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The University of Maine cross country teams were in Amherst this weekend for a showdown with the Universities of Massachusetts, Vermont and Connecticut, as well as Division III Amherst College.
The men were led by sophomore Riley Masters, who finished in eighth place with a time of 25:58. While Masters’ leadership is becoming more and more of a certainty, the scoring team that compliments him is constantly shifting.
Following a somewhat disappointing race last week at Vermont, senior captain Corey Bean stepped up to finish in the 12th spot with a time of 26:14.
“It felt good to run a fast time today. It feels like I’m just getting in decent shape, and I still managed to place pretty high,” Bean said.
Freshman Taylor Phillips continued to put together a good start to his first season, taking 23rd place. He was followed closely by senior Miles Bartlett in 24th. Sophomore Dave Currier finished the scoring for the Black Bears in 30th place.
“It’s nice to help out the team,” Phillips said. “If it means being someone who scores at a meet or someone to lead one of the intervals during a practice, I try to help out in any way I can to make the team reach its full potential.”
Despite the commendable performances by all of UMaine’s runners, the Black Bears couldn’t put it all together and finished fifth out of the five teams.
“Last week, Dave, Taylor, Miles and I ran together for a good portion of the race,” Bean said. “If we had stayed together like that in an all-out racing situation, it would’ve been fantastic for our team. Today, in that all-out racing situation, it kind of fell apart.”
The women fared much better behind front-running sophomore Corey Conner. For the second week in a row, Conner earned a second-place finish, this time in 17:36. Senior Jordan Daniel, the second UMaine finisher at Vermont, did not compete this week because of travel commitments.
“I had worked it out with the coaches that I’d take it easy,” Daniel said. “There were two meets that I’d be missing this season due to traveling to New York and D.C., [so] I’ll be doing the home meets and America East [championships].”
Conner was followed instead by senior Vanessa Letourneau, who did not compete last week at Vermont. Letourneau finished the five-kilometer course in 18:12, good for 13th place. Juniors Allie Conner and Cynthia Hunter took 19th and 29th respectively, and sophomore Hilary Maxim finished the scoring in 30th place.
The women took third place for the second week in a row.
Next weekend begins a stretch at home for the Black Bears, first for a dual meet with the University of New Hampshire and then for the Murray-Keatinge Invitational, UMaine’s largest home meet of the year.
