Running is a family affair for Balentines, O’Keefes

Molly Balentine and Ryan O’Keefe are very normal, everyday high school runners.

Every morning, they hear that annoying sound of the alarm clock, head off for a long day at school, then venture to track practice, ready to face whatever workout their coach has planned.

The one thing that sets them apart from other runners in the Eastern Maine Indoor Track League: they run for their parents.

No, it’s not a chore or punishment. Their parents are coaching.

Molly’s father, Dick, is in his first year coaching the indoor track and field team at Hampden Academy and has been coaching for about 25 years, according to his daughter, while Ryan’s mother Becky handles the reigns at Sumner High in East Sullivan.

No doubt, both runners have been very successful so far this season.

O’Keefe, a senior, is the top-ranked runner in Eastern Maine in the 2-mile, blazing to a win in 10 minutes, 14.83 seconds in a meet held at UMaine this past weekend. He is also ranked top five in both the mile, which he also won last weekend, and 800, respectively. He can run the 400 as well.

Balentine, also a senior, is having a fine season as well. She won the mile this past weekend in 5:37 and was second in the 800. She’s ranked second in the EMITL in both the 800 and 2-mile.

Oh, by the way, both athletes led their respective cross country teams to championships in the fall. Balentine’s Broncos claimed the state Class B girls crown while O’Keefe led the Tigers to an Eastern Maine Class C title.

Balentine, who has been running since 6th grade at Reeds Brook Middle School in Hampden, enjoyed having the example of her father. “It was good to see how much determination and work ethic it takes to be a good runner,” she said.

When Balentine was younger, her father gave her plenty of close-up views of high school cross country. “She used to come occasionally to practice to watch, or go on bus trips,” Dick Balentine said.

Speaking of trips, the Balentine’s have made a couple of trips to the world’s premier road race. “My dad’s run the Boston Marathon twice,” Molly said. “It was a family thing.”

Her father hails from the area, as he did his high school running at Masconomet Regional High School in Topsfield, Mass.

Dick Balentine, who teaches biology at Hampden, taught Molly for a couple years in Advance Placement Biology and College Biology, and it’s no different than track. “It worked out fine. It’s pretty much the same,” he said.

Balentine enjoys coaching his daughter, too. “It’s good for her to see the commitment that you have to have to be a runner,” he said. “We try not to talk about it much at home.”

Molly has applied to Maine, Vermont, Wheaton College in Norton, Mass., Bates College in Lewiston and Bowdoin College in Brunswick, according to her father.

Meanwhile, down the coast in East Sullivan, O’Keefe not only had the example of his mother growing up but his older brother Brendan, who excelled at Sumner and Brown University. “Brendan is Ryan’s greatest role model,” Becky O’Keefe said. “He really looks up to him.”

O’Keefe enjoys the role of coaching her son. “We talk about the whole meet in general [at home],” she said. “We do that for workouts, too.”

Running has been in the family for a while, too. “Both had a gift, and it’s been kind of a mixed blessing,” said Becky O’Keefe, who didn’t start running herself until she started coaching at Sumner seven years ago.

O’Keefe is interested in the University of Virginia, University of North Carolina, Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., Virginia Tech and Division III Keene State in New Hampshire.

The final meet of the EMITL regular season is set for Friday night at 6 p.m. at the UMaine field house, while the championship meet will be held on Monday, Feb. 9th, also starting at 6.

The championship is usually held on a Saturday but was pushed to a Monday due to a UMaine hockey game being played at Alfond Arena on Feb. 7.