Southwest Classic What the Athletes Think

Abbey Leonardi (Kennebunk) “What I'm looking forward to is to race at Twinbrook because I love that course!! I also want to be able to compare to my time last year (hopefully it will be faster!) and lastly just to race against teams that we wouldn't normally race against.”

Robert Hall (Scarborough) “I'm looking forward to the competition, because we haven't had many people to push us to run faster. I want see how we stack up against Gorham and Massebesic.” I’m also looking forward to actually running a 5k course.

Cortlandt Dunn (Gorham) “I am looking forward to getting to run the course before regionals which for us is going to be held there.”

Emily Durgin (Cheverus) “ It's really early in the season to be competing in such a big meet I think, but I’m just excited to see where everyone is at this early in the season. It will be fun to race against some teams we won’t see at states as well. So I'm looking forward to some great competition and also to see all the teams. “

Jeremy Earl (Gorham) “I'm looking forward to the competition in the meet, individually and teamwise. Individually there will be some good battles with runners.  And teamwise the scores will be very close together with the top teams. Everybody has a chance this early in the season and it will be a great look at where everyone is this early in the season. I'm very excited for this race.

Peter LePage (Massabesic) “I'm looking forward to see how our team matches up against Scarborough and Gorham in a big meet, and the opportunity to run against the top Class B schools, that we normally wouldn't see during the season.”

Adam Zieba (Cheverus) “It's a great opportunity to race against teams that we would normally not face. It is also a great chance to preview the course for the regional meet.”

Matt Clement (South Portland) “Well if I were running, it would probably be the population of the meet. It's a gigantic meet with teams we never race during the regular season, and it's great to race against that many people at the same time. The battles are larger, more intense, and much more exciting. Unfortunately, I will be in Massachusetts competing in a marching band show, so i won't be able to attend.

Bryant Perkins (Sanford) “I haven’t run an official 5k yet this season so I’m excited to see how I do time wise. But mostly I can’t wait to see how i match up against some of the top runners in the state. My goal is to go out there and compete. Let them know I’m there to stay.”

Mia Rapolla (Gorham) “I actually am not running this Saturday! I am going to visit Mt. St.

 Marys in Maryland on an official for lacrosse!”

Heather Evans (York) “I am really excited to be racing some new people. It will be fun running against someof the best runners in Maine, and I just hope I can stay with them and keep the pace up! I loved the Greely course at Twin Brooks, and I'm looking forward to running it again!”

Mitchell Finitz (York) “I'm really looking forward to the competition mostly. There are going to be a lot of teams racing so it's going to be challenging to stay up in the front, but I'm ready to see how far I can push myself. There are going to be a lot of kids to run against in this meet so I want to be able to stay with the top guys, and see how much I'll be able to push myself and how I'll do in the end of the race. I'm also interested in this meet because I'll be able to see what competition I'm going to have at regionals and states so I'll know who I want to stay with in those meets.