The regional cross country championships are taken for granted in some circles. Some teams and individual runners place more emphasis on winning their conference title and treat regionals as a measuring stick or training ground for the following week’s state meet.
Some regions are aligned identically to the conferences, so there is some redundancy. But with different courses hosting the meets and variables such as injuries, regional meets are not a complete facsimile of their conference predecessors..
And there is plenty at stake on Saturday in Belfast and Cumberland. The top 30 runners in each class advance to the state championship meet on Nov. 2. One-half of the teams participating also advance.
The Eastern Maine championships will be held at Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast, with the Eastern A girls starting at 1:20 p.m., followed by the boys 35 minutes later. Lewiston is the defending boys’ champion and Hampden Academy the defending girls’ champion.
The Blue Devils’ plans for retaining their title could depend upon the availability of senior Mohamed Mohamed, who was held out of last week’s KVAC championship by coach T.J. Niles to rest an ailing knee. Mohamed’s absence was enough to disrupt the Devils’ depth so that, despite having four of the top 10 finishers, they had to settle for second, 14 points behind Bangor. If Mohamed can’t go, the Devils still have a formidable foursome in Mohamed Awil, Isaiah Harris, Farhan Abdillahi and Osman Mohamed, which excelled in winning the Festival of Champions at the same site on Oct. 5.
Mt. Blue also figures to be in the team title hunt. KVAC champion Josh Horne alternated setting the pace in the KVAC all season with teammate Aaron Willingham, who finished third last week but was the top Class A runner at the Festival of Champions. Teammate Dan Lesko finished fourth at KVACs.
Hampden will be favored to keep its girls’ title. The Broncos won the KVAC with five of the top 18 finishers, followed by Brunswick and Lewiston. The Blue Devils enjoyed top-15 times from Farhiyo Aden (fifth), Nicole Footer (12th) and Faith Shaw (15th) in that race. Mt. Blue could also have a presence in the top 15 with Maggie Hickey, Sarah Wade and Katherine Gunther, who placed seventh, 11th and 14th, respectively, last week.
The Western Maine meet takes place at Twin Brook Recreation Area in Cumberland, which is also the site of next week’s state championship meets. The Class B races begin at 10 a.m. Class C competition starts at 12:30 p.m.
The Cape Elizabeth boys and Falmouth girls put their regional titles on the line in the Class B races. Both are well-prepared, having won their respective Western Maine Conference championships last week at St. Joseph’s College.
Gray-New Gloucester’s Wil Shafer is one of the favorites in the boys’ race. Shafer won the WMC meet by eight seconds over Cape Elizabeth’s Liam Simpson. On the girls’ side, WMC champion Heather Evans of York and defending regional champion Kristin Sandreuter of Greely are expected to lead the charge on Saturday.
The C meet features Festival of Champions winner Josef Holt-Andrews of Telstar, who won his second consecutive Mountain Valley Conference title last week at University of Maine at Augusta and seeks his first regional crown Saturday. Winthrop’s Will Allen has consistently been his top challenger in the conference all year and finished second last week. Nick Harriman of Lisbon was third.
Boothbay’s Sophia Thayer won her third MVC title last week and is the defending regional champion. Telstar’s Gabi Stone, Winthrop’s Molly Kieltyka and Bree Sautter and Kaylin Le of Lisbon are coming off top-10 finishes at MVCs.
MVC champion Boothbay has shown impressive depth all season and is coming off a dominating performance in the conference championships to claim favorite’s status for the boys’ team title. Monmouth finished second and could be the top local team.
The girls’ title appears to be up for grabs. Lisbon edged Boothbay for the MVC championship by one point last week. Monmouth, which finished third, should also be a factor, along with defending champion Merriconeag.
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