At the beginning of the summer, runners had been blessed with comfortable training weather, with temperatures barely hitting the 80s.
But now, as high school cross country teams kick off preseason practices, most of the state’s runners have been training in oppressive humidity.
Some teams, however, are smart dealing with the high temperatures, which have been in the 90s all week.
“We’ve been getting at it real early, before it gets too hot, because it gets brutal,” said Hampden Academy coach Dick Balentine, who has had his Broncos on the trails at 8 a.m. this week.
“We’ve been able to get done before it really gets too bad,” he said.
This season will be a homecoming of sorts for the Broncos, as they drop to Class B after spending the 2005-08 seasons in the Class A ranks.
The program has had plenty of success in Class B over the years, with the girls winning a state championship in 2003 and the boys following that up with a regional crown a year later.
Hampden’s boys appear to be one of the early favorites to be at the lead of the Class B pack, with a healthy corps of returnees led by junior Evan Piccirillo and senior Greg O’Donnell, along with senior Darik Frye, entering his first cross country campaign at the school.
Frye moved from Massachusetts last year and blossomed into one of Eastern Maine’s top runners on the track, helping lead the Broncos to Eastern Maine Indoor Track League and PVC titles as a junior, success that should translate to the trails.
“He looks like he’s in good shape, he’s a hard worker, fits right in with everybody,” said Balentine.
While Piccirillo and Frye should be one of the toughest 1-2 punches in the region, the rest of the Broncos’ pack remains wide open.
“As you know, depth is key in cross country, so I think 3-7 is going to be critical, and we’ve got a good group battling for those spots,” said Balentine.
Balentine, who has 26 boys and 27 girls out for the team this fall, is looking forward to seeing some old but familiar, friendly faces.
“Rod White at Old Town, Andy [Beardsley at Ellsworth], Roy [Alden] at Caribou, the coaches haven’t changed so it’ll be fun to renew some old acquaintances and rivalries,” he said.
Balentine’s teams have been competitive with those squads in the past, and while Caribou is the reigning champion and will be competitive in its quest, that’s not exactly high on Balentine’s list of concerns right now.
“I’m more concerned about getting our guys ready and that we run how we can run, especially this time of the season,” he said.
They seem to be ready, especially after finishing last season on a high note in placing seventh at the Class A state championship meet.
“They can see that we’ve got some veterans back and that they can build on the success they had last year when they came along real strong at the end of the season,” Balentine said.
Even when Hampden switched back to Class B, there was no doubt that the team would remain in the KVAC, where they’ll still compete against local rivals Bangor and Brewer.
“I think the school had made the commitment pretty much,” said Balentine.
Indoor track and swimming, like Bangor and Brewer, are the only sports in which Hampden is not a KVAC member.
Hampden’s opening meet is Sept. 4 at Bangor.
Who will lead the pack?
The preseason is barely three days old, and there is lots of early talk surrounding many teams and individuals in the Class A girls ranks.
Last fall, Brewer, led by a talented pack of seniors, annexed conference and regional crowns while finishing second in the state.
The return to the top of that mountain will be a steep climb for the Witches, as Mt. Blue of Farmington, armed with one of the state’s top runners and a balanced pack, is poised for a run at regional glory.
The Cougars are the early favorites, led by KVAC and Eastern Maine individual champ and senior Melody Lam up front, the only East runner to crack 20 minutes in the regional meet last fall.
Lam is armed with quite the arsenal of weapons behind her in sophomore Addie Cullenberg and juniors Gwen Beacham, Lindsay Keenan and Caitlin Douglass.
Even though Brewer graduated the bulk of its pack, it’ll still be tough up front with the 1-2 combo of junior Michelle Haluska and sophomore Sara Chavarie.
Leading the way for Bangor, which had a great 2008 postseason in finishing fourth in regionals, will be Kendall Lunn, a 12th-place individual finisher in the EM meet last season.
Cheverus of Portland, led by new coach Bruce Bickford, is an early favorite for the state title, and why not, as the Stags have arguably the best 1-2 punch in the state.
And both those runners are sophomores who placed in the top 10 at New Englands a year ago.
Fiona McMahon returns to lead the way along with Emily Durgin, who transferred from Bonny Eagle of Buxton.
Those two, along with 2008 New England champ and classmate Abbey Leonardi of Kennebunk, are head and shoulders above the rest of their competition and should give fans plenty more thrills on the trails this fall.
