UMaine runners collect fourths at AE title meet

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The University of Maine men’s and women’s cross country teams ran to solid fourth-place finishes at last weekend’s America East Championships at Stony Brook University on Long Island.

“We thought we could be somewhere between third and fifth,” head coach Mark Lech said. “As it was, we ran decent.”

The University of New Hampshire men cruised to their second consecutive conference title while the host Seawolves dethroned three-time champ Boston University in the women’s race.

Sophomore Miles Bartlett of Casco paced the UMaine men, finishing 12th in 26 minutes, 39 seconds over 5 miles.

Classmate Chris Harmon of Scarborough was the Bears’ second runner in 17th, followed by junior Charles Therriault in 23rd, senior Donny Drake of Portland in 30th, junior David Englehutt in 32nd, and sophomores Corey Bean in 36th and Brendan Carr of Brewer in 43rd.

The Stony Brook course was “fairly runner-friendly,” Lech said, consisting of mainly grass and gravel trails with no major hills but many turns, which makes it difficult for a runner to find momentum.

“It didn’t lend itself to where you [could] get into a flow, but it wasn’t bad,” Lech said. “The course didn’t really flow, there were a lot of turns.”

While Lech felt that Carr and Englehutt struggled, he got strong efforts from Bartlett and Harmon up front, Bean and in particular Drake, who battled a hip injury all summer.

“[Corey] Bean on the guys’ side, he ran better than he has,” Lech said. “Charlie Therriault had a really good race, Donny Drake has been through a lot of tribulations this fall, so I think he did as good as he could’ve done.”

Former Bangor standout Casey Quaglia, competing for Binghamton University, finished 25th overall and was the Bearcats’ second runner in 27:16.0.

On the women’s side, sophomore Jessica Belliveau cracked the top 10 for the Bears, finishing sixth in 18:04.1 over 5,000 meters.

“I thought she could’ve possibly ran a little bit faster,” Lech said.

Fellow sophomore Elonnai Hickok was UM’s second runner in 23rd, while classmate Laura Bruston took 26th, freshman Chelsea Leeman of Brunswick 36th, Stephanie Jette of Lovell 40th, senior Erin Lawler of Waterville 44th and sophomore Jolene Belanger of Glenburn 51st to round out the Black Bears’ lineup.

Like the men, Lech figured the Bears would be somewhere in the middle of the pack.

“Again, I thought anywhere from third if we ran crazy good and fifth if we ran real poor,” he said. “Fourth was an average performance.”

Lech felt that he got sound performances out of No. 3 runner Bruston and No. 4 Leeman.

“[Laura] Bruston ran really well, as did Chelsea Leeman,” he said.

Up next for the Black Bears is the NCAA qualifying meet at Franklin Park in Boston on Nov. 10.

Back home in Maine

The Caribou and Ellsworth high school boys cross country teams will join four other boys teams and six girls squads in representing Maine at the New England Championships at Twin Brook Recreation Center in Cumberland on Nov. 10.

Coach Roy Alden’s Vikes finished second in the Class B field at Saturday’s state championships and will be one of four Class B squads in the field.

Senior Spencer McElwain finished 16th among all three classes at the state meet, while Eagles senior Logan Will qualified individually as well with a 10th-place effort.

Class A state champ Lewiston, Class B winner Greely of Cumberland Center and ‘C’ victor Winthrop earned automatic berths, while Medomak Valley of Waldoboro also qualified.

Other local individual qualifiers include Lewiston’s Mohamed Noor, Bangor’s Riley Masters, Mt. Blue of Farmington’s Eric Marceau, Graham Pearsall of Foxcroft Academy and Hall-Dale of Farmingdale’s Wade Davis, the Class C winner.

On the girls side, state champions Cape Elizabeth in Class B, Waynflete of Portland in Class C and Brunswick in Class A will represent Maine along with York, Falmouth and Freeport.

Eastern Maine will be represented with Hilary Maxim of Old Town, John Bapst of Bangor’s Kim Spencer, Mount Desert Island’s Heather Spurling, Hannah Saunders of Caribou and Hall-Dale’s Magen Ellis.

The girls will race at 11:30 a.m. followed by the boys at 12:30 p.m.

Ryan McLaughlin can be reached at 1-800-310-8600 or bdnsports@bangordailynews.net