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The University of Maine women’s cross country team notched its first win of the season on Friday afternoon, grinding out a victory over rival New Hampshire.
Perpetual front-runner Corey Conner finished first for the team and second overall in 18:13:58. Her freshman compatriot Hilary Maxim finished fourth overall in 18:39.26.
Prior to this weekend, Conner and Maxim had never finished more than three seconds or one place apart.
“[We] pretty much ran together the whole race. We didn’t really separate until a little over a half mile left,” Conner recalled. “I knew her knee was bothering her a bit before the race, so that could be why she dropped off.”
New Hampshire’s Allison Letourneau took the top spot in 18:10.41, but the Black Bears finished seven runners in the top 10 to get past a New Hampshire team that sat several of its top runners in preparation for next weekend’s Murray Keatinge Invitational meet.
“I haven’t thought too much about [Murray Keatinge]. All I know is that there will be a lot more teams … a lot more runners,” Conner said. “One thing I’m going to have to be ready for is going out a lot faster then normal.”
Juniors Vanessa Letourneau (sixth, 19:03.40) and Chelsea Leeman (seventh, 19:06.05) and senior captain Stephanie Jette (eighth, 19:13.43) finished consecutively to round out the scoring team for UMaine.
The UMaine men, also facing a star-deprived UNH team, managed to place just four runners in the top 10, and fell to the Wildcats.
Junior Chris Harmon returned to form, finishing first for the team and second overall in 26:06.37. He was followed by junior Corey Bean (third, 26:16.33). Senior Captain Chuck Therriault (sixth, 26:36.41), freshman Noah Schoneberg (10th, 26:58.05) and senior Dave “Nova” Englehutt (12th, 27:02.65) rounded out the men’s scoring team.
“It felt really good to be back on the home track with our fans out to cheer for us,” Harmon said. “It’s especially nice to get athletes from other teams cheering us on, like some of the field hockey team was there.”
The Black Bears found themselves lacking firepower of their own, as junior runner Miles Bartlett and freshman Riley Masters opted out of the race to focus on next weekend. Bartlett, however, credits other runners who stepped up in his absence.
“The team has a lot more depth this year than it has the past couple years.” Bartlett said. “If someone gets sick or hurt we will have a couple guys who can pick up the slack.”
Next weekend UMaine will host its premiere cross country event, the Murray Keatinge Invitational. Last year, nine teams from all over New England and part of Canada came to compete. UMaine finished fourth among the women and sixth among the men.
