Class B
Last week's Western Maine Conference Championship gave us a glimpse of the individual race we might see on Saturday at the Class B Regional Championship.
MileSplit50 #8 Martin Horne of Freeport comes in the favorite after winning the WMC title in a sprint finish over MileSplit50 #9 Jack Bassett of Cape Elizabeth, the winning margin for Horne was two seconds. In fact the week before that was the same winning margin when the two squared off at Cape.
So far this fall Horne has won four times including his last three races. Amongst those wins was a new personal best 16:29 two weeks ago at Cape.
Horne has shown that if the race is tactical and comes down to the kick he has the edge.
Bassett will have to try something different if he wants to get ahead of Horne, but the junior runs very well at Twin Brook. Last year he finished 4th in the regional meet, and then 3rd in the state meet with a best time of 17:04 on the tough layout at Twin Brook.
Don't sleep of Wells junior Griffin Allaire who finished third in the WMC Championship race last week. Allaire ranked MileSplit50 #13 clocked 17:22 to finish just 8 seconds back of Horne. So far this fall he has run a best of 16:20.20.
Another runner that will be looking to mix it up with the leaders is Lincoln Academy senior Sam Russ. Russ won the KVAC Class B individual title last week in 17:26.80. A year ago he placed third in the regional meet & fourth in the state meet. Russ has a best of 16:32.70 this fall. His teammate Jarrett Gulden has had a strong fall that has seen the junior run 16:29.57 at the Festival of Champions for a seventh place effort. Gulden was the Class B runner-up at KVAC's last week as he clocked 17:39. Last fall Jarrett ran to a 6th place finish in the regional and state meet finish, running 17:15.45 for a best on the Twin Brook course.
Others to watch are Alfie Walker of Fryeburg Academy, Eli Hultstrom of York & Cape Elizabeth's Peter DiNinno.
Defending champion MileSplit50 #9 Lincoln Academy enters as the team favorite. The Eagles haven't been as dominate as a year ago but they still have the talent to repeat.
The Wildcats of York had a great team run to win the WMC team title by 17 points over Cape Elizabeth. York had a tidy 1 minute pack time last week. The Capers will look to turn the tables on Saturday, they were missing there regular number five runner Owen Patry last week.
Freeport can't be overlooked as the Falcons have a history of success at Twin Brook. They finished third in the WMC meet.