Cross Country
York XC leaves the competition in the mud
By Kevin Higgins
Christina Ferrande, Jessica Calnan and Hope Ladd, pictured here, run for the York High School Wildcats girls' cross-country team during their most recent meet, held at Greely on Friday, Sept. 29. The girls' team took first place over four teams.
Photo courtesy of Ted Hutch
CUMBERLAND - On Friday, Sept. 29, the York cross-country runners looked out the windows in apprehension, wondering if they would have to run in the rain.
Some hoped the meet at Greely would be canceled, which would mean a mud run for practice. As it turns out, the race was a mud run.
The girls' team cruised to victory once more, with 36 points. Host team Greely (49) placed second, followed by North Yarmouth Academy (53), Gray-New Gloucester (95), and Wells (no score available).
Greely won the boys' race with 28 points. York (55) finished ahead of Wells (77), Gray-New Gloucester (95), and North Yarmouth Academy (110).
Upon reaching Twin Brook recreational facility in Cumberland, it looked like the weather might hold out for the runners. However, halfway through the boys' warm-up run, the sky opened up with a torrential downpour. After that, though, it was sunny for the rest of the afternoon, including both races.
Lacey Cartier led the race from start to finish, where she was almost a minute faster than the next runner. That runner happened to be Annie Boardman, who also continues to have a strong season. Molly Carl and Reaha Goyetche placed seventh and ninth, respectively.
Monique Boutin, 22nd, moved up to the number five spot this week. Cara Cavalieri, 23rd, came in right on her heels. Ashley Meade, 26th, completed the top seven.
Kelly Silin, Glen Swanson and Lindsay Putnam placed 31st through 33rd, respectively, all in a remarkable three-second span.
Sadly for the boys' team, this was the last race for York for freshman Ryan James, who headed from the meet to his new home in Belfast, Maine. Although this was his first year, the whole team felt like he had been there much longer, and gave him quite a sendoff celebration after the meet.
James went out in style, though, finishing first for York in sixth place. Tom Ciampa was the number two man in seventh place. Nick Lumenello and Nick McMahon came across the line soon after, placing 11th and 12th, respectively.
Freshman Dan Herbein, 19th, and Tristan Palhof, 20th, finished strong as York's fifth and sixth runners. Jason Roy, 22nd, completed the top seven.
Right after Roy came the rest of the top 10, Andrew Potter, 24th, Alex Moser, 25th, and Kevin Higgins, 26th.
As usual, the York junior varsity boys also competed in the blue team vs. white team inter-squad competition. The incentives in this competition are much coveted varsity points, which go towards one's varsity letter. The winning team gets a point each, and the top five each get an additional point.
This week, the top five consisted of Josh Herbein, Jimmy Kennedy, Mike Lapointe, Peter Thibault and Jason Gorman. Herbein, Lapointe, and Gorman led the blue team to victory as well. Other members of the blue team include Jim Cassotis, Jack Carley, Stuart Mason, Tim Gelinas, Quinn Parulis, Peter Betts, Hayden Brown and Alex Zotos.
The Wildcat runners have one more regular season meet before the championships begin. This Friday, Oct. 6, the York cross-country teams will take on the defending state champions for both the boys' and the girls' titles on their home course in Cape Elizabeth. Now the runners will start appreciating all the agonizing speed workouts and trail runs.
