MONMOUTH —Anyone familiar with the history of Monmouth cross country would have a hard time imagining the Mustangs as a “Cinderella story,” but that’s exactly what they were in 2008 when they won the Class C boys’ state championship.

  “The last five races leading up to states we had people sick, we had people out, so it looked like we were nowhere near ready,” senior Elliott Kahl said. “We got lucky it all ended up coming together.”

“At the state meet, seven guys had the race of their lives,” co-coach Tom Menendez said. “We were kind of in the shadows before that. The state meet is when it all came together.”

Catching anyone by surprise is pretty much out of the question this year. The Mustangs are expected to compete with favorites Boothbay and perennial power Lisbon for Mountain Valley Conference and Class C supremacy.

Co-coach Rick Amero said the 2008 championship is clear proof that cross country is not an individual sport, and while they boast a couple of Top 10 runners, the Mustangs’ chances of repeating will ultimately rest on the squad’s overall performance.

“Really, it’s the ultimate team sport,” Amero said. “If you don’t develop that fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh runner, you’re not going to be successful as a team.”

The Mustangs lost two of their top four runners, brother Matt and Mike McCollett, to graduation. But they still have a veteran core led by juniors Patrick McInnis and Kevin Desmond, who placed ninth and 10th, respectively, at the state meet, and Kahl, who finished 50th.

Newcomers Matt McInnis and Henry Talbot are among those who will be called upon to help build the pack. The Mustangs are counting on a number of harriers who have never run cross country before, so Amero and Menendez are trying to bring them along gradually.

“We need a lot of work, but everyone does,” Patrick McInnis said. “Our whole boys’ team needs to step it up, and it looks like everybody has that same goal.”

The top runners started measuring themselves two weeks ago at the preseason Scot Laliberte Invitational in Augusta, and the Mustangs will continue to use the big meets as benchmarks for the season.

“We didn’t do it last year, but we’ve got a race at Leavitt we normally do and that gives us an idea. There’s the Festival of Champions (Oct. 3 in Belfast), obviously, and that’s a good indicator,” Kahl said. “Then once you get to MVC’s, regionals and states, that’s when you’re either there or you’re not.”

“As the workouts get harder and we get further into the season and the guys start to test themselves against other teams, that’s when more and more guys buy into the fact we can be a good team, we’ve got a shot at this. It totally changes the picture,” Menendez said. 

 The Monmouth girls’ team had its string of six straight MVC titles snapped last year by Lisbon but still finished second to Waynflete at states. The Mustangs went into this season with just five runners on the roster, a frustrating development for senior runners Devon Ayer and Abby Szotkowski.

The lack of numbers leaves them with no margin for error if they want to take back the conference crown.

“As the years have gone by, we’ve gotten smaller and smaller,” Szotkowski said. “This is my fourth year, so it’s really important to me to step up. But having such a small team, it means everyone else has to work that much harder to prevent injury and all that stuff. If we lose one girl we don’t have a team at all.”

Runners have been trying to recruit new blood to the program, but getting it is difficult at a small school with a strong soccer program.

 “A lot of girls do soccer,” Ayer said. “And I think it’s the training piece, too.
No one really wants to go out in the summer time and run. It’s a lot of
hard work, but I think if they knew how much fun we had, a lot more
people would do it.” 

School started last week at Monmouth, so the hope is that more runners, particularly freshmen, will join once they get settled in academically.

“Abby and Devon just have a tremendous amount of pride in the program, and with the blood, sweat and tears that they’ve put in, they want to leave here knowing there’s someone to carry that torch. And right now, there isn’t,”
Amero said. “They probably feel the same way as we all do — that it’s
frustrating when you don’t have those numbers. It’s perplexing, because
there are lots of kids at this school that could come in and, even if
they’ve never run in their life, maybe never even played a sport in
their life, could be good runners.”

Faisal Abdilahi, Lewiston, sr.

Devon Ayer, Monmouth, sr.

Caroline Blake, Poland, sr.

Alex Branson, Lisbon, jr.

Angie Bulgin, Lisbon, soph.

Addie Cullenberg, Mt. Blue, soph.

Kelton Cullenberg, Mt. Blue, sr.

Kevin Desmond, Monmouth, jr.

Anna Doyle, Winthrop, jr.

Allison Fereshetian, Leavitt, sr.

Evan Fessendan, Telstar, sr.

Hussain Ibrahim, Lewiston, jr.

Carolyn Joseph, St. Dom’s, jr.

Melody Lam, Mt. Blue, sr.

Kendra Lobley, Poland, jr.

Patrick McInnis, Monmouth, jr.

Cross country overview:

 MVC

The addition of an emerging St. Dom’s should make the Mountain Valley Conference even more competitive this year. The Saints’ girls’ team, coming off a fifth-place finish in the 2008 state meet, has the depth to compete right away. Defending conference champion Lisbon is young but remains one of the favorites, along with Madison. Girls numbers are down at many schools, including reigning Class C runner-up Monmouth. If the Mustangs can stay healthy and/or add some depth, they could reclaim the top spot in the conference after having their streak of six straight titles snapped last year. Telstar and Winthrop didn’t have enough to fill out their teams in the preseason, but the Ramblers still have a couple of the conference’s top harriers in Anna Doyle and Molly Lindsey. 

Defending Class C boys’ champions Monmouth peaked at the right time last year. With four of their top seven back, the Mustangs figure to make another run at conference and state supremacy. Runner-up Boothbay expects to challenge again, along with Lisbon and Winthrop. Telstar has its top runners back and may be ready to take the leap into conference competition again. St. Dom’s has a senior-laden squad hoping to compete in its new league and qualify for states. Hall-Dale and Madison could also factor in if they can add depth.

WMC Class B

Two-time defending state champion Cape Elizabeth is once again the favorite with state runner-up Emily Attwood back to lead a strong nucleus. Greely, York, Yarmouth, Falmouth and Poland also figure to be in the mix. With seniors Caroline Blake, Maggie Norton and Natasha Piirainen and junior Kendra Lobley  Poland the depth to take a big step forward.  Gray-New Gloucester has a solid top four led by Elizabeth Pflugradt and hopes the addition of Laura Getchell from the soccer team can help push it into contention.

Greely’s hopes to three-peat as state champs probably rest with how much competition the Rangers get from Cape Elizabeth, Falmouth, York and Yarmouth during the regular season, regional and state meets. Gray-New Gloucester has everyone back from last year, and since sophomores make up the bulk of the roster, the hope is the Patriots can make big strides this year with that valuable first year of experience. Poland has multiple newcomers looking to rebuild the program.