King revives Orrington 10K after 1-year hiatus

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For the past few years, the Orrington 10-kilometer road race was the first in the Sub 5 track club’s race series.

After a year’s absence in 2006 the fast, popular 10K returns to the circuit this spring, thanks to the efforts of Sub 5 member and road racer Ryan King of Bangor.

“I ran it in 2005. It’s just a flat, fast 10K, and there’s not a lot of those around,” he said. “I just wanted to bring something back that would have some excitement.”

The race is set for Saturday, May 5 at the Center Drive School in Orrington, at 9:30 a.m.

At a small-town race such as this one, you normally wouldn’t expect runners to travel from the southern reaches of Maine and even outside of the state, but that is not the case.

“I have about 20 registrants already, have them as far as Massachusetts and a couple from East Waterboro,” King said. “[There’s] a big swath of people signed up, some people I haven’t even heard of.”

King does have verbal commitments from local runners Adam Goode of Orono, who recently completed his first Boston Marathon, and fellow Orono resident Kathleen Bell, who won the last Orrington race two years ago.

The course is very “runner-friendly,” King says, and one of the fastest in eastern Maine. It heads out Center Drive, turns onto Johnson Mill Road and eventually Dow Road before turning around and heading back to the school.

“We’ve been very fortunate to get the spirit of the town of Orrington behind us,” King said. “The police and fire [departments], ambulance services, they’ve really stepped up as well to provide support.”

King felt it was appropriate to bring back a race that runners can go for a personal record, and others can hit the roads for the first time.

“There’s so many 5K’s around,” he said. “A 10K, I thought would be great.”

He added that he has “about 10 people already that have signed up to volunteer,” with tasks such as registration, the finish line and distributing awards.

Speaking of awards, the top finishers in each age group (29-under, 30-39, and so on) receive a unique prize: A cow bell.

“We’re bringing back the old cow bells,” King said. “There’s always something new around the corner every time you keep doing it. As a race director, it’s just really exciting because everyone’s real excited for it.”

Before the main event starts, a 1-mile fun run for kids and a non-competitive adult jog/walk will take place at 9, and race-day registration will start in the school gym at 8.

The fee is $10.

Quaglia bound for Binghamton

Last summer, Casey Quaglia went on a college-visiting road trip on which many young athletes venture prior to starting their senior year.

After touring many institutions around the Northeast, the Bangor High School cross country and track and field sensation has accepted a scholarship to Binghamton University in Vestal, N.Y.

Quaglia, who will study business, was attracted to the school’s mix of quality academic and athletic programs.

“That’s was exactly what I was looking for,” he said. “Binghamton by far surpasses every school I was looking at, all the programs are just incredible.”

According to Binghamton cross country and track and field coach Annette Acuff, Quaglia is the type of athlete whom she can spread in different events on the track.

“He’s very versatile, he can run a great quarter-[mile],” she said. “He’s the type of kid we’re definitely looking for in our program.”

The biggest adjustment, Quaglia says, will be the transition in his cross country races from the 5K distance (3.1 miles) to 8K (just under 5 miles).

“It will definitely take some time, it’ll be a huge adjustment,” he said.

“The training will be an adjustment for him,” Acuff concurred. “We’ll be pretty careful with him in terms of bumping him up with training. I think he’ll transition well.”

Acuff’s Bearcats only graduate two seniors from last fall’s squad, and she says Quaglia’s recruiting class is ‘the strongest recruiting class since we moved to Division I and since we’ve been in America East.

“I think Casey is certainly a large part of that,” she added.

His heart and desire is one of the main things that attracted the Binghamton program to him.

“I’m just very impressed with his personality and competitiveness,” Acuff said. “He’s extremely competitive, very driven, so personality-wise we thought he’d be an incredible fit for our program.”

Last winter, Quaglia helped lead Bangor to the program’s first-ever state Class A indoor track and field championship.

He won both the mile and two-mile races for the Rams in that meet, outkicking Gorham’s Tim Millett to win the 2-mile and giving Bangor an insurmountable cushion heading into the final event.

Quaglia also anchored the winning 4×880 relay team in the state championships, and helped them set an Eastern Maine Indoor Track League record earlier in the season.

His senior year resume also includes winning the individual Class A state title in cross country last fall.