Staff Writer
CUMBERLAND – Viking Spencer McElwain tore into a top-100 finish ending his high school cross country career with an 84 ranking among the speediest teenagers in New England. Spencer outpaced other Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticuit, Rhode Island and Vermont runners to a time of 17:18.4.
Contributed photo/Glendon Rand Keeping to the outside of the pack, Saunders works the trail at Twin Brooks Recreation Area in Saturday’s New England Championship.
“I exceeded my goals,” said McElwain. “I didn’t think I would be the sixth Mainer … I looked for the Maine guys, the guys I normally run with and I didn’t lose focus.”
New England’s top distance athletes gathered at Twin Brooks Recreation Area in Cumberland for Saturday’s 73rd annual New England Cross Country Championship. McElwain captained his team to their 27th place ahead of fellow Maine teams Medomak Valley and Winthrop. CHS combined times for 1:31:14.20 behind the team victors from Danbury, Conn. Donald Cabral of Glastonbury, Conn. winded his competition for the individual medal with 15:32.4.
“In the boys’ race we got out a little back as a group and it was very hard to get by so many runners once we got onto the trails,” noted boys’ coach Roy Alden after the meet.
McElwain placed sixth of the Maine athletes, a serious jump up from his previous 16th ranking. The first Maine runner was Ethan Shaw of Falmouth at 24th with 16:33.3.
Conditions boded well for the Northern Maine teams with temperatures around 30 degrees. “It was a fun race. There were just so many runners,” noted McElwain.
Fellow Viking Jesse Stephens claimed 184th in 18:12.2. Sohpomore Timothy Freme followed to kick into 214th in 18:31.2. Steven Melbourne (220th) just outran his maroon-clad teammate Jordan Powers (221st) with times of 18:35.3 and 18:37.1.
Freshman Christian Sleeper (18:52.1) and sophomore Finn Bondeson (20:01.4) also completed the rolling course in 236th and 261st.
“It was a very special experience for the boys team to be able to compete with the best runners in New England,” commented Alden. “This group has truly made the most of their talents.”
Only in her junior year, Hannah Saunders flew into 62nd place just over 20 minutes at 20:15.7 out of 265 competitors. She improved from last year when she placed 70th.
Saunders crossed as the 10th Maine representative, having gone into the race ranked 13.
“She beat some of the girls that beat her at states, so she was excited,” noted girls’ coach Thomas Beckum. “I told the team that in a big race like that you have to get to the outside. With that many people, if you’re in the middle you get stuck.”
Hilary Maxim of Old Town made the first Maine showing at 15th. Georgia Griffin of Hanover, N.H. claimed the overall individual title at 18:06.5.
Beckum plans for an even more successful 2008 cross country season. A new group of fast freshmen will come up from the middle school, and Saunders continues to inch her time forward. Mary Jo Sheehan and Dayna Michaud have a good chance of running at New England’s next season, having missed this year’s race by only five and 10 seconds respectively.
