HAMPDEN – It was good to be a member of the O’Donnell family at Saturday’s Warren Bishop Memorial cross country run at Hampden Academy.

Jessica O’Donnell, a 1999 HA graduate now living in New Hampshire, won the women’s division in 21 minutes, 57 seconds over 2.8 miles, while her cousin, University of Maine cross country captain Donny Drake, cruised to victory in the men’s division in 15:32.

Now here’s where the plot thickens a little bit. O’Donnell and her sister Kiki, a swimmer at UMaine, teamed up to convince their cousin to come out for a challenging cross country run.

“I know Mr. Balentine pretty well because he’s good friends with the O’Donnell family,” Drake said. “They got me to run today so I decided to come.”

Jessica O’Donnell admitted her sister was the one who recruited Drake.

“My sister did that, but I helped,” said O’Donnell, who’s brother Greg is a sophomore on the HA cross country team.

The race is named after 1985 HA graduate Warren Bishop, a cross country and track and field runner who died in an automobile accident in 1987. HA freshman Evan Piccirillo finished second in 17:09, Perry LeBreton of Kenduskeag took third (17:10), Newell Lewey of Orono was fourth (18:07) and Matt Macone of Hampden captured fifth (18:10).

“I think it’s really cool that they set up a memorial run for him,” said 2006 HA grad Dillon Bates, who also runs at UMaine.

Saturday’s race featured the HA cross country team, numerous Broncos alums and many other local road racers, including Ryan King and Jeff Sands of Bangor.

“This is the most people I’ve ever seen here and I’ve run this race a few times,” Bates said.

The Hampden course features a mix of terrain typical of any cross country course: grass, trails and even roads.

“It’s a great course, its tougher than it looks,” Drake said. “There are a lot of areas that are really deceptive on what parts will kind of hurt your legs.”

Having never seen it, Drake was cautious at the start.

“I was just going out with the pack today,” Drake said. “I had never run this course before so I was just planning it off them.”

Drake had missed three months of training with a hip inflammation earlier this summer, but says he feels great now.

“I wasn’t sure if I was going to race today or if I was just going to do a workout,” he said. “I got a little bit of both in, which was fun.

O’Connell hadn’t seen the course since graduating from HA, but remembered it fairly well.

“I remembered the course pretty clearly, it came back right away when I was running it,” O’Donnell said.

With her and Drake both claming victories, will there be some family bragging rights at the O’Donnell dinner table?

“I think so,” O’Donnell said with a laugh. “It was good to run today, it was great to see a lot of familiar faces around here.”

A total of 87 runners and walkers competed in the event, which also included a fun run for kids.