Top Seniors XC 2012
Girls (click for complete rankings)
Bethanie Brown of Waterville had a senior year to remember. Brown running in just her 2nd year of xc dominated the trials on her way to an undefeated season in Maine. Bethanie won the Festival of Champions breaking the meet record of the great Abbey Leonardi. She blitzed through the postseason with victories at the KVAC, EM Regional & Class B state meet. Brown's winning time at states was over a minute faster than the runner-up, and was 54 second faster than the 2nd best in the state overall. At the NE Chmapionship, Brown ran for the win before fading late in the race to 7th due to a dehydration issue. Brown would go on to finish 11th in the Footlocker NE race missing a coveted spot in the FL Nationals by just 6 seconds.
Erzsebet Nagy of Lawrence overcome early injuries to finish as the Class A state champion. Nagy who missed a significant amoutn of time over the summer into the first few weeks of the xc season came back strong. Erzsebet won 5 races on the year. She was 3rd at the Festival of Champions where she ran a lifetime best of 18:33, she won the Class A KVAC race, won the EM Regional title, & finished it off with the Class A XC title. No one will ever excuse Nagy of not giving it her all, she was 7th in the NE Championship before collasping in the last mile do to exhaustion.
Samantha Cox of Bonny Eagle had a great senior season that saw her help lead her team Bonny Eagle to its first Class A State XC title. Cox had one of her best races of the year at the Festival of Champions where she placed 4th, 3rd best Maine runner. She also ran a best of 18:42 on the season. In the post season Samantha had several strong races, 6th in the WM Regional & 6th in the Class A State meet. She would have a very good race at the NE Championship where she placed 36th, and then finished it off with a 38th in the Footlocker NE race.
Charlotte Pierce of Thornton Academy had a strong senior season which saw her win 6 races. Pierce ran some very fast times including a best of 19:14 on her home course which is longer than 5k. Charlotte finished 7th in the WM Regional to earn SMAA first team all-conference. At the state meet Pierce showed her toughness as she lost her shoe during the start of the race, after falling to the ground, she got back up and ran the rest of the race with just one shoe. Pierce would finish 8th overall, impressive performance given the circumstances. She would finish off her senior year with an 81st place finish at the NE Championship
Nyajock Pan of South Portland had a great postseason run that saw her win the WM Regional & finish as the Class A runner-up in the State meet. Pan won 4 times on the year, her most impressive effort came in the thick mud at the WM Regional at Twinbrook where she ran 19:52 the fastest time on the day for the three races contested. Nyajock was 9th at the Festival of Champions. She was the runner-up in the Class A state meet by 11 seconds, she ran the 4th fastest time overall. Nyajock closed out her year with another strong run for 37th at the NE Championship.
Boys (click for complete rankings)
Silas Eastman of Fryeburg Academy had one of the most succesful HS XC career in the history of the state. Eastman's 4 finishes at the state meet (2nd, 1st, 1st, 2nd) is the 2nd best 4 year finish of all time, only behind the 4 titles that Maranacook's Scott Roberts won. Silas had another standout season that saw him win the WM Conference title, & WM Regional titles. When Silas wasn't winning races, he was narrowly defeated. Twice he lost to Ellsworth's Dan Curts, the first time at the Manchester Invitational where both where timed at 15:42, and then at the Class B state meet where the difference was .04. He would cose of his HS XC career with a 3rd place in the NE meet marking the 3rd time he earned ALL-NE honors, he was the top Maine runner as well. The most impressive thing about Silas maybe his sportsmanship, he was always gracious in victory and defeat, after losing to Curts at the state meet he was seen cooling down with him.
Jack Pierce of Merriconeag had a senior year to remember as he ran under 17 minutes a total of 7 times for 5k including his personal best 15:57. Pierce was one of the top runners in the state the entire season. At the Manchester Invitational he placed 4th in the small school race, he followed that up with a 4th place at the Festival of Champions, finishing as the 2nd Maine runner. Jack was the WMC conference runner-up, then won the WM Regional title, and then had is finest race of his career winning the Class C state meet with the 3rd fastest time overall. Pierce closed out his season with a fine 12th place finish in the NE Championship to earn All-NE honors, he was the 3rd fastest Mainer.
Nate Madeira of Greely had another consistently good season. Madeira placed 7th in the small school race at the Manchester Invitational running a lifetime best of 16:29. He placed 3rd in the WMC conference championship, running under 17 on a tough course. Nate ran to a runner-up finish in the WM Regional and closed out his state meet career with a 4th place finish in the Class B meet. His time was 8th fastest overall. Madeira ended his season with a solid 52nd place effort at the NE Championship.
Cameron Nadeau of Biddeford had a very succesful senior season that saw him win 7 races along the way including the Class A State championship. Nadeau who took up running only 2 years ago has excelled in a short amoutn of time, this year he was 6th place in the Festival of Champions running a personal best 16:30. At the WM Regional he had what he termed "a bad race" while he finished 3rd. Cam came back strong at the state meet opening up a gap just after two miles which was the decisive move as he took the title by 3 seconds. His time at the state meet was the 5th fastest overall. He finished the season off with a strong 39th place finish at the NE meet, which was the good for 6th fastest runner from Maine.
Robby Hall of Scarborough had a strong fall that culiminated in a runner-up finish in the Class A state meet. Hall who has run on the varsity squad at Scarborough for 4 years had his best individual season this fall. Robby placed 9th at the Festival of Champions, running his personal best of 16:38, the time was the 6th fastest of the class of 2013 on the year. Hall followed that up with a 4th place finish in the WM Regional. Then in his best race of his HS career finished as the Class A runner-up, his time at the state meet was 7th fastest overall.