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CROSS COUNTRY

FALL SPORTS PREVIEW: Back and ready to defend

Mace, McClintock hope to lower teams, repeat as champions

BY KEVIN ROUSSEAU Correspondent

Abby Mace and Matt McClintock both won state titles last fall and are both looking for ways to lower their times.

Mace, a junior at Maranacook Community School, won the Class B state title by 1 minute, 9 seconds. It was her second straight Class B title.

Still, Mace started training earlier this season and is "feeling more confident in my training this year than last year. I'm going for the lower 18's as opposed to the mid and upper 18's."

To help push Mace, her coach, Rosalea Kimball, is looking for an out-of-state race in the middle of the season in order to challenge the two-time champion.

"I want to do something new," Mace said.

McClintock, a junior at Madison, won the Class C boys title last fall with a time of 16:54. His toughest competition this season will likely come from Boothbay's Chase Brown who lost to McClintock in the Class C race but recently beat him in the Beach-to-Beacon 10K.

"I was lazy leading up to that race," McClintock said. "My coach says it was probably the best thing that could have happened to me and I agree."

At Cony High School, seniors Will Lundquist and Alex Smith came into the season in outstanding shape, according to Cony coach Shawn Totman. Lundquist figures to contend for titles this fall.

"I think Will definitely will be in the mix at KVACs, regionals and states," Totman said.

Smith was Cony's most improved runner last season. He finished 14th at the Eastern A regional with a time of 17:44.

The Mt. Blue girls team just couldn't get past Mt. Ararat last season. The Cougars lost at the KVAC A championship by seven points and by four points at the regional championships.

Mt. Ararat returns five of its top six runners, so Mt. Blue will have a challenge to overcome the Eagles.

Senior Gwen Beacham and junior Addie Cullenberg both finished in the top 10 at the Eastern A regional last fall.

Winslow High School continues its rise under fourth-year coach Christina Bertolaccini. Last season, both the boys and girls program qualified for the Class B championship race for the first time in recent memory. Heading into this season, just qualifying for states may not be a big enough goal for both Winslow programs. Molly Schassberger finished 15th in the Class B championship race as a freshman and senior Adriana Walsh finished 14th in the Eastern Class B meet.

Another school that looks to build upon its breakthrough success last fall is Messalonskee. Senior Meaghan Collier finished fifth at the KVAC A championships in her first year of competing in cross country and junior Harlow Ladd will look to improve upon his 16th-place finish at the conference meet.

"I really do think this (boys) team is going catch a lot of people by surprise," third-year Messalonskee coach Justin Laverriere said.

The Erskine boys fell eight points shy of a berth in the Class B state meet last fall. They lost Sam Seekins, but return senior Eben Hogdkins, who finished eighth at the Eastern B regional with a time of 17:22. Marissa Bovie and Mallory Rauch are the top two girls runners at Erskine.

After 15 seasons as Monmouth's cross country coach, Rick Amero has moved on to become the school's athletic director. The move opens the door for Amero's long-time assistant coach Tom Menendez to run the program on his own.

"He's the key loss," Menendez said of Amero. "He did a lot of recruiting and related so well to the kids. We sort of balanced each other out."

The Monmouth girls will try to repeat as Mountain Valley Conference champions, but have just seven runners. The boys team finished fourth in Class C thanks in large part to junior Matt McInnis and senior Pat McInnis (both finished in 18:48).

Hall-Dale freshman standout Laura MacDonald finished sixth in the Class C state meet last November but recently transferred to Kents Hill. That leaves second-year coach Christian Poulin with two girls runners to compete this season. Seniors Bridget Duffy and Cady Wilson should improve their times.

Winthrop senior Anna Doyle and junior Kameron Souza should fare well for Winthrop.