The University of Maine men and women’s cross country teams traveled to Franklin Park in Boston on Friday, Sept. 16 to compete in the Coast-to-Coast Battle hosted by Boston College. The men’s team came in fifth while the women’s team placed 12th.
Fourth-year redshirt Jesse Orach finished 15th with a time of 24:55 and his average pace per mile being 5:01. Third-year Jacob Johns came in 36th with a time of 25:42, while fourth-year Levi Frye finished close behind at 41st with the same time of 25:42. Third-year Simon Powhida and fourth-year Lucan Bourget finished back to back in 45th and 46th. Powhida clocked in at 25:57, while Bourget came in one second after at 25:58.
The Black Bears had two more finishers in the top 50. Second-year Joshua Horne finished 48th with a time of 26:00 and second-year Aaron Willingham finished in 50th with a time of 26:01.
Maine ended up with seven runners in the top 50.
“I am just trying to enjoy my senior year and leave everything I have on the courses and the tracks, because that is what it’s all about,” Frye said. “If we aren’t enjoying what we do, we don’t race well.”
The team placed fifth overall out of 15 teams. Dartmouth, Providence, Arkansas and Brown placed ahead of Maine.
For the women, the team as a whole finished in 12th place with third-year Kaitlin Saulter coming in first for the Black Bears.
Saulter came in 55th with a time of 18:57. Her average mile pace was 6:06. Third-year Eleanora Hubbell came in next for Maine, placing 68th with a time of 19:18. Second-year Haley Lawrence and third-year Cassandra Howard came in next for the Black Bears. Lawrence placed 75th with a time of 19:35 while Howard placed 86th with a time of 20:05.
Second-year Faith Gardner, as well as fourth-years Ahlin Sungsuwan and Hannah Stefl would be the last scoring finishers for Maine, coming in 88th, 89th and 90th. Gardner had a time of 20:19, Sungsuwan had a time of 20:38, while Stefl had a time of 20:49.
The women finished 12 out of 13 teams with a final score of 372. Providence came in first, followed by Dartmouth and Brown in second and third respectively.
The men and women’s teams will return to action on Friday, Sept. 23 against America East rival University of New Hampshire at home with a start time of 3 p.m. Boston College, the meet’s host, will next compete in Arkansas for the Chile Pepper Festival on Oct. 1 with a start time of 9:45 a.m.
