Bonny Eagle’s senior Evan Embrey led the Class A boys state cross country race over much of Leavitt High School’s soggy 3.1-mile course Saturday. And he left with a third-place individual finish and no regrets on how he tackled the challenge.
“I ran the best race I could, so I’m not going to complain about it,” he said after the race. “I felt great. I gave it my all. There were just two guys better than me today.”
Those two guys were Mt. Blue’s Adam Deveau, who won the Class A boys race, finishing the 5K track in 17:03.54, and Scarborough’s Travis Griffin, second in 17:09.81. Embrey took third, trailing Griffin by about six seconds.
Griffin’s finish highlighted an impressive overall showing by the Scarborough boys, who took the team title.
The Scots, who went unbeaten during the regular season and chalked up an impressive home meet win over Scarborough just before post season, were hoping to make the ultimate statement with a team state title. But they had to be satisfied with a fourth-place finish, coming in behind second-place Portland and third-place Mt. Blue.
“It’s been a great year,” said Bonny Eagle coach Greg Wilkinson. “But for the seniors, I was hoping we’d end on a little bit better note.”
The newly laid-out course was a brutal one, the most-distinguishing feature a steep climb after the two-mile mark. Most runners finished well-spattered with mud, but that all six races were completed in sunshine and not rain, sleet or snow, as was predicted, left most pleased with the day.
Other Bonny Eagle runners scoring points in the boys race included Eric Favreau (11th), Ben Roy (21st), Murphy Doughty (34th), Allen Cox (57th), David Carl (67th) and Shawn Smith (92nd).
Bonny Eagle’s Kat Pagano also turned in a strong performance Saturday, finishing 21st in the Class A girls event in 21:44.48.
GORHAM BOYS MAKE THE TRIP WORTHWHILE; POPOVICS PARTICIPATES IN HER FOURTH STATE MEET
Jeff Manchester is quick to tell you cross country is not his favorite sport (have you seen this kid play hoops?).
“I’m not a big fan, to tell you the truth,” Manchester said, still with a grin on his face after his race Saturday. “But it kept me in shape for basketball.”
Still Manchester capped his first – and probably only – cross country season finishing as the top Gorham runner in the Class A boys race, finishing 32nd overall and clocking better than a six-minute mile pace.
Manchester and teammate Ryan Dyer (35th) finished ahead of teammate Duncan Allen (43rd overall Saturday), who ran much better a week earlier, finishing 17th in the Western Maine Regionals.
Just being there made this a pretty good day for the Gorham boys team, which hadn’t made an appearance at the state event in more than a half dozen years.
“Everybody did well this season,” said Manchester. “Everybody stepped it up.”
An influx of one-time cross country runners came over from the basketball team, as did basketball coach Kevin Jenkins, who assisted long-time head coach John Wilkinson this fall. Though Manchester was the only one from that group to make Gorham’s seven-man team at the state meet.
“We were hoping the boys would make it here,” said Wilkinson before the race.
He was still beaming about the boys’ showing in the regional race, Gorham finishing sixth as a team.
But the Gorham squad showed even better Saturday, with five runners in the top 50. A pre-race coaches poll seeded the Ram boys 14th in Class A, but they pulled out another team sixth place finish. In order of finish, the Gorham team members scoring points Saturday were Manchester, Dyer, Allen, Chris Esposito (44th), Brian Jenkins (50th), Ben Douglas (72nd) and Rob Marean (86th).
“It was a great day for us,” said Wilkinson. “And somewhat of a surprise to most people there, I think.”
And not lost in the mix were a pair of individual runners who earned their way to Leavitt High School Saturday.
Gorham’s Sarah Popovics capped her high school career with her fourth straight appearance at the state cross country meet. She finished 37th in the Class A girls race, finishing the course in 22:41.98.
And Westbrook’s Alex Emery was his school’s lone representative at Leavitt High Saturday and finished 77th in the Class A boys race, clocking in at 19:31.87, a 6:17-per mile clip.
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