The 10th edition of the Maine XC Festival of Champions proved to be another exciting meet. The runners had to battle wet & muddy conditions that detoriated the course by the end of the day. Despite the conditions there still were some great performances, and the team results showed a shake-up in the coaches poll this week is likely. The pre-race favorites Abbey Leonardi & Matt McClintock lived up to the expcatations as both repeated & dominated the competition. The unique format of the festival provided some athletes with the chance to shine, and the post race results ceremony was loud as ever congratulating the athletes & teams on a job well done. Although the green men didn't make an apperance this fall...
Results Boys Freshman | Boys Unseeded | Boys Seeded | Boys Combined | Girls Freshman | Girls Unseeded | Girls Seeded | Girls Combined
Photo Galleries Dave Flewelling | MaineTrackXC | Brian Hubbell
Race Videos: Boys Seeded | Girls Seeded | Girls Freshman | Boys Freshman | Girls Unseeded | Boys unseeded
Post-Race Interviews Abbey Leonardi - Girls Seeded Race Winner | Matt McClintock - Boys Seeded Race Winner | Caleb Lord - Boys Freshman Race Winner |
Erzsebet Nagy - Girls Seeded Runner-up | Bronte Elias - Girls Freshman Race Winner | Alex Owen -Unseeded Boys Winner
The MDI Girls put on a clinic of how to run in the mud at the 2011 FOC. MDI scored just 104 to put away the 40 team girls field with relative ease. MDI averaged 21:02.10 for their top 5, despite not having a finisher in the top 10, they all 5 scoring athletes in top 31 The scary thought for the rest of the state is that the top was 4 sophomores & 1 freshman. Just how dominating was MDI, only 4 teams #2 runners beat MDI's #5 runner!
Team Recap:
#2/ #4 MDI: The Trojans showed they are the team to beat in Class B in 2011. They used a great pack that has a spread of 1:09 (runners 1-5).
#3/ #5 Camden Hills The Windjammers had another strong day finishing 2nd, they had the best 1-2 duo in the meet Willow Parker 8th & Brittany Bowman 10th
#6/#2 John Bapst The Crusaders finished 8th overall, 6th amongst Maine teams-Adrienne Carmack led the way with a 14th place finish
#9/ #10 Falmouth The biggest movers in the field with their 3rd place finish, Falmouth showed it's in the mix for a high finish at the Class B state meet with their performance today
#8 Mt Blue 6th overall & 5th best Maine team the Cougars ran like they belong in the top 10 teams in the state. Addie Cullenberg (12th) led the way)
#12 Caribou The Vikings finished 12th in the field
Unranked Brunswick: The Dragons had their best race of the season placing 4th overall, defeating several ranked team ahead of them. Teresa Murphy placed 21st to led them
Women Top 5 Teams
1 Mount Desert Island HS 104 11 18 19 25 31 37 74
Total Time: 1:45:10.46
Average: 21:02.10
2 Camden Hills High School 169 8 10 40 49 62 63 79
Total Time: 1:46:48.39
Average: 21:21.68
3 Falmouth High School 221 15 34 44 57 71 80 88
Total Time: 1:49:29.99
Average: 21:54.00
4 Brunswick High School 230 21 43 47 51 68 126 147
Total Time: 1:49:59.51
Average: 21:59.91
5 Harwood - VT 247 4 28 66 67 82 86 87
Total Time: 1:48:38.63
Average: 21:43.73
Abbey Leonardi won her 3rd FOC title on Saturday as she dispatched the competition with relative ease. Leonardi crossed the line in 18:16, off her meet record from last year but a excellent time considering the conditions of the course. Abbey went after the record hitting the mile in 5:30 with Bethanie Brown of Waterville a few paces off, but the 2nd mile proved to be too slow due to mud as she was 11:30 at 2 miles. Abbey was disappointed that she didn't have better conditions but she said you can't control the weather. Erzsebet Nagy of Lawrence ran a great race moving up after a smart start to nab 2nd in a fine 19:02.42. Abby Mace of Maranacook was steady like usual to nab 3rd place, she was also the top Class B runner in the field.
Top 5 Finishers by Class
Class A
1 Abbey Leonardi SR Kennebunk 18:16.55 2 Erzsebet Nagy JR Lawrence 19:02.42 3 Nyajock Pan JR South Portland 20:15.69 4 Addie Cullenberg SR Mt. Blue 20:31.00 5 Laura Broderick SO Kennebunk 20:41.01
Class B
1 Abby Mace SR Maranacook 19:20.88 2 Aleta Looker SO Ellsworth 19:38.75 3 Bethanie Brown JR Waterville 19:46.22 4 Willow Parker FR Camden Hills 20:06.15 5 Brittany Bowman SO Camden Hills 20:21.12
Class C
1 Carsyn Koch SO Washburn 19:59.66 2 Bronte Elias FR Madison High School 20:57.81 3 Sophia Thayer SO Boothbay 21:11.61 4 Rowan Wilson SO Orono High School 21:39.85 5 Allie McClintock JR Madison High School 21:45.19
Falmouth came ready to run in the tough conditions, The Yachtsmen came into the meet as one of the team favorites and didn't disappoint. Falmouth won the meet over a couple of out of state team, JH Gillis of Novia Scotia & Cumberland, Rholde Island as well top ranked Scarborough. How did they do it? Well they got a great up front effort from Tim Follo (5th), then had a strong pack in the seeded race that finished within 27 seconds of each other. A key component to their win was the strong run by freshman Spencer Brown (17:54), who finished 2nd in the freshman race & 29th overall. Brown usually the 6th man of the squad had a strong run, and gave the Yachtsmen the boost they needed for victory. Falmouth averaged 17:42.44 for runners 1-5.
Team Recap:
#2/ #1 Falmouth Showed they were the top team in state in this meet. Great quality & depth for the Yachtsmen. Their #7 runner would have been in the scoring 5 for all teams but 2 in the meet. No doubt Falmouth is the favorite to win Class B this fall
#1/ #2 Scarborough The Red Storm finished 2nd amongst Maine teams & 4th overall. They got a great performance from Nick Morris (3rd). Freshman Jacob Terry (6th) in the freshman race was their #3 runner.
#4/ #8 Caribou finished 7th overall, & 4th best Maine team, Caleb Chapman led the way with a 30th place finish
#5/ #7 South Portland ran well despite top runner Darryl Wilkinson having to drop out, The Red Riots 11th overall. They were the 4th best Clas A team
#7/ #4 NYA ran without #1 Cam Regan or #3 Alex Coffin but still had a strong showing grabbing 13th place overall
#8/ #4 Bangor had a great day finishing 6th overall & 3rd Maine team. Jonathan Stanhope led the way in 14th, freshman Jacob Archer was 4th in the freshman race
#10 Cape Elizabeth ran without #1 Thomas Bottomley & #4 runner Thomas Robinson but still put in a strong showing in 17th, Peter Doane 38th led the Capers.
#11 Lewiston ran very well placing 9th overall, the Blue Devils showed they'll be ready to challenge Bangor for the EM in 3 weeks.
#12 Hampden showed they will be a team to watch out for going forward, The Broncos placed 8th overall
Unranked Telstar was the surprise of the FOC placing an impressive 10th, they will be a tough team to beat in Class C and could give NYA a good run
Men Top 5 Teams
1 Falmouth High School 136 5 24 28 29 50 54 69
Total Time: 1:28:32.20
Average: 17:42.44
2 J.H. Gillis High School - 159 2 15 37 43 62 111 127
Total Time: 1:28:38.33
Average: 17:43.67
3 Cumberland High School - 176 10 12 32 34 88 92 105
Total Time: 1:29:17.91
Average: 17:51.59
4 Scarborough High School 184 3 23 48 51 59 106 122
Total Time: 1:29:18.31
Average: 17:51.67
5 Harwood - VT 303 21 44 56 64 118 123 132
Total Time: 1:31:58.80
Average: 18:23.76
Matt McClintock led from start to finish while winning his 2nd straight Maine XC Festival of Champions title. Despite the muddy conditions Matt gave it his best try to chase the course record, but the course conditions didn't cooperate. Matt still went on to run 16:08 which shows the kind of shape he currently is in. Mike Tate of JH Gillis, NS was the runner-up with Nick Morris of Scarborough finished 3rd using a powerful kick over the last 100m.
Top 5 Finishers by Class
Class A
1 Nick Morris SR Scarborough 16:37.40 2 Harlow Ladd SR Messalonskee 16:57.71 3 Benson Worthington SR Brunswick 17:12.08 4 Cam Nadeau JR Biddeford 17:22.90 5 Jonathan Stanhope SO Bangor High School 17:27.69
Class B
1 Timothy Follo SR Falmouth 16:39.31 2 Dan Curts SO Ellsworth 16:44.96 3 Matt Eager SR Presque Isle 17:42.63 4 Jay Lesser JR Falmouth 17:50.50 5 Colby Howland SR Falmouth 17:53.31
Class C
1 Matthew McClintock SR Madison High School 16:08.07 2 Chase Brown SR Boothbay 16:38.72 3 Alex Bulteel SR Orono High School 16:51.68 4 Josef Holt-Andrews SO Telstar 16:55.72 5 Matt Guiod SR Mattanawcook 17:34.56
National Elite Performances- despite the conditions there was 7 marks worthy of national recognization
| HS Girls | |||
| 5000 Meter Run | 18:16.55 | Abbey Leonardi | Kennebunk High School |
| 5000 Meter Run | 19:02.42 | Erzsebet Nagy | Lawrence High School |
| 5000 Meter Run | 19:20.88 | Abby Mace | Maranacook Community High School |
| 5000 Meter Run | 19:26.04 | Jamie Thomas | Harwood Union High school |
| 5000 Meter Run | 19:38.75 | Aleta Looker | Ellsworth High School |
| HS Boys | |||
| 5000 Meter Run | 16:08.07 | Matt McClintock | Madison Memorial High School |
| 5000 Meter Run | 16:28.52 | Mike Tate | Dr. John Hugh Gillis Regional High School |
Interesting Tidbits
- Leonardi's time would have placed her 52nd in the boys combined race
- The boys freshman winner, Caleb Lord ran a 50 second personal despite the conditions & was a big reason Hampden finished 8th
- Bronte Elias the girls freshman winner from Madison lowered her best time by 55 seconds
- Speaking of Madison they earned two gold medals on the day one from Elias the other from Seeded Boys winner Matt McClintock
- This was the last time Leonardi or McClintock will run on the Belfast course so they will be unable to break the course record
- Willow Parker (Camden Hills) was the only freshman to run in Seeded Girls race, she proved she belonged with a 8th place finish- interesting note she wore vibram five fingers instead of spikes
- Speaking of spikes, the girls runner-up Erzsebet Nagy wore spikes for the first time in XC race- good move she said
- Orono's Alex Bulteel showed up to awards in a little different attire than the rest of the runners, he opted for a bathrobe.
- Falmouth was the top overall program earning the win in the boys & 3rd in the girls
- The #1 seed in the boys freshman race Sean McGovern missed the race to a possible stress frature in his foot
Other Media Coverage
Runners Endure Soggy Conditions Bangor Daily News
McClintock, Leonardi repeat Kennebec Journal