Because of the need to mitigate race size during the pandemic, qualifying for the cross country state championship meets at Saxl Park in Bangor is being done at the conference level this fall.
The Western Maine Conference held its qualifiers at two different sites on Wednesday. Three Class B teams, two Class C teams and the top two individuals from nonqualifying teams in each race advanced to the state meets, when the boys will race on Nov. 11 and the girls on Nov. 14
At the Class B qualifier in Freeport, the Greely boys won with 38 points, led by overall winner Sam Wilson, who edged Freeport’s Martin Horne by less than a second. Greely had four runners in the top 10, including Leif Harvey in third. Cape Elizabeth placed second (58 points) with Vaughn Lindenau and Owen Patry finishing fourth and fifth. Yarmouth was third with 96 points. Poland’s Jake Twigg earned the second individual slot, placing sixth.
In Class B girls, four teams finished within six points. Cape Elizabeth (62), Yarmouth (64), and Freeport (66) advanced. Greely (68) just missed. Cape freshman Hadley Mahoney won the race, 27 seconds ahead of Maddie Marston of Yarmouth. Alana Natulak of Fryeburg Academy (third) and Abby Irish of Greely (fourth) were the individual qualifiers.
Maine Coast Waldorf won both the boys’ and girls’ WMC Class C races in Cumberland, with Waynflete finishing second in each. In the girls’ race, three-time Class C champion Olivia Reynolds of MCW rolled to the win by 1 minute, 34 seconds over teammate Maeve Woodruff. In the boys’ race, William Levasseur of St. Dominic won the race, followed by Levi Lilienthal of Waynflete. The next four finishers were from Maine Coast Waldorf, led by John Miles Muentener. Individual qualifiers were Kiara Audette of Traip Academy and Sarah Brown of St. Dom’s in the girls’ race and Levasseur and Chris Hamblett of North Yarmouth Academy for the boys.
The SMAA held its Cumberland County qualifier on Saturday. Three teams advanced. Scarborough won the boys’ race followed by Falmouth, and Gorham (which nipped Bonny Eagle). Ben Greene of Falmouth was the individual winner. Scarborough’s Zachary Barry and Erik LoSacco were second and third.
Two-time defending Class A champion Bonny Eagle had its top five in the first 13 finishers to easily win girls’ race, followed by Falmouth and Gorham. Falmouth seniors Sofie Matson and Karley Piers finished 1-2. Bonny Eagle’s Delaney Hesler, Emmaline Pendleton and Addy Thibodeau finished 3-4-5.
Only one individual from nonqualifying teams advanced automatically to the state meet: Jacob Ramos of South Portland for the boys (eighth overall) and Annabelle Brooks of Cheverus (sixth).
Two boys’ and girls’ teams will advance from the seven-school SMAA York County races next week at Noble High (boys on Wednesday, girls Thursday). There will also be two more boys and girls qualifying individually. One of each gender is guaranteed to be from York County but Cumberland County individual runners-up Alexy Seredin of Deering and Alyssa Sigfridson of Portland are invited to run and will make the state meet if they finish in the top two among individual runners.
SOCCER: A send-off of sorts has been organized by two four-team sets from the SMAA. When the schedules were first set for the pandemic-shortened season, SMAA soccer teams in Cumberland County were assigned eight-game schedules that ran through Oct. 31. That left room for two more games before the Nov. 14 end of the fall season.
“I think a lot of schools were really interested in doing an SMAA Cumberland County tournament but there are 10 schools and that would have been at least three games, potentially four,” said South Portland Athletic Director Todd Livingston, noting that the MPA let schools know it would not be issuing waivers to expand the season beyond 10 games.
Instead, Falmouth, Gorham, Scarborough and Windham have formed one quad with Cheverus, Deering, Portland (boys only) and South Portland creating what Livingston and Cheverus Athletic Director Amy Ashley both referred to as an informal City Cup.
On Nov. 5, Gorham vs. Falmouth and Scarborough vs. Windham games will be held in both boys’ and girls’ soccer. Then it will be winners vs. winners and losers vs. losers on Nov. 9.
Gorham Athletic Director Tim Spear said having a mini tournament “was important to putting a good end to what has been a good season and celebrating that piece with quality games. And things have gone well, from soccer and field hockey and our other sports as well; I just want to emphasize that – to finish strong with a good end of the season.”
The Portland-based boys’ teams will have a similar format. South Portland is at Deering on Monday and Cheverus plays at Portland on Tuesday. The consolation game is Wednesday at Deering, with the winners’ game at Fitzpatrick Stadium on Thursday.
The three girls’ teams will play each other over the course of the week: Cheverus at Portland on Monday, Cheverus at South Portland on Wednesday, and South Portland at Portland on Friday.
“We just wanted to do something for our kids,” Ashley said. “It’s a fun way to end our season. We’re fortunate to be able top play and it’s good to have some bragging rights.”
NEW ENGLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS have been canceled for this fall and winter after a vote earlier this month by the The New England Council, the organization that hosts New England championship events. Maine athletes typically advance to New England championships in cross country in the fall and indoor track and wrestling in the winter.
UPDATE: This story was corrected at 11:45 a.m. on Oct. 29 to show that three Class B boys’ teams and three Class B girls’ teams from the Western Maine Conference advance to the state cross country championships.
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