Southern Maine Regional XC Championship Preview

Class C Girls' Team

After winning the D2 title at the WMC Championships last Friday, St. Dominic Academy comes into the Class C Southern Regional as the favorite to take the team title at the Twin Brook Recreation Park in Cumberland. St. Dom's was fourth at the regional in 2015, and have returned five of its top six from a year ago to make them the favorite. What's been vital for their performance in 2016 has been the emergence of sophomore Alexandra Hammerton, who won the D2 title at WMC's last Friday. She comes into the regional with a PB of 20:12 this year and will likely contend for the individual title. St. Dom's has a tight 1-5 spread which will be a factor in deciding a champion on Saturday. Ella Brown, who finished second at the Regional in 2015, was their no. 4 runner at the WMC Championships. Getting a solid performance from Brown will strengthen St. Dom's' chances for a regional title.

Maine Coast Waldorf recently finished fourth in D2 at the WMC Championships and will likely contend for a top three finish at the Regional. Leading the way for MCW is junior Olivia Skillings, who should contend for a high finish on Saturday. She recently finished sixth in D2 at WMC's and had her best race of the season at Festival of Champions running 20:12 to finish 29th. MCW finished second at the Regional in 2015. The achilles heel for this team is its 1-5 spread. They had a 3:00 1-5 split at the WMC Championships. They also have a very young team with three freshmen in its top five. Junior Louise Ahearne has been a very solid no. 2 runner for MCW, and recently finished 13th at WMC's. For MCW to contend with St. Dom's they'll need standout performances from its freshmen trio of Ava Teegardan, Caitlin Keliher and Eliza Mathis.

The Waynflete Flyers are another team to watch on Saturday. They are the defending Class C South Champions, and recently finished fifth in D2 at WMCs. Junior Abbyy Pipkin has been their no. 1 runner this year, and will likely need to contend for a top-10 finish on Saturday for the Flyers to compete for a high finish. They have a very solid no. 2 runner in senior Ellie Chidsey who will contend for a top-15 finish, but fall off after that. For them to be competitive, they'll need good performances from Sophia Mayone, Leeza Kopaeva and Anna Wildes. Other teams to watch on Saturday are Traip Academy and Monmouth Academy.

Class C Individual

Faith Blethen (Boothbay)  The sophomore has been on fire in 2016 having won six of seven races and comes into the Southern Regional as the individual favorite. She's the only girl in Class C south to have broken 20:00 this season and ran a PB of 19:39 back in early September. She proved she's one of the top runners in the state regardless of class after finishing 17th at Festival of Champions running 19:53.76. Last week Blethen won the MVC Championships at UMaine-Augusta running 20:57.

Alexandra Hammerton (St. Dom's) This is Hammerton's first season on the trails and she has been quite impressive. She recently won the D2 title at the WMC Championships running 21:13, and finished 27th at the Festival of Champions running a PB of 20:12.17. She's expected to challenge Blethen for the title on Saturday.

Sydney Sirois (St. Dom's) Sirois has been very solid in 2016 and comes into Saturday after finishing fifth in D2 at WMC's running 21:23. She ran a season best of 21:09 at Festival of Champions finishing 74th. Will likely challenge for a top five finish.

Olivia Skillings (Maine Coast Waldorf) Skillings finished ninth at the Regional in 2015 and recently finished sixth in D2 at WMC's running 21:26. She ran her SB at the Festival of Champions running 20:13.09 to finished 29th. Skillings will likely challenge for a top five finish.

Megan Alberding (North Yarmouth Academy) Alberding will look to contend for a top five finish after finishing seventh at the WMC Championships running 21:27. She ran a PB of 20:55.08 at Festival of Champions to finish 63rd overall.

Maine Coast Waldorf comes into the Southern Regional as the favorite in Class C. They are led by Tucker Pierce, who will challenge for the individual title. Maine Coast impressively had three runners break 18:00 at St. Joe's, which is a very difficult course. Dylan Wu and Nick Nevu finished fifth and sixth running 17:46 and 17:47 respectively, and if both can put in sub-18 performances at Twin Brook's, with Tucker challenging for the win, Maine Coast should have a great chance to take the Regional title. For that to happen though they'll need to improve upon their 2:50 1-5 split at the WMC Championships, which means getting standout performances from Eli Gunderson and Davis Ritger. They finished fifth in 2015.

Boothbay comes into the Southern Regional as defending 2015 champions. Junior Kyle Ames has led the way for Boothbay and recently finished second at the MVC Championships at UMaine-Augusta. Ames is a top three contender, and their 1-5 has a very tight spread. Blake Erhard has been their no. 2 man this season and was just 10 seconds behind Ames at MVCs finishing third. Getting two top-10 finishes for Boothbay could help secure a second straight Regional title.

Waynflete will look to contend for a top three finish on Saturday after finishing seventh in 2015. They are led by senior Wilson Moore, who has emerged as a top five individual candidate this season. He recently finished fourth in D2 at the WMC Championships.Henry Spritz has been their no. 2 runner this season and recently finished seventh in D2 at the WMCs running 17:49. With Waynflete likely getting two top-10 finishes from Moore and Spritz, they will likely be comfortable for a third place showing, but for them to compete with the elite of the class, they'll need its 3-5 runners to have standout races.Other teams that will compete for top five finishes are St. Dom's and North Yarmouth Academy.

Class C Boys Individual

Tucker Pierce (Maine Coast Waldorf) Pierce finished eighth at the Regional in 2015 and has had a tremendous season in 2016. The senior won the D2 title at WMCs running 17:08, and comes in with the fastest time in the region having run 16:29 which he ran at the Festival of Champions finishing ninth overall. Expect a two way battle between him and Jacob Hickey of Winthrop.

Jacob Hickey (Winthrop) Hickey has was the runner up in 2015 and has shown even better form in his senior season. He dominated the field at the MVC Championships at UMaine-Augusta running a very impressive time of 16:35.50. He finished just behind Pierce in 11th place at the Festival of Champions running a PB of 16:32.71.

Wilson Moore (Waynflete) Moore has been a very consistent performer in 2015 and comes into Saturday after finishing fifth in D2 at WMCs running 17:44. He raced at Twin Brooks two weeks ago running a fine time of 17:38 to finish third. He'll be ready to roll on Saturday.

Kyle Ames (Boothbay) Ames will look to challenge for a top five finish on Saturday after finishing 10th in 2015. He was the runner up to his teammate Hickey at the MVC Championships and ran a PB of 17:50.88 at Festival of Champions finishing 89th.

Nick Neveu (Maine Coast Waldorf) Neveu finished sixth in D2 at the WMC Championships running 17:46, and will likely challenge for a top five finish on Saturday. His best race came at the Festival of Champions where he finished 31st in a PB of 17:01.84.