What started as a modest midseason invitational 15 years ago has grown into one of the biggest cross-country invitationals in all of New England.
The Maine Cross Country Festival of Champions, which was started in 2002 by Brewer High School coach Glendon Rand and JoAnn Nealy of Belfast, will celebrate its 15th running at the Troy Howard Middle School on Saturday.
A full day of racing among runners from 72 different schools kicks off at 11 a.m.
The racing will feature six sections — three for girls and three for boys — and will include an “unseeded” heat, a freshman heat and a “seeded” heat, in that order. Regardless of which heat a runner competes in, he or she can contribute to his or her team’s final score as long as the runner has one of the top five times overall for his or her team.
The talented field includes 65 teams from Maine and seven out-of-state schools, including Cumberland, Rhode Island, which has competed in the meet every year.
Joining Cumberland among the visiting schools are teams from Burrillville, Rhode Island; Canton, Connecticut; Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; Antigonish, Nova Scotia; South Duxbury, Vermont; and Windsor, Nova Scotia.
LaSalle Academy from Rhode Island and Scarborough were the girls and boys winners, respectively, last fall.
The festival traditionally marks the middle of the season for Maine runners and should provide an excellent benchmark for all involved.
The meet will be run on the same 5-kilometer course on which the state championship meets will be contested on Oct. 29.
Mount Desert Island senior Tia Tardy will be one of the individual favorites in the girls race. She is coming off a dominating performance at the Sectional Invitational in Old Town on Saturday, besting her nearest competitor by nearly 50 seconds.
Tardy will have plenty of competition up front, including Abigail Hamilton of Yarmouth, Katherine Leggat-Barr of Greely of Cumberland Center, Julia Dempsey and Ana O’Callaghan of Cumberland, Rhode Island, Malaika Pasch of Falmouth, Greely’s Carolyn Todd, Yarmouth’s Anneka Murrin, Tori Fitzpatrick of Colonel Gray (Nova Scotia) and Augusta Stockman of Camden Hills of Rockport.
Orono, which finished second in the 2015 festival and is unbeaten this fall, is expected to be among the team favorites, along with Yarmouth, Falmouth, Greely and Cumberland, Rhode Island.
The boys race also features a wide-open field, with Luke Laverdiere of Yarmouth and Hampden Academy’s Wyatt Lord expected to be at the front of the pack.
Maine’s challengers include Mt. Blue of Farmington’s Tucker Barber, Jeremiah Sands of Falmouth, Westbrook’s Josh Lombardo, Ben Breton of Windham, Nicholas Dall of Waterville, Demeke Geremew of the Hyde School of Bath and Gabe Coffey of Bangor.
Defending meet champion Scarborough will be among the team favorites again this fall, along with Cumberland, Rhode Island.
