Sports

Conner, Masters lead way for Bears

By Derek McKinley

Posted on Sept. 17, 2009, at 1:20 a.m.

The University of Maine cross-country teams kicked off their competition season on Sunday and got a good look at their conference competition as the University of Vermont played host to an America East pre-championship meet.

With five America East teams in attendance, the meet was a perfect opportunity for the team to get a feel for the conference meet. Strategy dictated the Black Bears may not have wanted to run their fastest race.

“We were told to not go all out in this race,” senior Jordan Daniel said. “If we had gone all out, then we’d have like a month and a half until we were back [for conferences], and that might or might not be a good thing. So it was smart for the team to perform the way we did.”

The women’s team managed third place out of the five America East teams. Hartford, University of Maryland-Baltimore County, Stony Brook and Binghamton were not competing. The Stony Brook women are unanimously ranked No. 1 in pre-season polls.

Sophomore Corey Conner, coming off a spectacular freshman campaign, continued her front running ways — taking second place behind Boston University’s Andrea Walkonen, who many expect to win her third individual championship this season. Conner finished the five-kilometer course in 18:25.13.

“It was exciting to finish second, even though all the teams weren’t there,” said Conner. “I think it was even more exciting that our team got third place. I think we surprised a lot of the other teams with how well we came out and performed, so hopefully we have them a little scared.”

Conner was followed by Daniel (6th, 18:52.79), junior Allie Conner (11th, 19:13.27), sophomore Hilary Maxim (20th 19:55.36) and junior Cynthia Hunter (24th, 20:01.45) to round out the scoring team.

For the men, sophomore Riley Masters continued to lead the way, finishing the eight-kilometer course in fourth with a time of 25:41.40. After an award-laden freshman season, Masters is confident, but says he’s not feeling the pressure to duplicate his performance.

“Last year went very well, and as of right now, I’m just focusing on getting back out there and running as well as I can for the team,” Masters said. “I still feel like I have a way to go before I am ready to run fast. I’m hoping by the time conferences rolls around I can be in contention for the win.”

After losing three scorers from last season, the men’s team had strong finishes from its younger runners, including sophomore Dave Currier, who finished 18th and may be ready for a breakout year.

“I feel like every guy on this team is ready for a breakout season. Everyone has improved greatly over the last year,” Currier said. “I finished third [on the team] last weekend, but next weekend any one of the guys could be in that place.”

Senior Miles Bartlett was a veteran presence for the Black Bears, finishing 17th, just in front of Currier. Just a split second behind Currier was freshman Taylor Phillips. Senior captain Corey Bean rounded out the scoring with a 27th place finish. Overall the men earned a fourth place finish.

The teams will head to the University of Massachusetts this weekend to take on the Minutemen along with Vermont, Connecticut and Colgate. The meet begins Saturday at 11:30 a.m.

Campus Currents: Cross Country