Class A State Meet Preview

Team Preview
Scarborough looks like the early favorite heading into the state meet with Mt Ararat, Gorham, Massabesic, Mt Blue, and Edward Little right at their heels. They key to this race will be the number four runners. If Scarborough wants to win, Robby Hall will have to try to close the gap between him and Scarborough’s “big three”. Gorham’s Will Ross will have to step up big time on Saturday especially since Cortland Dunn still isn’t back to race form since getting his appendix removed. Mt Ararat’s Nick Demonthenes will have to have a big race if Mt Ararat wants to close the gap between them and Scarborough. Other teams looking for top five finishes will be Lewiston, Cheverus, and Sanford.

Prediction
Scarborough will win their fifth title in the past seven years on Saturday. Nick Morris will lead the way for them as he will place in the top five, and teammates Tom Hague and Zach Brown will place in the top 15. Expect Scarborough to have a score in the low seventies. Mt Ararat will be the runner up, and their top runner, Andy Reifman-Packett, will contend for a top three finish. Following them will be Gorham, Massabesic, and Mt Blue. Other teams that could jump into the top five are Lewiston and Cheverus.

Top 5
1. Scarborough
2. Mt Ararat
3. Gorham
4. Massabesic
5. Mt Blue

Individual Preview
The individual race will be fun to watch as there are at least five runners who could take the crown. Leading that group of runners will be Messalonkee’s Harlow Ladd. Ladd won the Eastern A Championship running a time of 16:30.95 as he was ten seconds ahead of second place finisher Will Lundquist of Cony. Expect him to be in the top pack as well. Andy Reifman-Packett of Mt Ararat will look to make a splash as well. Scarborough’s Nick Morris won the Western A Regional on Saturday so expect him to contend for a top three finish as well. Jacob Brooks of Massabesic is another one to watch. He was second to Morris on Saturday running a time of 17:02.8. Gorham’s Logan Marshall should be right the top guys. He placed fifth at the Western A Regional’s on Saturday. Also look out for Faisal Noor of Edward Little. He was fifth at the Eastern A Regional’s on Saturday. Jack Terwilliger of Cheverus placed ninth in just his second race back from an IT Band injury that sidelined him for seven weeks, so he could very well sneak into the top five. Other runners who will look for a top ten finish will be Tom Hague of Scarborough, Bryant Perkins of Sanford, and Peter LePage of Massabesic.

Prediction
Harlow Ladd will pull away in the final mile to take the crown in what could be a very fast time depending on the weather conditions. Rounding out the top five will be Andy Reifman-Packett, Nick Morris, Will Lundquist, and Logan Marshall. The next five spots will be up for grabs so look for Jacob Brooks, Jack Terwilliger, Bryant Perkins, Tom Hague and Peter LePage to fill in those spots in no particular order. Also look for runners such as Jaron Jones of Mt Blue, Hussein Mohamed of Edward Little, and Jake Letourneau of Mt Ararat to make a run towards a top ten finish. The order of the finish will be:

1. Harlow Ladd Messalonskee
2. Andy Reifman-Packett Mt Ararat
3. Nick Morris Scarborough
4. Will Lundquist Cony
5. Logan Marshall Gorham
6. Jack Terwilliger Cheverus
7. Jacob Brooks Massabesic
8. Bryant Perkins Sanford
9. Tom Hague Scarborough
10. Peter LePage Massabesic