What a day it was at the Festival of Champions, six races with 1005 athletes running through the wet and mucky fields at the Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast. The course held up very well after recieving 9 inches of rain in the last week. Everything ran smoothly and despite the conditions many PR'S were set on the day.
Seeded Boys
With a strong field assembled, and no clear cut favorite to take the individual corwn, as well as having the top 3 teams in the MTCCA coaches poll, along with 8 of the top 10 teams in the poll in the race everyone waited in anticipation for this race to go off. The starting assignments placed Lewiston & Scarborough next to eahcother with Greely a couple boxes down. The runners ripped from the starting line and the fast pace was established right 
from the get go. There was a large pack at the front of the race containing all the top runners in the race. Luke Fontaine (Jr. Cony), Will Geoghegan (Jr. Brunswick), Nate Hathaway (Jr. Scarborough), Craig Robinson (Sr. Scarborough), Jason Kaake (Jr. Morse), Matt Driscoll (Sr. Lewiston) & Wade Davis (Sr. Hall-Dale) all in the lead pack, a chase pack was just off the back of these runners only a few strides behind consisting of James LePage (Sr. Greely), Logan Price (Jr. Greely) & Alex Moser (Jr. York). At the mile the leaders passed through in 5:03-5:04 range, the 2nd group was 5:10-5:12. The real racing started at the mile when Driscoll surged to the front and took control of the pace, he gapped the field heading up the incline, putting 5 meters on the pack. The team race was being won by Greely just after the mile, they had their top 3 in the top 12 spots with #4 not far off. Scarborough and Lewiston were pretty even at that point, each with three in the top 18.
Driscoll continued to lead as the entered the woods, he emerged with 10-15 meter lead over the field and looked very strong. The pack was getting nervous at that point that
Driscoll may run away with the race. A chase pack was started after the exited the woods led by Robinson, Geoghegan, Hathaway & Fontaine. The 2nd chase pack was about 5-10 meters back led by Moser & Kaake. As the hit 2 miles Driscoll continued to lead, but the packs behind him were closing in, as the came up the the putside field the hit the 1k to go mark, the race was even once again. Moser had moved his way from the 2nd pack up into the the lead pack, which now was Fontaine, Geoghegan, & Driscoll. Robinson, Lepage & Davis were next with Hathaway falling back a little. As they took a sharp right downhill and then hit a steep uphill, Moser seized control. "I didn't really want to take the lead but I figured whatever, I was in the lead and was going to run as hard as could until I puked"- Moser commented after the race. "I just wanted to push myself harder than ever before". As they hit teh downhill section just before the short climb and run in to the finish the it became a 
two person race with Moser & Geoghegan making eachother stride for stride. Geoghegan made a move as they hit the hill before the downhill sprint, Moser countered and they were evn with 100 meters to go. Moser changed gears and kicked home for the impressive 16:28 victory over Geoghegan 16:3. When asked about the finish, Moser replied "I knew I had the race won as we crested the hill, I had complete confidence in my kick, I wasn't in a full sprint yet and knew no one was going to outkick me". The runners piled in fast & furious, Fontaine garbbed 3rd with a 16:34, there was a great sprint finish between LePage & Robinson for 4th, with LePage edging Robinson. Driscoll held off a hard charging Davis for 6th, Hathaway was 8th with Kelton Cullenberg closing in for 9th, Price rounded out the top ten.
The team race was very close, and it wasn't immediately known who emerged victorious. Greely had placed 3 guys in the top 11, with their #4 at 21. Scarborough had two in the top 8, with #3 at 18. Lewiston also had 3 guys in the top 20. Without factoring in the freshman race results no one really knew who had come out on top until the awards ceremony. Lewiston ended up a strong 3rd with 136 points, avergaing 17:35 with a 1-5 spread of 1:33. Greely was 2nd with score of 99, they averaged 17:18 with a 1:32 spead 1-5. Scarborough came out on top in a close battle with 92, just a 7 point win. They averaged 17:21 with a 1:10 spead for 1-5. Scarborough came in to the FOC ranked #2 in the MTCCCA poll with Greely at #1, and Lewiston at #3, all three teams proved they were worthy of these rankings. WMC teams Falmouth & York were 4th & 5th respectively.
I recieved an email this morning from one of the athletes parents and though I would share it will the rest of viewing public, goes to show you that XC kids are classy
I would like to metion to you a display of sportsmanship by Jason Kaake at the FOC. Jeremy Earl caught a tree root under the muck and stumbled and twisted hid knee, Kaake slowed up and checked to see if he was alright. I think that display of sportsmanship may have cost him top ten time.
Top 20 Boys
1 Alex Moser JR York 16:28.6 2 Will Geoghegan JR Brunswick 16:31.3 3 Luke Fontaine JR Cony 16:34.0 4 James LePage SR Greely 16:40.3 5 Craig Robinson SR Scarborough 16:41.9 6 Matt Driscoll SR Lewiston 16:43.5 7 Wade Davis SR Hall-Dale 16:43.5 8 Nate Hathaway JR Scarborough 16:50.9 9 Kelton Cullenberg JR Mt. Blue 16:51.4 10 Logan Price JR Greely 16:55.2 11 Mark McCauley JR Greely 17:04.4 12 Jason Kaake JR Morse 17:15.9 13 Ryan James JR Belfast 17:21.8 14 Liam Cassidy JR Brunswick 17:25.6 15 Gary Ward JR Lincoln 17:26.9 16 Robbie Leeman SR Lewiston 17:28.4 17 Ben Chapman JR Ellsworth 17:29.0 18 Sam Chick SR Scarborough 17:29.9 19 Hossein Ibrahim SO Lewiston 17:33.6 20 Lauren Turner SR Leavitt 17:36.0
Top 7 teams
Team Scores
=================================================================================
Rank Team Total 1 2 3 4 5 *6 *7 *8 *9
=================================================================================
1 Scarborough High School 92 5 8 18 31 30 69 76
Total Time: 1:26:45.11
Average: 17:21.02
2 Greely High School 99 4 10 11 22 52 65 68
Total Time: 1:26:31.50
Average: 17:18.30
3 Lewiston High School 136 6 16 20 36 58 117 120
Total Time: 1:27:57.20
Average: 17:35.44
4 Falmouth High School 196 19 24 38 45 70 102 134
Total Time: 1:29:43.60
Average: 17:56.72
5 York High School 259 1 41 59 75 83 95 96
Total Time: 1:29:57.10
Average: 17:59.42
6 Mt. Blue High School 287 9 39 40 94 105 179 242
Total Time: 1:30:34.30
Average: 18:06.86
7 Yarmouth High School 319 37 43 53 63 123 141 178
Total Time: 1:31:39.00
Average: 18:19.80
Seeded Girls
The last race of the day might have been the one everyone was looking forward too. This race featured plenty of talent, with three star freshman in the field and others who have run some fast times this fall the chance for a great race was expected. This was also freshman phenom Abbey Leonardi's debut at 5k, Leonardi sprinted to the front and never looked back, as she let everyone know that she was going to run her pace. With Leonardi out front, there was a great race going on behind her. The chase pack was led by Lauren Fecteau (Jr. McAuley) with Rachel Wilkinson (Jr. Gorham), Abby Mace (Fr. 
Maranacook), Michaela Swiatek (So. York) & Fiona Hendry (Fr. Cheverus) making up the chase pack. Abbey continued to lenthen her lead as they approached the mile, which she crossed in high 5:30's. As the climbed the uphill and started for the woods, the two other freshman Mace & Hendry had moved up into 2nd & 3rd and would wage a back and forth race the rest of the way. In the team race Caribou had three in the top 156, with Scarborough having 4 girls in the top 25.
Leonardi emerged from the woods with a conmmanding lead, she looked strong and had a chance to take down the course record. Mace & Hendry along with Wilkinson remained close together, with Fecteau about 5 meters off of them as they approached the 2 mile marker. Mary Jo Sheehan (So. Caribou) & Mallory Goding (Sr. Greely) were next in line with a large group moving up behind them led by Melody Lam (Jr. Mt. Blue), Kim Spencer (Jr. John Bapst) & Swiatek.
With Leonardi all alone her pace slowed a bit, but given the course conditions her 18:43 run was still 
very impressive and lets the rest of the state know who is the top female runner in Maine this year. Her 47 seconds victory showed just how dominate she was today. Mace & Hendry continued to match strides all the way to the finish line, with Hendry using her feathery stride to kick past Mace for 2nd 19:30-19:32 respectively. Wilkinson came home for a strong 4th and his non freshman in the race. Fecteau battled to the line to break 20, with a 19:55. Lam worked her way up to 6th with Sheehan in 7th and Goding in 8th. Cumerland RI's Natasja Rittling (So.) came on strong for 9th, Heather Spurling (Sr. MDI) ran a gutsy race on a sore ankle to finish 10th.
Again with three different races and hundreds of runners, it was hard to know who came away with the team title. Scarborough didn't have a runner in the top 10 but did have 4 girls finish between 
11-21, #5 was back a little. Unranked MDI & Falmouth along with Mt. Blue both looked like they had strong days. Ultimately Scarborough was victorious with a score of 131, easily outdistancing surprise runner-up MDI by 57 points. Scarborough averaged 21:02 with a 1-5 spread of 2:02. Scarborough showed they are the favorite to win the Class A title this fall with today's performance. MDI a team always known for its late season form, showed it will be a team to watch come November's state meet. Led by Spurling's top ten finish, MDI packed the rest of there top 5 girls in between 30th and 60th.Mt. Blue was 3rd and the top KVAC team with 206 points, led by Melody Lam's 6th place finish & a tight pack from the #2-#4 girls were the keys, if they can egt the #5 runner closer, they will be a team to watch come November. Another unranked team was 4th in Falmouth, who had a great day, no one in the top 30 but 4 girls in before the 45 spot. Brunswick rounded out the top 5 with a score of 257.
Top 20 Girls
1 Abbey Leonardi FR Kennebunk 18:43.2 1
2 Fiona Hendry FR Cheverus 19:30.9 2
3 Abby Mace FR Maranacook 19:32.0 3
4 Rachel Wilkinson JR Gorham High School 19:49.3
5 Lauren Fecteau JR McAuley High School 19:55.9 4
6 Melody Lam JR Mt. Blue 20:14.0 5
7 Mary Jo Sheehan SO Caribou High school 20:17.7 6
8 Mallory Goding SR Greely High School 20:18.9 7
9 Nastasja Rittling SO Cumberland HS-RI 20:20.8 8
10 Heather Spurling SR MDI 20:23.7 9
11 Melissa Dellatorre JR Scarborough 20:26.8 10
12 Brianne Dunn SO Ellsworth 20:27.4 11
13 Abby Chick SO Scarborough 20:28.4 12
14 Kim Spencer JR John Bapst 20:29.6 13
15 Hannah Wiley JR Kennebunk 20:30.1 14
16 Dacie Manion SO Old Town 20:32.3 15
17 Amelia Lundkvist JR Cheverus 20:35.1 16
18 Dayna Michaud SO Caribou High school 20:46.3 17
19 Whitney Chamberlain SR Scarborough 20:49.4 18
20 Morgan Beede JR Cony HIgh School 20:49.9 19
Top 7 Teams
Team Scores
=================================================================================
Rank Team Total 1 2 3 4 5 *6 *7 *8 *9
=================================================================================
1 Scarborough High School 131 10 12 18 21 70 72 98
Total Time: 1:45:13.30
Average: 21:02.66
2 Mount Desert Island HS 188 9 30 42 51 56 68 71
Total Time: 1:48:04.20
Average: 21:36.84
3 Mt. Blue High School 206 5 33 36 37 95 117 143
Total Time: 1:48:07.90
Average: 21:37.58
4 Falmouth High School 218 31 32 39 43 73 134 142
Total Time: 1:49:11.90
Average: 21:50.38
5 Brunswick High School 257 22 28 58 67 82 103 130
Total Time: 1:49:48.20
Average: 21:57.64
6 John Bapst Memorial HS 271 13 41 52 59 106 115 116
Total Time: 1:49:57.00
Average: 21:59.40
7 Brewer High School 272 24 48 49 75 76 109 120
Total Time: 1:50:41.80
Average: 22:08.36
Unseeded Boys
Starting things off was the Boys unseeded race which had 256 finishers cross the line. The mad dash 
off the starting line was impressive to watch, out front early were Colin Popper (Bangor), & George Mills (Brunswick) led the pack out during the first mile. Eventual race winner Tim Rossner (Sr. Belfast) was in 3rd about 15 meters back of the leaders, and just behind him was Jack Gomberg (Sr. Winthrop), who finished less than a second behind Rossner for 2nd place. As they moved to the uphill portion just after the mile the runner strung out a bit, coming out of the woods Gomberg and Rossner had moved to the front and it remained like that all the way to the finish. Both crested the hill for teh sprint in side by side, Rossner had just enough sprint to hold off Gomberg and a hard charging Mills, just 2 seconds seperated places 1-3.
(Rossner & Gomberg battle to the line)
Top 10 Boys
1 Tim Rossner SR Belfast 18:56.6 2 Jake Gomberg SR Winthrop 18:57.1 3 George Mills SO Brunswick 18:58.9 4 Samuel Peterson JR Yarmouth 19:07.5 5 Mike McCann SO Winslow 19:08.2 6 Kalle Bailey SO GSA 19:21.5 7 Evan Vincent SO Maranacook 19:21.5 8 Jarred McCartney JR Hermon 19:23.0 9 Willie Leach JR Belfast 19:24.1 10 Nate Rioux SR Falmouth 19:25.7
Unseeded Girls
Once again 
the race went out fast & furious, with Rachelle Greene (So. Scarborough) & Jenny Synder (Jr. Scarborough) leading the pack of 172 girls off the line. As the race settled in Megan Stroud (So. Greely) worked her way to front to control the race along with Brooke Murphy (Sr. Winslow). During the climb just after the mile Sorrel Dunn (So. Oxford Hills moved up into 3rd with Anne Ryan (So. Yamouth) running in a close 4th. Coming out the woods section Stroud had taken control of the race and was alone, Dunn moved into 2nd with Murphy holding on in 3rd, with Kaysie Pelletier (Jr. Caribou) working her way up to 4th. Stroud would go on to win the unseeded section, crossing the line 22:38 which was 7 seconds up on Dunn (22:45).
Top 10 Girls
1 Megan Stroud SO Greely 22:38.2
2 Sorrel Dunn SO Oxford Hills 22:45.1
3 Adriana Walsh SO Winslow 23:02.0
4 MyKaila Carver SO Leavitt 23:16.0
5 Kaysie Pelletier JR Caribou 23:17.3
6 Brooke Murphy SR Winslow 23:25.1
7 Ashley Harriman JR Cony 23:31.6
8 Sara Nims SO Cony 23:33.5
9 Mariah Ward SO Hampden 23:42.8
10 Anne Ryan SO Yarmouth 23:46.3
Freshman Boys
While the freshman boys don't get the attention that the freshman girls have this year, there was still a solid field assembled for today's race. Despite being freshman several of the 
athletes in the freshman race are members of their varisty team top 7, and with the unique format at the FOC, their times would count towards their team scores.
It was evident early that Tim Follo (Falmouth) wanted to seize control of the pace and run his style of race. Follo has been Falmouth's #1 or #2 runner all fall. With Follo taking the pacing duties, Gabe Stewart (John Bapst) closely followed with Bangor's Jonathan Belanger by his side. After the mile, Follo continued to charge up the hill with others trying to chase him, Justin Leclair (Lewiston) had moved into 4th. The pace continued to be quick and their was a pack of 10 within 25 seconds as the emerged from the wooded section and headed towards the two mile. Follo continued to lead with Stewart stalking him, Lecalir had moved into 3rd and Belanger 
was in 4th. Chase Brown (Boothbay) was moving through the pack and was about 2-3 seconds back of the 2nd chase pack.
Follo continued his strong pace and went on for the win in an impressive 17:30, which ended up being the 19th fatsest time on the day. Follo is certainly a name to keep an eye on in the future! Stewart also broke the 18:00 barrier, clocking 17:39 good for 23rd overall. Both runners ended up being the top runners for their teams. Brown moved his way through the rest of the field to capture 3rd with Leclair a step back in 4th.
Top 10 Boys
1 Timothy Follo FR Falmouth 17:30.1 2 Gabe Stewart FR John Bapst 17:39.3 3 Chase Brown FR Boothbay 18:15.9 4 Justin Leclair FR Lewiston 18:16.5 5 Conor McGrory FR Falmouth 18:25.1 6 Matt Guiod FR Mattanawcook 18:26.3 7 Isaak Emery FR Greely 18:26.5 8 True Muzzy FR MDI 18:33.3 9 Wout Moulin FR Scarborough 18:37.2 10 Mitchell Finitz FR York 18:38.3
Freshman Girls
The talent of the freshman class this year is pheonmal, maybe the best in the history of Maine running.
With some of the top freshman opting for the seeded race, one would have thought the quality of the race wouldn't have been so good, but that certainly wasn't the case as there were many fine performances from the freshman girls race. Once again as with the boys, several of these ladies are in the top 7 for their teams and their times would later be merged in to calculate a team score.
Leading the way early on in the race was Katie McMahon (Brunswick), Sara Chavarie (Brewer) & Chelsea Oldfield 
(Foxcroft), as they ran in tight pack as the approcahed the mile mark. About 10-15 meters back was the chase pack led by Brianna Eaton (York), Emily Rand (Falmouth) & Addie Cullenberg (Mt. Blue). McMahon came out the woods with a short 15 meter led on Oldfield, with Cullenberg moving up to a 3rd another 15 meters back. It was clear the race winner was going to come from one of these three runners as they had distanced themselves from the rest of the field.
It would be McMahon taking the win with a 13 second victory over Oldfield. McMahon ran 21:05, which was good for 23rd overall, and led her Brunswick team. Oldfield clocked 21:18 good for 28th overall, and also #1 for her team. Cullenberg closed hard but was 6 seconds back in 21:24, 34th overall. The future is bright for Maine running and today's race showed why.