35 on the historically difficult Mt. Blue course. He also finished second to Laverdiere at the Laliberte Invitational at Cony high school running 14:09.70.
SMAA Action
Shamus Malia led the Scarborough Red Storm to a win at Massabesic high school on Friday covering the three-mile course in 17:35. Alexander Swett of Massabesic was second in 17:35, with Scarborough's Andrew Goodwin and Connor Coffin finishing in third and fourth running 18:03 and 18:12 respectively. The Red Storm finished with 29 points to the Mustangs' 39. Bethany Sholl finished first in the girl's race helping the Red Storm win as she covered the course in 21:22. Scarborough went 1-3-4-6-16 scoring just 30 points, with Biddeford (45) finishing just ahead of Massabesic (46).
At Marshwood, Xander Keiter picked up his second win of the season running 17:55 leading South Portland to a win. Jeremy Bennett finished second in 18:51. Marshwood was second with 46 points, with Windham (67) and Cheverus (76) rounding out. Freshmen Hailey Applebee of Windham won the girl's race running 22:00. Mackenzie Young and Natalie Dubois finished second and third leading Marshwood to a win scoring 39 points. Serena McKenzie of South Portland was fourth in 23:32. Cheverus was second with 55 points, with South Portland (63) and Windham (66) rounding out the team competition. The Bonny Eagle girls looked dominant taking spots 1-5 at Sanford led by Kayla Raymond, who won running 20:54.At Noble, Yahya Nure's second place finish led the Deering Rams to a win over Westbrook, Gorham and Noble as he completed the course in 17:28.93. Josh Lombardo of Westbrook won the boys race in 17:24.83.
QT#1: There is no definitive boy's favorite in the SMAA... With Scarborough losing three seniors from last year's team, the long reign of the Red Storm in Western Maine may subside for a season. They still have as good a chance of anybody in the conference with Shaimus Mailia, Andrew Goodwin and freshmen Connor Coffin, but Windham, Deering, South Portland and maybe even Marshwood could contend with the Red Storm. What will separate one of these teams from the pack will be its depth. Windham has one of the top-duos in the conference in Ben Breton and Jeremy Bennett, and Deering had five runners run 19:00 or faster at Noble on Friday. South Portland has Keiter, who has emerged as a Western A title threat this season.
QT#2: Scarborough and Bonny Eagle girls are separating themselves from the rest of the region Bonny Eagle and Scarborough finished 1-2 at the Western Regional last year, and it could very well be the same story this year. The Falmouth Yachtsmen will be a threat to both teams, but the Red Storm and the Scots have a tremendous balance of front-runners and depth that few teams in the state have.
PVC Action
Bucksport Invitational The George Stevens Academy boy's and girl's teams looked dominant at the Bucksport Invitational on Saturday. John Hassett won the boy's race by over 50 seconds running 16:08.37 leading GSA to a 1-3-4-6-12 finish. GSA scored just 18 points. The GSA girl's took the first six spots overall as they scored a perfect 15 points. Class C individual threat Eliza Broughton won the race covering the three-mile course in 20:15.19.
Caribou Invitational The Orono boy's and girl's teams made it look easy on the 2.8 mile course at the Caribou Invitational. The girl's, who were led by Hannah Steelman's first place finish running 18:13.70, had four of the 12 fastest times of the day. Amanda Boyd of John Babpst was second overall running 18:18.57, with Kassidy Dill behind her in 18:24.66. Matt Keresey led Orono to a 1-4-5-8-11 finish as he covered the 2.8 course in 15:59.17, 12 seconds ahead of second place finisher Evan Desmond of Caribou (16:11.44). Desmond's teammate Dylan Marrero ran 16:17.21 for third to lead the Vikings to a second place finish.
QT#1: The George Stevens Academy girl's are deeper than Orono The Red Riots are the reigning Class C champions. They have Steelman and Dill, the best duo in the class, but GSA looked really impressive as it had six girls run 22:08 or better at Bucksport. Eliza Broughton will contend for the individual title, but their advantage against Orono is their depth. Orono's top five is very spread out and with GSA's tight pack, don't be surprised to see a new champion in Class C this year.
QT#2 John Hassett has picked up right where he left off The defending Class C champion is off to a hot start in 2016. He started his season winning the Ellsworth Invitational running 16:13.12, which was 27 seconds faster than when he ran last year. After a great outdoor season where he ran 1:58.98 and 4:24.03, Hassett is looking to become the best runner in the state regardless of class. He won't get significantly challenged in Class C, which means he'll have to wait until October to see where he stacks up against the rest of the state at the Festival of Champions. He finished ninth there last year.