The postseason for Maine high school cross country is upon us.
The Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Championships (Morse, Mt. Ararat, Brunswick) are set to be held Saturday (11 a.m.) at Cony High School in Augusta, while the Western Maine Conference (Freeport) will take place at St. Joseph’s College (3 p.m.) in Standish and the Mountain Valley Conference meet (Wiscasset, Lisbon) is set for Friday at the University of Maine-Augusta (4 p.m.),
Mt. Ararat longtime coach Diane Fournier has Lewiston, Mt. Blue, Bangor and Mt. Ararat in the hunt for Class A boys, and Hampden, Brunswick and Mt. Ararat for the girls.
“We are recovering from both,” said Fournier. “We have lost Brennie Radulski for the season with a stress fracture. Colds will be a week behind us!”
Fournier likes what she has seen this fall.
“Some of the athletes have improved a lot on both sides. Our gap is the number five through seven. They are coming along. I hope it will be enough.”
Top Mt. Ararat runners include Kelly Lynch, Olivia Swan, Emmie Cox, Lauren McNett, Nicole Ross, Emma Chase and Alicia Caterina, while for the boys look for Nate McKenzie, Sam Wood, Jake Demosthenes, Matt Gott, Jake Papa, Shea Nelson and Ted Burns.
Brunswick ready
“The girls’ race should be between Brunswick, Mt. Ararat and Hampden — all fairly even,” said coach Dave DeLois. “The boys race will probably be Lewiston, but possibly Mt. Ararat, Bangor or Mt. Blue. Brunswick is a long shot.”
Things are going well for the Dragons. “Knock on wood the team is healthy,” said DeLois. “We’ve seen steady improvement over the course of the season.”
Top Brunswick girls include Teresa Murphy, Tessa Cassidy, Tiffany Tanner, Brooke Escoe, Amy Lyons, Lily Hood and Anna Turner, while on the boys squad look for Jamie Ross, Walter Martin, Alex Nichols, Zach Miller, Chris Tanner, Jason Higginbotham and Donovan Shea.
Morse in Class B
“Probably like most other teams, both of our teams are nursing some nagging injuries,” said Morse coach Dane Dwyer. “We hope to have most of our boys running at KVACs, if so, we should be in the top-three for KVAC Class B, with Maranacook and Winslow being the two favorites.
“For the girls, we’ll be close to 100 percent, with Camden the runaway choice to win Class B, with Waterville a possible surprise champion, followed by Winslow and Morse.”
“Our goal has been to get five guys under 19 minutes for a 5K,” added Dwyer. And, we have had six runners accomplish that (Nate Stover, Christopher Walfield, Noah Lapointe, Otto Werweis, Aiden McGowan, Balt von Huene), all in the low 19s, with Stover breaking 18, and Walfield 19. We’re now looking at getting our top five all under 19 to make a legitimate run at qualifying for States.
“Our girls are shaping up well, with our team goal of getting our top five under 23 minutes,” continued Dwyer. “Our top three (Amy Franklin, Danica Moore, Charlotte Recknagel) are all running under 22 minutes, and our next four girls (Lucy Rawson, Amelia Franklin, Emily Belanger, Clare Tolan) have all broken 24 minutes, with Rawson leading the group with a 23:05.
“We feel very confident in qualifying for states if we can get two of these girls to go sub-23. Regardless, this is the best girls team we’ve had in the past 10 years. Our top four girls will definitely run at KVACs on Saturday, with at least two of the next three girls to join them.”
Freeport
The Class B Falcons will compete in the WMCs, where the girls finished seventh overall last year and the boys fourth.
“Once again, Class B may be the strongest in the state,” said Freeport coach Brian Berkemeyer. “With teams like Falmouth, Cape and York, it will be difficult to make New Englands, but both teams are gearing up for the last three weeks.
“We have had our fair share of injuries this year,” added Berkemeyer. “They all need to put better base mileage in the summer to avoid the overuse injuries we are seeing. Some of the runners may need a little down time, while others are working through the workouts.
“This fall there seemed to be a major sickness going around that left a lot of runners feeling tired.”
“There has been some key improvements on the boys side,” continued Berkemeyer. “Mark Donahue has broken the 18-minute barrier and keeps getting stronger. Abrin Berkemeyer has had a few mild injuries, but still has his sites set on the state meet and New Englands. If the rest of the boys can put a race together then we may turn some heads.
“On the girls side it is a bit of a different story,” offered Berkemeyer. “They have been working together all season and are coming together as a group. They have one of the lowest time differences between the first five runners in the state. If they all move up together then watch out.
“I have a great group of kids that represent our program very well. They are attracting some attention from kids in the lower grades, so Freeport cross country looks bright for the future.”
Lisbon in MVCs
The Greyhounds have some talented underclassmen with Nick Harriman and Bri Sautter having top-six potential for the MVCs.
“I think it will be the Hall- Dale boys, with maybe Boothbay there as well,” said longtime coach Hank Fuller. “Individually, I think Harriman can finish in the top five or six.
“In the Festival of Champions (Belfast) he was the seventh overall freshman. Another one who could do well is Ben Kates.
“For the girls, I think Sautter can make All-Conference and get in the top-seven. Also looking to get some form of All-League are Adrianna White and Catelyn Bundra.
“For the girls teams, I think Dirigo, St. Dom’s and Monmouth are the big favorites. But, for us, we have six freshman girls and two freshman boys whose futures look really bright if they stick together.”
Cross country on tap
KVAC Championships
At Cony High School, Augusta, Saturday
Boys at 11 a.m. girls at 11:45 a.m.,
jayvees to follow.
WMC Championships
At St. Joseph’s College, Standish, today.
Boys at 3 p.m., girls at 3:45 p.m., jayvees
to follow.
MVC Championships
University of Maine-Augusta, today.
Boys at 4 p.m., girls at 4:45 p.m., jayvees
to follow.
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