The 78th New England Championship meet will take place on Saturday at the Twin Brook Recreation Park in Cumberland, ME. The course is challenging 5k through open fields and woods, add in some wet and muddy conditions, and you have a great place for a xc meet, just make sure you bring your half-inch spikes. The meet was held on the same course in 2007, where the course record of 15:32 was set by then Glastonbury, CT senior Donald Cabral. Cabral went on to have a stellar career at Princeton, and was an Olympian in the steeplechase in London in 2012.
In 2007 the Maine field was ready for a big meet but they got caught up in the hype of a big meet & only one Mainer nabbed All-New England honors that day, Ethan Shaw of Falmouth. This year there are plenty of contenders from Maine with 4 of the top 15 returners from a year ago. There will be plenty of talent leading the pack on Saturday, let's take a look at a few one of the contenders.
Rhode Island
Trevor Crawley- Sr Cumberland
57th in 2011
Best 5k of 2012: 15:28
Highlight wins: Rhode Island Class A Champion, Rhode Island State Champion 15:39 wins by 22 seconds
Crawley has been on fire in 2012, the senior from Cumberland swept through the Rhode Island championship meets winning each with relative ease. His latest effort was a dominating performance on Sunday to take the Rhode Island State Championship by 22 seconds, easily dusting the field after a controlled first mile. Trevor is no stranger to Maine, he ran in Maine's largest meet, the Festival of Champions in late September where he finished 2nd running a fine 15:37. He is known for his agressive style so expect him to be at the front earlier pushing the pace.
Bryce Kelley- Sr Chariho Regional HS
26th in 2011
Best 5k of 2012; 16:01
Highlights: RI Class A runner-up, RI State runner-up
Kelley just missed All-NE honors as an individual last fall, he did however help his Chariho team to a 3rd place podium finish. The senior has stepped up this fall running near the front of the pack in all the championship meets, he gave Trevor Crawley all he could handle at the Class A meet 2 weeks ago, while last week he repeated his 2nd place finish at the state meet. Kelley has excellent track speed as well with a 1:53 800 under his belt.
Maine
Dan Curts- Jr Ellsworth
19th place in 2011
Best 5k of 2012: 15:42
Highlight wins- Small School race @ Manchester Invite 15:42, Maine Class B State Champion 15:47
Curts's confidence is riding high after out leaning his rival Silas Eastman to win the Class B state title two weeks in a fine 15:47. That makes it twice on the season he has nipped Eastman, the other time was at the Manchester invite where he used his furious kick to get by him. He has shown an ability to run with the competition no matter how fast this season, expect Dan to put himself in a position to challenege for the win this weekend. Another thing going for the junior, his assistant coach Louie Luchini can offer up some great advice to his young charge.
Silas Eastman- Sr Fryeburg Academy
10th in 2011
Best 5k of 2012: 15:42
Highlights- Small School runner-up @ Manchester Invite 15:42, Maine Class B State Champion runner-up 15:47
Eastman is top returner from Maine at the NE meet, a year ago he ran to a ten place finish, he was also an ALL-NE selection as a sophomore. The senior finish a close 2nd to Dan Curts at the Class B state meet, getting outleaned by .04. Silas will be motivated to end his senior xc season on a high note, he has the plenty of experience running at Twin Brook which he could use to his advantage over the other top contenders. His all-time best at Twin Brook is 16:14, if the conditions allow it will take a time faster than that to cross the line first.
Connecticut
Henry Wynne- Sr Staples HS
7th in 2011- Top Returner
Best 5k of 2012: 15:49
Highlight wins: Wickham Park Open, CIAC Class LL Champion, CT State open Champion
Wynne the top returner from 2011 has had a strong fall that has seen him cruise through the post-season meets to win CIAC Class LL title, & most recently the CT State open title by 9 seconds. The senior will be looking to stand atop the podium in a New England meet again, this past spring he took the 1600m outdoor title running 4:13.3. Already this season he battled with Trevor Crawley at the Wickham Park Open meet where he edged him by 1 second. Except more of the same on Saturday as Wynne will establish himself in the lead pack, the field needs to be aware of his blazing speed, if the race is close he would be the pick to win as he has 4:11 mile speed, plus a 1:53 800m on his resume.
Jake Feinstein- Sr Newtown HS
16th in 2011
Best 5k of 2012: 15:50
Highlights: CT All-State runner-up, 3rd Class LL Championships
Feinstein is coming off a fine performance at the CT All-State meet that saw him run 15:58 to place 2nd, moving up from his 3rd the previous week in the Class LL meet. A year ago as a junior, Jake placed 16th to earn All-NE honors, he'll be looking for more this year. Feinstein has solid track credentials as well with a 15:02 5k, and 9:13 for 3200 under his belt from a year ago.
New Hampshire
Jeremy Brassard- Jr Coe-Brown Academy
65th in 2011
Best 5k of 2012: 15:37
Highlight wins: NH D2 Class Champion, NH Meet of Champions
Brassard took the NH Meet of Champions win using a big kick to get by the rest of the field in the last 50 meters. The junior who was 65th a year ago is a contender for a top spot this fall as he has taken his running to the next level. Jeremy finished 3rd in the small school race at the Manchester Invitational earlier this year finishing behind the Maine duo of Curts & Eastman.
Vermont
Marc Brandmeyer- Sr Mt Anthony Union
36th in 2011
Best 5k of 2012: 16:36
Highlight wins: VT D1 State Champion by 23 seconds
Brandmeyer led the VT D1 state meet from start to finish as he clocked the fastest time in 8 years (16:37) on the notriously tough Thetford Woods course. His winning margin was 23 seconds. A year ago the senior place 36th in the meet and returned as the 13th fastest in 2012. Marc has taken his running to the next level as he hopes to run with the top runners in NE this weekend.
Malcolm Plunkett- Sr- South Burlington HS
18th in 2011
Best 5k of 2012: 15:50
Highlights: VT D1 runner-up, Elite champion @ Manchester invitational
Plunkett is the 5th fastest runner from last year where he placed 18th to earn All-NE honors. The senior from South Burlington was the state D2 runner-up, as he ran despite recovering from a back injury. His effort helped his team win the state title. Earlier this year when healthy he ran a 15:50 at the Manchester Invitational where he won the Elite race. If his back is healed up look for Plunkett to challenge.
Others to Watch
Jake Kilcoyne (Sr Chariho RI) Kilcoyne was 8th a year ago, he recently placed 3rd in the RI State meet.
Colin Tierney (Jr- Bishop Hendricken, RI) Tierney placed 5th in the RI state meet running 16:11, his team is the heavy favorite to defend their NE title
Jack Pierce (Sr-Merriconeag, ME) The senior placed 32nd a year ago, he won the Maine Class C title runnign 15:57, his was only behind Curts & Eastman in Maine
Connor Doyle (Sr-Bishop Hendricken, RI) He led his team with a 4th place finish at the RI state meet running 16:06
Josef Holt-Andrews (Jr- Telstar, ME) Andrews ran 16:20 for 2nd in Class C in Maine, a year ago he was 28th as a sophomore.
Logan Fulton (Sr Joel Barlow, CT) Fulton was 3rd in the CT State open 16:22, he won the Class MM title
Christian Alvarado (Jr. Fairfield Prep, CT) Alvarado placed 4th in CT State open 16:25, he placed 35th last fall in the NE meet
Trevor Hopper (Jr. Ridgefield, CT) Hopper was the runner-up in the Class LL meet, 16:01, he was 9th in the CT State Open
Daniel Grosvenor (Sr. Montpelier, VT) Grosvenor won the D2 State title running the 2nd fastest time in VT 16:39 his winning margin was 47 seconds.
Sam Daly (Sr. Bedford, NH) Daly was the NH MOC runner-up 15:49, had the lead until last 50m
BJ Smith (Sr. Concord, NH) Smith won the D1 state title over Daly, he was 4th in the MOC
Andrew Weckstein (Jr. Bow, NH) Weckstein placed 3rd at the NH MOC, clocking 15:54
Aaron Bellomo (Sr. Alvirne, NH) Bellomo broke 16 minutes, with his 15:59 5th place at NH MOC, he was 3rd in the D1 meet
Top 15 Returners from 2011
7 #515 Henry Wynne JR Staples HS - CT 5:08 15:57 8 #86 Jake Kilcoyne JR Chariho HS - RI 5:09 15:58 10 #139 Silas Eastman JR Fryeburg Ac.- ME 5:10 16:02 16 #488 Jake Feinstein JR Newtown HS - CT 5:15 16:18 18 #550 Malcolm Plunkett JR S.Burlington- VT 5:15 16:19 19 #121 Dan Curts SO Ellsworth HS - ME 5:15 16:19 20 #44 Colin Tierney SO Hendricken - RI 5:16 16:20 26 #84 Bryce Kelley JR Chariho HS - RI 5:18 16:25 28 #377 Josef Holt SO Telstar - ME 5:18 16:28 31 #43 Michael Potter FR Hendricken - RI 5:20 16:32 32 #228 Jack Pierce JR Merriconeag - ME 5:20 16:33 35 #446 Christian Alvarado SO Fairfield Prep - CT 5:20 16:34 36 #254 Marc Brandmeyer JR Mt Anthony - VT 5:20 16:34 39 #432 Nicholas Carlsen JR Danbury HS - CT 5:21 16:38 41 #480 Logan Fulton JR Joel Barlow HS - CT 5:22 16:41
Team Outlook
On the team side of things there is no surprise as the defending champions, Bishop Hendricken from Rhode Island enter the meet as the heavy favorites to repeat as New England champions. Hendricken is coming off a dominating performance at the Rhode Island State meet that saw them place all 7 runners in the top 19 of the meet. The Hawks won their 5th consecutive state crown as they scored 44 points to outdistance the runner-up LaSalle Academy by 20 points.
LaSalle Academy is one of the top teams as well that should contend for a podium spot, they had 5 runner under 16:44 a week ago. They are led by the duo of Jake Grundy & Michael Stephens
New Milford the CT State Open Champions field a strong team capable of making a podium run as well. They won the CT State open by 35 points, this was after a 2nd place finish to Danbury in the Class LL meet. Surprisingly Danbury didn't qualify for the NE meet this year as a team
Souhegan & Bedford are the two best team out of NH. Sohegan eeked out a 3 point win over Bedford at the NH MOC last weekend. Souhegan had 5 runners under 16:38 last week, while Bedford had 5 under 16:44 including their top runner who ran 15:49.
South Burlington is the top team out of Vermont. They averaged 17:36 on the tough thetford course on their way to the D1 State Championship
Massabesic the Maine Class A champion is the top team from the host state, they averaged 17:16 at the state meet.
Top 5 Teams from 2011
1 Bishop Hendricken HS - RI 116 9 16 24 26 41 47 81
Total Time: 1:23:17.00
Average: 16:39.40
2 Fairfield Prep - CT 172 2 14 18 28 110 154 175
Total Time: 1:22:51.00
Average: 16:34.20
3 Chariho HS - RI 177 1 5 13 29 129 152 198
Total Time: 1:22:24.00
Average: 16:28.80
4 Amity HS - CT 197 7 31 38 57 64 122 149
Total Time: 1:24:27.00
Average: 16:53.40
5 Bishop Guertin HS - NH 234 11 35 52 54 82 137 193
Total Time: 1:24:54.00
Average: 16:58.80