RICHMOND

Richmond’s third-year coach Kimarie Soule is looking forward to coaching her high school cross country team this fall, teaching them a lifelong skills along the way.

With numbers always fluctuating, and currently this year’s team has low numbers, Soule still takes advantage of every coaching moment she can.

“Once summer ends and the school year begins, sometimes freshmen change their mind, or maybe someone was out of town so we tend to pick up a player or two,” said Soule. “Our roster really never gets set until September.”

Having small numbers can be challenging and with less than five runners on either the boys’ or girls’ team, they can’t score points as a team at a meet.

“My biggest challenge is the numbers game. It’s nice for them when they can train as a team. I try to run my boys and girls as one,” said Soule, who also teaches math at the high school.

Even though the teams are small, they all still have goals to work on throughout the season as they prepare for the conference, regional, and state meets. This year the Bobcats will compete in the Mountain Valley Conference.

“As a team, our goals are to have good team unity and basically learn a skill that they can keep the rest of their lives to stay healthy,” said Soule. “Even though they don’t score team points, they still have all of this as a team as well as the skills to run.”

They also have individual goals, and together Soule and her players have set baselines and look to improve on those.

“Someone is a strong end runner, but doesn’t know how to kick it up at the beginning, so we work on that,” said Soule. “Then I have someone just the opposite, so it’s really improving on what their weaknesses are.

“I coach at the beginning of the season, work on their skills, but as the season goes on, I rely on them to coach each other, point things out to one another while they’re running since I can’t be everywhere.”

The team’s lone senior is Destiny Anair, who also plays soccer, and will be asked to lead.

“Destiny was my top runner last year, always running near the top,” Soule said. “She gives us some leadership that really helps us.”

Ford Strout returns as the squad’s top finisher last year with a 52nd place finish at the boys’ State Class C meet last fall. The junior is joined by classmate Christian Wing and sophomore Spencer Soule as the only other boys on the current roster. Corinne Marlowe and Abigail Johnson round out the girls’ side.

“Regardless that it’s a small team, they have lots of heart,” added the coach.

Mt. Ararat

Returning senior Katherine Leckbee leads a solid Mt. Ararat girls’ squad this fall.

Last fall, Leckbee captured both the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference and regional titles while finishing third at the State Class A meet, with a time of 18:42.4. Leckbee is joined by seniors Hope Langworthy and Anna Pederson along with freshman Karlie Leighton as the team looks to better their fourth- and third-place finishes at the conference and regional meets. The Eagles finished 12th at the girls’ state meet.

The boys are young but talented, led by Lisandro Berry-Gaviria. The sophomore placed 10th last season at the Class A state meet with a time of 16:27.38. Berry-Gaviria, who won the season-opening Laliberte Invitational on Friday, will be looked upon to replace the loss of Cameron Meier, who finished second at the state meet a year ago. Senior Devin Hoskins and junior Tyler Bernier return to provide leadership, while sophomore Lucas Bergeron looks to contribute.

In all, both teams are relatively young. Despite having 15 seniors between both squads, the girls have eight freshman, while the boys have the same amount of sophomores.

“I feel quite certain barring injuries both teams will do well this season,” said coach Diane Fournier.

Morse

This year’s team highlights the return of juniors Sydney McCarren and Jennifer Wilbraham on the girls side, while seniors Brady Leavitt and Ben Willertz return for the boys.

Sophomore Lorelei Pryor and freshman Connor Freeman both look to compete for their respective teams.

Both teams are low in numbers.

“Both teams should challenge for a top three finish at KVACs and bring competitive teams to the regionals with the hopes of qualifying for states,” coach Dane Dwyer said.

Brunswick

The Dragons have high expectations this season, and both the boys and girls look to improve on last year’s finishes. They’ll use their schedule, that includes the Festival of Champions to point towards KVACs and states.

The girls are the defending KVAC and Class A North regional champs, finishing fourth at the state meet last season. Micaela Ashby (sophomore), Isabella Pols (senior), and Caitlin Kelly (sophomore) return to anchor the Dragons. The three runners finished 13th, 17th, and 21st, respectively, at the state meet. Juniors Desiree Tanner and Kathleen Koval also return and add depth.

“We’ve pretty much got the same team as last year, so if we stay healthy, it should bode well for us,” said coach Dave DeLois.

On the boys side, sophomore

Will Shaughnessey returns along with classmate Andrew Chingos and junior Nick Derosier. Freshmen Tyler Patterson and Hayden Simmons will add more youth to an already young team.

Freeport

A year after competing to a 10th-place finish State Class B meet, the girls’ team looks to improve and crack the top 10.

Beach 2 Beacon High School Mile winner Lily Horne returns for her junior season. She finished 14th overall with a time of 19:53.81.

Despite losing second-place finisher Henry Jaques, the boys are eager to get back on the courses and could provide an interesting season with junior Alex Les and senior Tom Doyle leading the charge, hoping to better their third-place finish at the Western Maine Conference meet.

Lisbon

After failing to qualify for the State Class C meet by just a few points last fall, this season’s boys team is motivated to get to that next level this year.

The Greyhounds lost state meet runners Michael Schlotterbeck, Kayle LaRoche and David Schlotterback to graduation. This year’s squad doesn’t have any seniors but plenty of young talented runners. Junior Geoffrey Shambarger returns to the team as do sophomores Izaya May, Michael Ray, Kadrian Rugullies, Alex Cole and Corbin Hall. Newcomers David Poulin and Max Boulet hope to add depth and will compete to improve on their third-place finish at the MVC meet last year.

“Staying healthy and keeping close to each other in a pack with show their true strength,” said fourth-year coach Jeremy Williams. “They are looking to surprise some teams this year.”

For the second straight season, Lisbon begins the season without a girl on the squad.

Wiscasset

Coach Warren Cossette returns to the fold after taking over for Josiah Winchenbach and looks expand and grow the program.

With the loss of Brandon Goud, who finished in fifth place at last year’s State Class C meet with a time of 16:55.45, to graduation, the Wolverines will look to senior Kobe Carrier to provide leadership.

Sophomores Gage Varian and Maria West along with freshman Nathan Gillman look to compete this season.