Sprague nabs first Trot win Nealey captures women’s race

BREWER – The third time was certainly the charm for Jeff Sprague.

After coming up empty in his first two attempts at winning the Brewer Turkey Trot 5K, the 25-year-old from Wiscasset struck gold on a new course, and earned himself a Thanksgiving turkey in the process.

Sprague, a former UMaine-Presque Isle running standout, breezed through the out-and-back Dirigo Drive layout in 15 minutes, 34 seconds to capture the 26th annual race on a picture perfect day for running Sunday afternoon.

Tommy McWalters finished 34 seconds behind Sprague in second.

Robbie Gomez took third in 16:19, John Bapst running coach Joe Capehart fourth in 16:24 and former Bangor runner Branden Mountain rounded out the top five in 16:32.

Belfast Area High cross country coach Jo-Ann Nealey outkicked Old Town standout Hilary Maxim to win the women’s division.

Nealey, who lives in Northport, was timed in 18:15 while Maxim finished in 18:23.

Vanessa Brunton, a former Sumner of East Sullivan standout who was running stride for stride with Maxim the first two miles, was third in 18:41.

While race organizers thought the new course would be tougher than the old one, the race winners certainly didn’t think so.

“They thought it was going to be tougher?” Sprague asked. “It was nothing like that half-mile climb we had to deal with on the old course.”

Sprague was referring to the tough uphill with a half-mile to go on the old Parkway South course.

The Dirigo Drive course is virtually all flat with one small, gradual hill near the turnaround point.

“I haven’t seen it so I thought the hill was going to be steeper than it was,” Nealey said.

Maxim took off right from the start, followed by Brunton while Nealey hung close and eventually caught up to Brunton and Maxim in the stretch portion of the race.

“It wasn’t until about a half mile to go when Hilary and I started running together,” Nealey said. “Hilary took off right from the start, [Brunton] passed me at the half-mile mark. I saw that Hilary and [Brunton] were running right together the whole way.”

Nealey, who keeps herself in shape by training with the Lions, certainly wasn’t trying to conserve her energy for a kick.

“I wasn’t saving it, I was trying to keep my eye on [Maxim and Brunton],” she said. “I do a lot of training with the kids, that’s helpful for racing.”

Sprague had a much easier go of it on the men’s side, running uncontested the second half of a race which has been on his radar.

“It was a huge target,” said Sprague. “I was aiming to break 16 here but I didn’t know it was a 3-miler until I got here today.”

The new course measured out to exactly 3 miles, .1 shy of the 5K distance with a flatter finish than that of the Parkway South route used for 25 years,

“Overall its probably a little bit easier,” Sprague said. “There’s a good hill at the turnaround point this year.”

Sprague, who trains with the Spudland Racing team out of Aroostook County, had aspirations of running a tad faster.

“It was OK, I wanted to go a little quicker,” he said. “With it not being a 5K I wasn’t quire sure.”

Winthrop High standout Danny Soltan finished sixth overall, while Orono’s Matthieu Nadeau was seventh and Graham Pearsall of Foxcroft Academy eighth.

Another local high school runner, Evan Piccirillo, a freshman at Hampden Academy, also cracked the top 10 by finishing 10th.