FARMINGTON – While Cross Country runners in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference and the state of Maine trained with their teammates, then raced against opposing teams at meets, the Mt. Blue High School Cross Country team trained with their teammates and then “raced” against them in several time trials and intrasquad “meets” this fall.
When Regional School Unit 9 School Board voted to make all fall sports intramural, athletes decided to compete amongst themselves, rather than simply train. When the school board approved the team to go to the KVAC Championship, covid cases were on the rise in neighboring Somerset County and coupled with an outbreak at Franklin Memorial Hospital, the team was forced to pull out of the competition.
Nevertheless, for the team members, there were many successes. The boys team was largely composed of runners who had run JV in 2019, as five senior varsity members had graduated. Junior Alex Hardy showed massive improvement and emerged as the top runner in every meet. Hardy served as a co-captain along with Junior Isaiah Doscinski, who has been a very consistent runner since his freshman year.
Juniors Tomas Cundick and Evan Wilcox, along with Sophomores Carson Zundel and Kodi Quimby all showed improvement from the previous season. Junior Sam Goodspeed also showed improvement throughout the season.
“Sam had a fantastic race at Belfast last fall,” assistant coach Brian Kelly said. “It was too bad not to get to race there this season. Another of our juniors, Sam Judkins, also ran a great race at Belfast last year and looked amazing in summer workouts. When we were told we couldn’t compete, it really seemed to affect him. But I have confidence he and the rest of the team will come back strong next fall.”
Three freshmen, Owen Heseltine, Braxton Malcore, and Calvin Tanner, rounded out the team. Each of these boys showed tremendous improvement every time they competed.
While the boys would likely have been a “middle of the pack” team in the KVAC, the Mt. Blue girls were among the favorites to compete for a KVAC title this year.
Juniors Emma Charles and Brynne Robbins were returning “All-KVAC” runners and each had solid races this fall. The pair also served the team as co-captains.
Sophomore Bridget Reusch made major improvement, showing the ability to race with Charles and Robbins. Along with Sophomores Moriah Reusch and newcomer Kamryn Joyce, this group recorded times that would have placed them in the top 10 of all teams in the state and 4th in the KVAC.
The remainder of the girls team was also very strong. Sophomore Delia Colello was injured most of her freshman year, but came back strong running a personal best in every “race” this fall. Freshmen Lucinda Carroll and Natalie McCarthy also both improved their times and show great promise for the future. Junior Abbie Cramer provided tremendous leadership and was gradually improving her times.
“It would have been great to see what our girls could have done against the top teams in the league,” Coach Kelly said. “One thing that has worked out is that none of our runners are seniors, so hopefully they all get a shot at competing against other teams next year. I’m proud of what the kids did this fall. They could have pouted and complained, but instead they continued to work hard and really bonded as a team. I think they did a fantastic job making the best of a difficult situation.”
