Tom Menendez swore that he never saw his daughter, Nicole Court-Menedez, run her first race as a Lewiston freshman. It took a little while for him to convince her, though.
“It was at the Laliberte (Invitational). I wasn’t used to looking for blue, and every time she went by, I never cheered. I never said anything,” he recalled. “She said ‘Dad, you never cheered for me.’ I said ‘I never saw you.'”
Tom Menendez wasn’t just at the state’s largest preseason meet to watch his daughter, He was also coaching Monmouth Academy, so it was understandable if he could be distracted.
Still, Nicole couldn’t understand why her father couldn’t find her, until the pictures from the meet came back.
“She was surrounded by three Monmouth girls at every point I took a picture,” Menendez said. “I never, never was able to pick her out. After that, I started looking for the blue skinny kid amidst all the maroon kids.”
Three years later, father and daughter will be “competing” one last time, as Monmouth races with Lewiston, Mt. Ararat, Leavitt and Edward Little at Friday’s meet at Auburn Middle School.
“I’m excited because every year I always have to miss most of his meets because I always have practice or a meet,” said Nicole, whose mother, Carolyn Court, coached cross country and track at Bates College for 25 years. “I’m good friends with a lot of the kids on his team and it’s great to run against them.”
Nicole said there won’t be any extra pressure running in front of her father. In fact, she expects the opposite.
“I’m pretty relaxed,” she said. “I seem to race better when he’s there.”
Nicole has run well so far this season, finishing just one second behind Cony’s Courtney King to place second in last Friday’s meet with Cony and EL.
Tom’s Monmouth team has impressed as well.
This will be the Mustangs’ second appearance in a KVAC Class A-dominated meet on the young season. Last week, they competed at Maranacook with Brunswick, Oxford Hills, Maranacook, Leavitt and fellow Class C school Winthrop and had a strong showing. The boys finished third, while the girls placed fourth.
Tom Menendez said the meets with the bigger schools is a chance to race in bigger meets with more competition.
“We put the kids in there, let them race against some of the big dogs,” he said. “It gives them a big confidence boost because they’re in a big race, those kids are faster than what they’re going to meet in regular meets, and it’s a chance to run in a pack. There’s always a good chance there is someone near to run.”
MVC showdown
Wednesday saw the first meeting of two of the elite runners in the state when Telstar’s Joseph Holt-Andrews and Madison’s Matt McClintock clashed in a Mountain Valley Conference meet at Carrabec.
McClintock, the two-time defending Class C champion, dominated the meet, completing the North Anson 5K course in 15:38. Holt-Andrews finished second in 16:59, followed by teammates Ben Lewis (18:01) and Adam Mahar (18:33).
The 2-3-4 finish propelled the Rebels to an easy victory over Hall-Dale, Madison, Dirigo, Carrabec, St. Dom’s and Valley.
St. Dom’s edged Madison in the girls’ meet by one point. Sarah Small (23:07) and Ellen Tuttle (23:09) finished fourth and fifth, respectively, for the Saints, followed by Dirigo’s Jessica Conant (23:39) and Telstar’s Gabbie Stone (24:01).
On the trail
Poland opened its new course at Minot Community Park last Friday for a meet with Freeport, Yarmouth and Waynflete. Both the boys and girls finished fourth, but Poland freshman Kristina Smith won the girls’ meet in 21:08, 40 seconds in front of Waynflete junior Martha Veroneau, who finished second in Class C last year…Mt. Abram is taking steps to revive its cross country program. According to a report last month by Sun Journal correspondent Valerie Tucker, athletic director Jeff Pillsbury said several students expressed an interest in competing in some MVC meets. Pillsbury and Buzz Bean, who has coached several sports at the school, are hoping to get more students interested and revive the program, which folded in 2001…Gray-New Gloucester’s Will Shafer started the season in style last Friday with a win in a tri-meet with Cape Elizabeth and Sacopee Valley at Cape. Shafer routed the field in 16:29, 33 seconds ahead of his closest competitor.
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