Stanford headlines strong field for 14th Keatinge Invitational

No University of Maine men’s or women’s cross country team has ever won a Murray Keatinge Invitational team title.

Despite the UMaine men’s team’s status as the defending America East Conference champion and a solid member of the impressive field in the 14th installment of the annual, prestigious race, the Black Bears’ 13-year winless streak probably won’t be snapped Saturday in Orono.

Sure, they’re starting their season on a roll with first- and second-place finishes the first two weeks and a loss to New Hampshire in a dual meet last week in which the Bears rested two of their top runners.

Both fields will feature solid teams and national powers such as Stanford University, Boston College, and Dartmouth. The men’s field also includes Big Ten power Iowa.

Other schools in both races include Idaho State University, St. Francis Xavier University (Nova Scotia), New Hampshire, Holy Cross, and Central Connecticut State.

The 8-kilometer men’s race starts things off at 11 a.m. with the 5K women’s meet following at noon.

“This will be an interesting test this week. It’s the first race that means something to everyone involved and it’s a barometer to see where they are,” said UM cross country coach Mark Lech. “Iowa just ran really well in a big Midwest meet and Stanford is always good.

“Dartmouth is usually one of the teams in the Northeast that vies for the NCAA championship meet each year. Idaho State is more of an unknown because I haven’t seen too many meet results.”

The Idaho State men have finished first in a three-team meet and second in a seven-team meet so far this season.

Lech sees Stanford and Iowa battling it out for first place with Dartmouth a close third and Maine battling the ISU Bengals for fourth.

Maine will be led by seniors Paul Rupprecht and Josh Trevino, juniors Donnie Drake of Portland and Kirby Davis of Falmouth, and sophomores Charles Theriault and David Woods of York.

In the women’s race, Lech expects Stanford to dominate with Boston College and Dartmouth following.

“I think we probably are looking at a battle for fifth or sixth with UNH,” said Lech, who also noted his women’s team has made drastic improvement in the last three weeks.

He singled out sophomore Lauren LaRoche from Auburn as a primary reason for the team’s improvement.

She’ll be trying to stay in the lead pack with teammates Heather Jovanelli of Brewer, fellow senior Kristin Vidlak, and juniors Hana Pelletier of Belgrade, Shelby Howe of Columbia, and Teig Choroszy of Saco.

Despite Maine’s familiarity with the course and home-field advantage, neither the men nor the women have ever finished higher than third place, according to Lech. Individually, Nolan Tobey is still the only UMaine runner to ever finish first after doing so in 2001.