Black Bears await competitive Murray Keatinge meet

Saturday’s Murray Keatinge Cross Country Invitational should provide the University of Maine with plenty of competition.

Among the teams included in the 10-school field are Big 12 power Texas Tech, Dartmouth, Central Connecticut, Holy Cross, and Saint Francis Xavier of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, as well as America East foes Vermont, New Hampshire, Albany and Stony Brook.

The meet starts with the men’s 8-kilometer race at 10 a.m., followed by the women’s 5K race at 11.

Both races will start on the practice soccer fields and finish on the track inside Alfond Stadium on the Orono campus.

On the men’s side, Dartmouth, ranked 23rd in the country, and the Red Raiders, are legitimate favorites.

“For teams, I gotta say either Texas Tech or Dartmouth on the men’s side, its close between those two,” said UMaine cross country coach Mark Lech.

The Texas Tech men are led by Kevin Chelimo, Silas Kemboi and Edwin Sang, all natives of Kenya.

Dartmouth will counter with North Yarmouth native Ben True, who is entering his junior season at the Hanover, N.H. institution. True’s former Greely High School teammate, Casey Diehl, is also on the Big Green’s deep roster.

UMaine, led by seniors Kirby Davis of Falmouth and Josh Trevino of Rochester, N.H., figures to battle for a third-place finish.

“I think we could be third or fourth, right around there,” Lech said.

Maine’s America East foes, such as New Hampshire, Albany and Stony Brook should be right up there with the Black Bears.

For Albany and Stony Brook, the meet provides a chance to run on the host course for this year’s conference championship meet, and to run against top-quality AE teams such as UNH and Maine.

“That’s a big reason why Albany wants to come,” Lech said. “Albany is decent, Stony Brook has had [good] individuals in the past years, it’ll be interesting to see what they have.”

On the women’s side, Texas Tech appears to be a heavy favorite, while America East power New Hampshire looks to be in the mix as well.

The Red Raiders are led by Sally Kipyego, another native of Kenya, who will be poised to run a blazing time on the UMaine course.

Kipyego won the Red Raiders’ home meet in Lubbock, Texas last weekend with a time of 15 minutes, 55.31 seconds over 3.1 miles.

Lech expects his Black Bears to be somewhere in the middle of the pack.

“I think the ladies will be around fifth or sixth,” Lech said. “Our top four will be solid, my [main] concern is we don’t really have a solid fifth person right now.”

Lech added that facing teams from outside America East will benefit his teams in the long run.

“It’s a good chance to see a lot of different faces from outside our area that we don’t get to run against all the time,” he said. “It pumps them up a little bit, the whole atmosphere of the thing.”

Lech’s Black Bear women’s squad is led by Jessica Belliveau, a freshman from Quispamsis, New Brunswick, and Shelby Howe, a junior from Columbia.

Lech added that a post-meet banquet would be held in the UMaine field house.