Big names, local favorites to battle at Keatinge meet

Stanford University of the Pacific-10 Conference, Indiana of the Big 10, Clemson of the Atlantic Coast Conference and Florida of the Southeastern Conference – big-name schools from big-time athletic leagues.

You prefer local names to national ones? How about the University of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont of America East. Oh, and then there’s Ellsworth’s own Louie Luchini.

All these schools, names and more will converge on the University of Maine’s Orono campus for the 12th annual FinishLynx Murray Keatinge Invitational cross country meet Saturday morning. The assemblage of team and individual talent is arguably one of the best ever to take part in the annual event.

“For at least the last two or three years, this is the best quality we’ve had in this race,” said Jim Ballinger, head cross country coach for the Black Bears. “Stanford’s the defending men’s champ and they’re real good. Indiana has a couple of good kids and so does Clemson.”

The action begins at 9 a.m. with the start of the women’s 5,000-meter race. The men’s race, an 8K affair, will begin at 10 a.m.

Last year’s individual men’s champion, Nolan Tobey of Maine, will not be back to defend his title as he has used up his cross country eligibility. He is still a member of the indoor and outdoor track teams, however.

Tobey came out of nowhere to win the race last season. Could that kind of feat repeat itself?

“I don’t know about that this year. This looks like a pretty tough meet for that to happen,” Ballinger said.

Top contenders for the men’s team title look to be Luchini’s Stanford Cardinal, ranked first in most national cross country rankings, Indiana (16th) and the Butler Bulldogs of Indianapolis (22nd). Individually, there are at least six runners who could make big runs.

“Louie Luchini is as good as anybody on those teams, and he’s well-known around here, so he’s one to watch, along with the guys from Indiana, Stanford and Clemson,” said Ballinger. “It’s going to be a fast race.”

The women’s field of contenders shapes up as Stanford, the second-ranked team in the FinishLynx national rankings; Florida, New Hampshire and Oklahoma.

New Hampshire is back to defend its men’s team title. Marquette University, the 2002 women’s titlist, is not back this year. Texas A&M’s Melissa Guilli, who won the race last season, also will not be returning.

The partnership of Finish-Lynx, a company started by Brewer native Doug DeAngelis, and UMaine is an ideal one for organizers and boosters.

“We’re really excited about that and the owner of the company is also a Maine graduate, so it’s a good partnership,” Ballinger said. “We’ve been scraping stuff together the last few years to keep this race going, so having them come in is a great thing for us.”