One of the most anticipated matchups of the young cross-country took place in Falmouth this afternoon at Community Park under ideal racing conditions. The course was in top shape, dry and will the surface hard packed. Ideal conditions for fast times, and both the girls and boys didn't disappoint.
On the girls side the meet featured the #2 ranked Cheverus Stags ladies, and the #3 ranked Scarborough Red Storm ladies, the defending Class A champs, along with #9 ranked Falmouth Yachtsmen. Right from the gun the lady stags meant business as they had 4 girls among the top 6. Leading the way was Emily Durgin, who stormed through the first mile in 5:50. Behind her teammate Fiona Hendry (picctured left) was next with Lianna Rubinoff (Chdeverus) & Ella Ramonas (Deering) in 4th. Back in 5th was Amelia Lundkvist (Cheverus) with Scarborough's Melissa Dellatorre.
As the runners exited the woods into the fields, headings toward the 2
mile mark, Durgin would continue to extend her lead, as she hit 2 mile in 12:30. The 2nd mile is the most difficult on the Falmouth course as it winds through the woods with some steep uphill sections before the final hills hits the fields. By the 2 mile mark Cheverus was in control with the top 4 runners overall in the race. Ella Ramonas was still in 5th with Melissa Dellatorre (pictured right) Scarborough in 6th. Falmouth held down the next two spots with Erin Morris & Maggie Parrish, and rounding out the top ten was Scarborough's Abby Chick and Falmouth's Molly Ryan.
There was no doubt Cheverus had the team compeition won, but with 1200m to go 2nd place was still undecided as Scarborough held a slight 3 point lead over Falmouth. The last 1200m proved to be ley for the Red Storm as they moved well, and surged past Falmouth, closing well for Scarborough was 3rd runner Sara Dugas, 4th runner Margaret Benoit & 5th runner Emily O'Connor.
Durgin (pictured left) would cross the line first in 18:49.9, taking a huge chunk of off the course record set at last years WMC championships meet by Adele Espy (Waynflete) 19:03. Behind her the Stags would show they are the team to beat in Class A with Hendry (19:37) 8th fastest time ever on the course in 2nd, then Rubinoff in 3rd (20:07) 17th fastest ever on the course, followed by Lundkvist in 4th (20:21). Dellatorre would moved to 5th in the last 1200m (20:29) to round out the top 5.
Cheverus scored 24, while Scarborough 49, and Falmouth 66 rounde out the top 3 teams
Boys Recap
The showdown round #1 took place today on the boys side, with #1 ranked and defending Class A champion Scarborough going against #3 ranked Cheverus and #6 ranked Falmouth. The Red Storm defeated the Stags at the TA Relays at the beginning of the month, but that format relied on 7 runners, and the deeper Red Storm prevailed. Falmouth running on their home course was looking to see how
the measured up against the best team in Class A. These same teams will face off again next week at the Festival of Champions race in Belfast, so today was all about feeling eachother out.
The pace was intense from the gun, with Cheverus putting it's top 4 in the front pack along with Nate Hathaway (Scarborough) and Tim Follo (Falmouth). The first 800 was very quick, as Hathaway took command of the race as the circled the outer fields, before entering the woods. Dundas (pictured left of Cheverus) & Terwilliger (Cheverus) held down 2nd and 3rd with Follo in 4th followed by Snyder (Cheverus), Griffin (Scarborough), Woods (Cheverus), Morris (Scarborough) & Hall (Scarborough). It was evident this was going to be a duel between the Stags and Red Storm.
Hathaway had command of the race hitting the mile in 4:59, Dundas was about 6 seconds back in 5:05, with Follo
moving into 3rd with Terwilliger (who has recently battled some breathing issues) in 4th. Next was the pack of Scarborough/Cheverus runners all still together. Further back was Cole Hutchinson (Portland).
Hathaway emerged out of the woods, and promptly took a wrong turn heading left when he needed to go right, the mishap cost him 6 seconds according to Falmouth Coach Danny Paul. However, this wouldn't deter Hathaway from maintaining his lead over Dundas. Crossing the 2 mile mark in 10:25, Nate was 28 seconds up on Dundas, Follo (pictured right) was having a strong day in 3rd, while Terwilliger fell back to his teammates Snyder and Woods, along with Griffin and Morris of Scarborough as they crossed 2 miles all together. Hall was still in 9th but Hutchinson was closing in rapidly.
With 1200m to go Hathaway (pictured left) was chasing the record, as he circled the fields one last time before the long finishing straightaway. He powered home, and crossed the finish line in 16:09.5, a mere .7 seconds faster than the old record held by former Lake Region star Miles Bartlett run 4 years ago. Dundas would finish off a solid performance clocking 16:39, good for 14th fastest all-time on the course. Tim Follo haired streaked with red hair dye finished off a great day with a 3rd place finish, breaking 17 minutes with his 16:58. Follo's time was good for the 18th fastest individual ever at Community Park.. 800m specialist Andrew Snyder use dhis raw speed to pull away from the rest of the pack to
nab 4th (17:08), teammate Tim Woods was 5th (17:15) while the race for 6th was intense with Terwilliger holding off the fast closing Morris (17:18) to (17:18.5). Next through was Scarborough's 3rd runner Griffin in 8th (17:21). So Cheverus held the edge teamwise, Hutchinson closed for 9th (17:45) while freshman Robbie Hall (Scarborough) held on for 10th (17:53).
The team race was decided by the depth of the Red Storm, who were running without #3 runner Zach Brown (Out with illness), as Tom Hague (pictured right) finished 13th (18:04) to round out the top 5 scorers, however it was the finish of 6th man Joe Prosack 16th (18:08) finish that gave the Red Storm the tie breaking win over the Stags, after the scores were 39-39 through 5 runners. If you remember back to last fall the Stags won the Western Maine Regional title over Scarborough on a 6th man tie-breaker. Falmouth finished 3rd as a team with 55 points.