Sep 25, 2010

Southwest Classic

Boys Varsity

The race was dominated by Silas Eastman of Fryeburg, as he pulled away from the field after the first 800m, and never looked back after that. For Eastman, he crossed the mile in 5:10, opening up a 7-8 second lead over the chase pack of Bryant Perkins (Sanford), Nick Morris (Scarborough) & Abshir Horir (Waynflete). Silas sporting the shades, continued to open up the gap seemingly unfazed by the heat and humidity by the 2 mile mark which he passed in 10:38, with the the chase pack now 30 seconds back. Logan Marshall (Gorham) joined the chase pack around 1 1/2 miles, as it was 4 strong heading into the final mile, as they ran stride for stride with eachother.

Eastman would run a strong last mile to stop the clock at 16:42, a fine time on a day the tempartures would reach into the mid 80's with some strong humdity. Horir from Class C Waynflete, showed he is a quick learner, he was able to finish the last mile very strong to nab 2nd place, Horir who is in his first season of xc time was 17:17. Scarborough's Nick Morris was the top Class A finisher as he finished 3rd 17:26. Bryant Perkins (Sanford) showed he'll be one of the top threats in Class A with his 4th place finish 17:36.1, with Logan Marshall (Gorham) just a whisker behind in 17:36.5 & Massabesic Jakob Brooks 17:37. The finish line was confusing to several on the day as there was the finish line clock, a blue line, and then a the white finish line, often athletes stopped a bit early confusing the actual finish lines.

The team race in the end was very very close as the #3 ranked Gorham Boys held on for a one point win over #8 Greely 115-116. For Gorham this was a statement race as they have been waiting for a day like this to prove they could be the top team in Class A and the state in 2010. For Greely, it was a bit of a redemption as they have have lost to three WMC foes already this season, but showed that they will be right in the mix once again in Class B. #1 ranked Scarborough finished 3rd, they were hampered over the final mile by a cramp to #3 Zach Brown that saw him go from 13th to 34th over the final 1.1 miles, The Red Storm also ran without #5 Ian Morris out with a concussion. #10 ranked York had a strong day finishing in 4th, while #6 Massabesic rounded out the top 5.

Varsity Girls

Round one.. goes to Abbey Leonardi

In a show down of two of the top HS runners the state has ever seen, Abbey Leonardi used a blistering first mile, 5:41 to set the tone early, and at the two mile mark would pull away for a convincing 41 second win over Emily Durgin. The two were clear of the field early, at the mile the lead was around 5 seconds, by two miles it was around 10 seconds, and that's where Leonardi finished things off, cruising the tough last mile on a hot and humid day. "I didn't know where Emily was at all, I was just running my race" Abbey would say, and Durgin "I was only 10 seconds back at 2 miles, but I really died in that last mile, my mile time was probably 7 minutes." "It was a mental thing, I lost focus" Durgin would say of the last mile "I've got to work on it".

While Leonardi and Durgin were battling it out, there was some strong racing going on behind them as well. Fiona Hendry, a teammate of Durgin, ran the race alone for most of the way, as she covered the 5k course in a fine 20:14. Behind her several freshman battled it out, and showed that there is another strong influx of talent on the girls side in 2010. Freshman Kirsten Sandreuter of Greely continued her excellent season by pulling away from a pack that included fellow classmates Heather Evans (York), Shannon Conley (Cheverus), & Laura Broderick (Kennebunk) over the final mile to claim 4th place in 20:35. Conley(20:44) ran a strong race, her finish gave the Stags 3 of the top 5 finishers. Broderick (20:56) ran one of the smartest race in the field, working her way up throughout the race, joining the pack just after the two mile mark, and continuing her charge forward over the fnal mile.

In the girls team race, #1 ranked Cheverus the defending Class A champion didn't messa round placing 3 runners in the top 5 of the race, and then having a strong supporting cast of Maddie Woods (26th) & freshman Kiera Murray (28th) to score 62 to easily outdistance #3 Massabesic by 30 points.

For Massabesic the had a touhg day in the heat and humdity, as #1 runner Jocelyn Acheson had to drop out before the mile mark, while usual #2 Charlotte Pierce was the 3rd girl across for the Mustangs. Despite this though, Massabesic showed a lot of grit and depth to nab 2nd place. The Mustangs got a strong day from Victoria Hurlburt (7th) & Mikayla Frazier (13th)

The surprise team of the day was the Windham girls, who came into the meet ranked #11. The Eagles were the talk of the meet, as they were just 11 points back of Massabesic. Leading the way for Windham was Talia McKay (10th) and Erin Flately (17th).

#8 York was 4th with 150 points while #11 Scarborough rounded out the top 5 with 171.