Many of the top high school runners in the state will get together this Saturday for the 2005 Maine Cross Country Festival of Champions race in Belfast.
More than 700 Maine runners and nearly 40 schools are expected to compete in the fourth-annual event, along with squads from Canton, Conn., and Cumberland, R.I.
The event will allow teams with state title aspirations to get a peek at some of the competition for the first time this fall.
The runners will be divided into three divisions for both boys and girls.
To classify the runners, coaches were asked to submit either the runners’ best 5-kilometer times this fall or a predicted time to finish. Most coaches chose to predict individual finishes based on their knowledge that the Belfast course is known for its hard surface.
“That course is by far the fastest in the state,” says Lewiston coach Ray Putnam. “It’s about 30 seconds faster than the Edward Little course.”
Among the top seeds for the girls is Oxford Hills standout Mandy Ivey, who is seeded seventh. Other local girls in the top 20 include the Maranacook tandem of Jen Monsulick and Abby Pullen, along with Edward Little’s Carolyn Large.
On the boys side, four local schools have runners seeded in the top 20 with EL’s Nick Kazar and Tom Esponnette joining Lisbon’s Tyler Clark, Aaron Cloutier and Nick Cayton. Mt. Blue runners Adam Deveau and Joe Staples are also listed along with Leavitt’s Justin Fereshetian.
Devils quick out of chute
The Lewiston boys are one of the early surprises in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference. Two weeks ago, the Blue Devils knocked off Edward Little for the first time in 10 years, according to coach Putnam. Last Friday, the boys, running without their top runner, defeated Class B power Leavitt.
“They go into every meet with far more confidence than I have,” says Putnam. “I’m always worrying about this runner or that team, they just go in and run.
“At Leavitt, they came after us hard,” he says. “It was their homecoming. Without Bashir Mohamed, we still beat them and they’re a very good team.”
While the Blue Devils’ start have caught some folks by surprise, their first-year coach saw it coming.
“They were running crazy at practice,” says Putnam. “We hadn’t done any speed work, but they looked strong.”
Mohamed and Jeff Lucier are leading the way, with freshmen Robbie Leeman and Matt Driscoll not far behind. In the meet with EL, Medomak Valley and Camden Hills, the Blue Devils placed five runners in the top nine slots.
Off their early success, the Blue Devils have cracked the top state’s top 10 in the coaches’ poll for the first time in recent memory.
“Our times have moved up,” says Putnam. “We have a 55-second difference between our first and sixth runners which is an outstanding pack.”
Lewiston has twice gone up against defending Eastern Maine champion Mt. Blue and came up short both times. They’re scheduled to face off again in Belfast on Saturday and then next weekend in a shorter race at the Mt. Blue Relays..
No slowing Greyhounds
After losing some key performers off its back-to-back state championship teams, Lisbon is not showing any let down.
In fact, the Greyhounds exploded out of the preseason and are once again the team to beat in the Mountain Valley Conference.
“The success they’ve had is the result of their work in the summer,” says coach Hank Fuller. “Often you spend the season getting your kids into shape. Because they put down such a base of mileage, I can give them more speed work. They’re a mature bunch of athletes.”
Clark is undefeated this season, having already defeated both Deveau and Ellsworth’s Corey DeWitt.
“He just gets tougher and faster each year,” says Fuller. “He’s a once in a two-decade athlete.”
Clark is no one-man gang. The Greyhounds have a strong top five with three underclassmen making strides behind them. Cloutier and Cayton are consistently scoring from the two and three positions.
Cayton’s been a nice addition to an already strong team. Although he’d never run cross country before, the junior has a track background and a great work ethic.
“He ran all summer with Cloutier,” says Fuller. “In a sense he’s like a freshman and every race is an experience for him. For him to have done so well is remarkable.”
Winthrop is Lisbon’s top threat in the MVC, and the teams face each other twice this week. They’ll see each other in a small meet Wednesday in Boothbay and again Saturday at the Festival race.
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