Hello all High school runners! I would like to start by saying congratulations to everyone who competed in the Maine State Cross Country Championships last Saturday in Belfast. I hope everyone has had the cross country season they wanted. For those who are still training for New England’s, and forward I wish you all luck! In case you aren’t to familiar with me, I am Emily Durgin and I go to Cheverus High School. I am a Junior this year and just finished my first quarter, and I assume many of you all have too. I am sure many will agree that this first quarter flew by, and also so did the cross country season. It’s hard to believe last week was the state championships.
(The famous SOPHAINCA cheer we do before every meet at the state meet) photo by Hillary Morin
One of the crazy things about cross country especially in Maine, is how quickly the climate changes. We have meets in September that can be extremely humid and 90 degrees, then we get to the end of October and were running in 40 degree weather with mud, wind, rain, and even snow. Last Saturday was in the mid 40‘s and overcast. They did a nice job of making the course as least muddy as they could, but there were still a few spots that were wet. Jumping ahead to the race, I ran in the class A girls, which was the very last race of the day at about 2:45pm. This was the biggest meet of the season for my team. We were the defending state champions from 2009, and we were undefeated for the 2010 season. The race went out a lot faster than the previous week at regional’s. This was a good thing in my eyes, and also a lot more familiar to the rest of the pack. The front group was packed tight going through mile one at about 5:37. Abbey Leonardi leading, my close teammate Fiona Hendry and I a few steps behind. Behind us was also a tightly packed group. Going though the two mile Abbey had gained a few strides on me. I tried to hold on, going into the last mile we were still going a at decent pace. At that point I just wanted to break 18:00 and stay close to Abby. I looked at my watch (that I wore to make sure I didn’t have a repeat of last week’s first mile) and knew I had 3mins left with a little less than 1000 to go. I was just short of my 18:00 mark, but it was faster than festival of champions so I was happy with the improvement .
(Cheverus Girls State champs 2010) photo by Hillary Morin
As for the Cheverus girls team we won the meet with an amazing score. Everyone did extremely well, and it was fun for our new freshman Shannon Conley and Keira Murray and also our new junior Lizzy Gwylim (who is an 800 runner) to be a part of a winning team. After we took a thousands pictures and celebrated, it was time to head home. Our team is really close and we have become a lot closer as the season progressed. We do a lot of team dinners, and try to get other functions organized. I was sick on Saturday so I didn’t get to attend the after celebration at Maddie’s. We did do a community service project the Friday before states in Freeport. We carved pumpkins for Camp Sunshine. Valerie (who is our coach) had never carved a pumpkin before, so it was fun for all of us to do this together, and it also was for a good cause.
(Greta and I, and my best pumpkin I carved…I was really bad) photo by Hillary Morin
So just wrapping this up I want to add a little about going on to New England’s. We have had a good week of training and also recovery. The whole team looks extremely fit and fresh! We are hoping to make a good showing for Maine and placing in the top 3 and maybe #1. As the High School season ends I look forward to footlocker regional’s which are in three weeks, and I am hoping my teammate Fiona joins me and also Shannon and Keira might also go to run the freshman race. First we have to dominate the coming weekend! Good luck and congratulations again to the New England qualifies!
(Valerie doing a great job gutting her pumpkin!) Photo by Hillary Morin
