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BY GARY HAWKINS
Staff Writer 10/06/2008

Staff Writer

The muddy, slippery conditions for the Maine Festival of Champions at Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast were far from ideal Saturday. But the meet still attracted most of the state's top cross country runners.

"Belfast is about as fast as it gets although (Saturday) it was pretty sloppy," Winthrop coach Jay Lindsey said. "Any course with nine inches of rain is going to struggle."

Officials tried to compensate for the wet course by pouring sand and gravel along the wood line, but it wasn't enough. More than 1,000 runners competed on a course which last week absorbed nine inches of rain. Because there were so many runners -- 553 boys and 452 girls from over 60 high schools competed -- there were six separate races, all eventually scored together.

"It was crazy by the time the sixth race went off," Mt. Blue coach Kelley Cullenberg said.

The Scarborough boys and girls won the team events . York's Alex Moser won the boys race while Kennebunk freshman Abbey Leonardi took the girls race, winning by 47 seconds over freshman Fiona Hendry of Cheverus. Hendry edged Maranacook's Abby Mace, yet another freshman, by two seconds.

"Abbey Leonardi wasn't challenged at all," Cullenberg said. "If course conditions were right, she would be in the very low 18s. She seemed very smooth, in control and effortless."

Leonardi ran the 3.1 mile course in 18 minutes, 43 seconds, but will have another shot at it in three weeks since Belfast is the site of this year's state meet. If conditions are fast, she could have a good shot at the course record of 17:52 set by Old Town's Cassie Hintz in 2004.

Cony junior Luke Fontaine finished third, six seconds behind Moser and three in back of Brunswick's Will Geoghegan. Defending Class C individual champion Wade Davis of Hall-Dale finished seventh. Cony sophomore Will Lundquist placed 30th to help the Rams to a 16th-place finish among 48 boys teams. The Cony girls, who finished 24th out of 47 teams, were led by a 20th-place effort from junior Morgan Beede.

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The Winthrop boys finished 15th overall at Saturday's Festival. The Ramblers return four seniors from last year's Class C state championship team, although they won't be among the favorites at the state meet this year.

"I was quite happy with their success," Lindsey said. "The pack time (among the seniors) was less than a minute."

Kevin Leavitt led the Ramblers on Saturday, placing 56th, but he has alternated finishes this season with Patrick Romar and Alex Cottrell. Jake Gomberg rounds out the senior group. Lindsey is looking for a solid No. 5 runner and hopes he has one in emerging freshman Kameron Souza.

The Ramblers will compete in a key meet this week that includes Mountain Valley contenders Boothbay, Lisbon, Hall-Dale and Monmouth. The MVC meet will be run the following week on the hilly University of Maine at Augusta course.

• • •

Despite finishing an impressive third, Maranacook's Mace lost for the first time this season. The freshman missed a meet because of a sprained ankle but raced without apparent pain Saturday. Maranacook coach Rosalea Kimball isn't surprised at Mace's success.

"A lot of it is natural ability," Kimball said. "Then there's the fact she puts in the work."

The team placed 26th overall but competed without No. 2 runner Taylor Burr, who is injured and No. 4 runner Jillian Blouin, who was taking her SATs.

"I have a feeling we had a shot at the top 10 (with a full lineup)," Kimball said.

The boys missed No. 1 runner Justin Greely who is out with a knee injury. They were led by sophomore Evan Vincent who usually runs fifth or sixth for the team.

The Black Bears will compete for the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B title Oct. 18 at UMA

"If we can have everybody running and healthy, I'm hoping for No. 1 for the girls and No. 2 or 3 for the boys," Kimball said.

Short takes . . . Belfast will be the site of both the Eastern Regionals and this year's state meet . . . The Monmouth boys placed 26th at the Festival, led by sophomore Kevin Desmond in 98th place and senior Matt McCollett in 99th . . . Kerstin Grenier led the Monmouth girls in 56th . . . Former Mt. Blue runner Adam Deveau is doing well, according to Coach Cullenberg. Deveau, who was diagnosed with leukemia shortly after winning the Class A state race two years ago, is currently enrolled at Acadia University in Nova Scotia and doing some non-competitive running. "He's doing really well," Cullenberg said. "He looked wonderful this summer."

Gary Hawkins -- 621-5638

ghawkins@centralmaine.com

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