McClintock & Durgin lead mainers to a banner day at NE XC Championships

New England XC Championship

Derek Veilleux

Nov 12, 2011

2011 New England High School XC Championships

Boys Results | Girls Results

Boys Race Video | Girls Race Video

Photos Girls Photos | Boys Photos (Patrick Bendzick Milesplit) | Pam Swan

Interview Girls: Emily Durgin & Fiona Hendry | Brittany Bowman | Abby Mace | Bethanie Brown

The Maine girls were impressive at the front of the pack at the NE XC Championships this morning. Leading the way with a 3rd place finish from Cheverus's was Emily Durgin (18:28), then 3 more Mainers packed it in the top 8 with Bethanie Brown (Watervile) in 5th (18:35), Abby Mace (Maranacook) 7th (18:40), & Fiona Hendry (Cheverus) 8th (18:40). Also earning All-NE honors on the girls side was a pair of Windjammers from Camden, Brittany Bowman 17th (18:56) & the top freshman in the meet Willow Parker 23rd (19:00).

For Durgin she placed in the top 3 all 4 years of her HS career, she was the champion in 2009, and runner-up in 2008 & 2010. Emily says she is feeling better after recovering from anemia and hopes that in 2 weeks at the Footlocker Regional she'll feel even better. The surprise of the meet may have been how well Bethanie Brown ran in her first NE xc meet, Brown who finished 2nd in the Class B state meet 2 weeks ago, had the 5th fastest time in Maine, so her 5th place finish at the NE meet shows what a race she had. It may have surprised many, but not MaineTrackXC who predicted she would be in the top 10, the layout of the Ponaganset course certainly favored her agressive running style. For Mace this marked the 3rd time she earned All-NE honors, Abby finished 6th in 2008 & 10th in 200. Abby was pleased with her race as she has had some ups and downs this xc season but was motivated today by all the Maine girls around her during the race. Fiona Hendry earned All-NE honors for the 3rd time as well, to go along with the 8th place finish today she was 9th in 2008 & 13th in 2009.

The Maine boys were equally impressive with Madison's Matt McClintock finishing in 3rd place overall (15:39), with 4 others earning top 13 finishes. Harlow Ladd (Messalonskee) had the best race of his xc career as he moved up well over the 5k course to finish 9th (16:01), just holding off Silas Eastman (Fryeburg) 10th (16:02), in 11th was Tim Follo (Falmouth) 16:11, with Chase Brown of Boothbay crossing in 13th (16:17). Also earning All-NE honors was Dan Curts of Ellsworth who finished 19th (16:19).

This marked the first time in the impressive career of McClintock that he earned All-NE honors, Matt ran right at the front of the pack with the eventual winners Mike Marsella & Conor Rog until the 2 mile mark where they gained a gap on the uphill section. Matt fought his way to 3rd place finish. Redemption had to be on the mind of Harlow Ladd after losing the Class A state meet by .02, Ladd let that be his motiviation as he pushed his way through the 5k course. Harlow was by the mile in 4:50 and carried that momentum through the course, and at the finish line showed he was a quick learner as he leaned past Silas Eastman. Eastman a junior will be the 2nd returner next fall, he earned his 2nd All-NE honor today. Eastman thought a fast first mile of 4:50 sapped his leg later in the race, but was pleased with his effort, he was shooting for a top ten finish. Tim Follo closed out his excellent xc career with a solid race, Follo moved through the pack well after the mile and worked his way up the whole race.

Teamwise the Cheverus girls once again led the way on the girls side with another top 10 finish, The Stags had the best 1-2 duo in the meet with Emily Durgin (3rd) & Fiona Hendry (8th) tallied 332 points. The Stags also got strong runs from Kiera Murray who was 38th (19:27), Maddie Woods 201st (21:24) & Lizzie Gwilym 211th (21:37). The Stags had to run without Shannon Conley who wasn't medically cleared to run. Massabesic was the 2nd best Maine school as they tallied a 17th place finish, the Mustangs were led by the 45th place finish of Jocelyn Acheson (19:37) & 51st place finish of Gabby Johnson (19:40).

Falmouth the top boys team in the state this year was once again the top Maine team at the NE meet, the Yachstment placed 17th behind Tim Foll's 11th place finish. Falmouth hads 5 guys under 17:33, with Thomas Edmonds 145th (17:27), Conor McGory 152nd (17:29), Jay Lesser 155th (17:30) & Colby Howland 165th (17:33). Scarborough the Class A state champs and #2 ranked team was the 2nd best Maine team on the day finishing 23rd, Nick Morris led the way for the Red Storm.

Maine's All-NE runners (All Photos by Patrick Bendzick)