Stanford collects Keatinge titles Ellsworth’s DeWitt strong

The University of Maine cross country teams finished fifth and seventh, respectively in the 14th annual Murray Keatinge Invitational men’s and women’s races in Orono Saturday and Ellsworth native Steven DeWitt helped lead Stanford University to a team title sweep.

DeWitt finished 10th overall in the 8-kilometer men’s race with a time of 24 minutes, 27.4 seconds as his Stanford men finished with 26 points, 23 ahead of runner-up Dartmouth. Dartmouth’s Ben True, a former Greely of Cumberland Center star, finished first with a time of 23:59.1.

Arianna Lambie of Stanford won the 5K women’s race in 16:38.3 to lead the Cardinal to its second win in the last three years. The Stanford men have won three titles in the last five years.

Maine’s highest finishers in the men’s race were juniors Kirby Davis (18th, 24:38.4) and Donald Drake (24:39.6).

“Our fourth or fifth guys were the difference,” said Maine coach Mark Lech. “I told our guys they could experiment a little so Davis and Drake went out a little faster than they normally do.

“Paul [Rupprecht] tried to run an even pace and got caught up in the doldrums a bit in the middle of the race, and Dave Woods got a little overzealous and went out a little too fast.”

Josh Trevino was 25th in 25:08.2, Rupprecht was 50th in 26:02.8, and Woods 59th in 26:20.8.

Senior Heather Jovanelli led all UMaine women with a 22nd-place finish in 18:04.6.

“Heather ran her fastest ever by a pretty decent margin – about 20 seconds – and Hana [Pelletier] dropped a little bit from where she was last week,” Lech said. “As far as the teams, Dalhousie and St. Francis were stronger than they’ve been in the past.”

Pelletier was 33rd in 18:54.3, Shelby Howe 51st (19:33.9), Teig Choroszy 54th (19:43.7), and Lauren LaRoche 56th (19:45.20).

Boston College was second to Stanford and 17 points back with 42. Dartmouth was third with 84.

“The ladies still need that little bit of confidence to push themselves to that next level,” Lech said. “They need to believe they can do it.”

Iowa finished third in the men’s race with 66 points and Boston College fourth with 125. Maine had 150.