Luchini helps Stanford cruise to victory Senior runner excels at his ‘favorite meet of the year’

ORONO – The uncharacteristic pumping of his fist and waving of his hand as he neared the finish line said it all.

Saturday’s 12th FinishLynx Murray Keatinge Cross Country Invitational was only one of many early season meets held across the country, but it may as well have been the national championship meet for Louie Luchini.

The Ellsworth native and Stanford University senior thoroughly enjoyed a triumphant homecoming as he ran the 8-kilometer course in 23 minutes, 55.8 seconds to delight a large crowd of fans which included all the members of Ellsworth High School’s cross-country team.

“I think I got more nervous for this than I do for nationals. This is my favorite meet of the year,” Luchini said through a wide smile on his face. “I really wanted to come here and win it this year after getting second two years ago and having a bad race here this summer.

“It’s a great feeling having all these people here watching. I was so pumped to have everybody there. I usually don’t do things at the end of the race like that, but seeing everybody there, I had to give them a ‘thank you’ for coming.”

The large throng of well-wishers was also excited by a 17th-place finish by another Ellsworth native and Cardinal runner. Steven DeWitt turned in a time of 24:32.30 to help Stanford sweep both races.

“I probably had 35 relatives or friends here today and it was probably more like 100 or so between Louie’s supporters and mine,” said the sophomore, who finished 17th. “I ran much better than I expected. I’m in the best shape of my life.”

The Stanford men swept the top four spots and had all seven runners finish in the top 12 to outdistance runner-up Butler of Indiana by almost three minutes in the total team time.

“It is a different course, but it’s a great course,” said Stanford coach Andy Gerard. “With the dirt roads, it’s flatter and a little harder than a lot of the surfaces we run on, but it’s not unfamiliar territory, either.”

Stanford’s women made it look ridiculously easy by sweeping the top seven places and placing eight in the top 11, seemingly without working up much of a sweat on a cool, sunny morning. Stanford swamped runner-up Florida by nearly six minutes.

“Basically it wasn’t a race for them. They’re that much better than anyone else who was here,” said University of Maine coach Mark Lech, whose Black Bears finished sixth among the eight women’s teams and eighth out of 11 men’s squads.

Stanford freshman Ari Lambie was supposed to get the honor of finishing first since she grew up in Massachusetts and the squad had the luxury of picking the winner among teammates with a 13-second lead on the nearest competitor, but the confusion resulting from the red-clad pack finish at the tape resulted in New Jersey’s aptly named Amanda Trotter, a freshman whose twin sister Katy was third, becoming the official winner by a tenth of a second as she ran the 5-kilometer tract in 17:05.20.

“Actually, there’s a history of horse racing in my family, not running,” Amanda Trotter said with a laugh. “That was a personal best for me by about a minute and 10 seconds, so I was really happy with how I did.”

Lambie was, too, especially with family in attendance.

“This is the only race my parents could come to. The captains were generous enough to push us up and we were able to come across the finish first,” said Lambie, who said she would normally be sleeping that time of morning, but showed no signs of drowsiness despite the three-hour time difference and 9 a.m. race start.

UMaine junior Heather Jovanelli of Brewer turned in the best finish of any Black Bear runner after clocking a 18:17.70 and placing 17th.

“I beat my previous best by about 20 seconds,” Jovanelli said. “My stamina during the race was much better and I think my finish was a lot stronger, too.”

Jovanelli typifies the young Maine women’s team, which Lech expects to improve drastically as the season progresses.

“I think she had an epiphany between freshman and sophomore year and she really improved the way she finished the last 100 yards or so,” Lech said. “She ran very well.”

The highest finish for a UMaine man was 41st by Jeff Caron, who had a time of 25:24.60.

Oklahoma University senior Jimmy Buchanan was excited to be in Orono. It gave his parents a chance to see him race for the first time in three years.

“We were really pumped up for this. Some of the guys asked if there’d be snow on the ground, but I told them it was a little too early for that,” said the Toronto, Ontario, native. “The competition was the best part about coming here, but tasting some of that Maine lobster is right up there too.”