Maine’s high school cross country runners will have to wait another week to begin pursuing regional and state championships.
The Maine Principals’ Association on Friday announced that “due to the extreme wet storm conditions predicted for overnight Friday and Saturday morning,” the North and South cross country regional championships have been postponed until Saturday, Oct. 29.
The North regional and the state meet are both scheduled to take place at Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast. The South regional will be run at Twin Brook in Cumberland.
The state championship meets will be held the following Saturday, Nov. 5, in Belfast.
MPA Assistant Executive Director Gerry Durgin said officials began looking at the forecast as early as Wednesday, and the decision was made Friday morning to postpone the meets.
“It’s not the rain that [is forecast] to occur during the race, as much as how much it will impact the course before we get to the race,” Durgin said. “I can’t predict, nor can you or anyone else, how much damage could be done to a course.”
Durgin said the safety of the runners was also considered in postponing the meets.
“You’ve got the people that would say, ‘it’s cross country, run no matter what,’ but today, you’ve got to think about these other things,” he said. “Somebody could go down.”
Bangor coach Adam Goode, a veteran runner who has participated in many road races over the years, said his Rams will be ready to compete next weekend.
“High school students who love cross country love going to meets regardless, whether they’re on October 22 or October 29,” he said. “Good runners make good decisions when things change to stay the course and focus on themselves.”
The date of the state championship meets falls on an SAT testing date, but Durgin said those runners who are participating in testing will be accommodated.
Belfast High School, roughly a mile from the meet venue, has an SAT testing site, he said.
While Goode did not know whether he will have any runners facing that conflict should Bangor qualify for states as a team or send any individual competitors to Belfast, he trusts any athlete faced with that dilemma will make the right call.
“There are kids all over the state who will be faced with that unfortunate conflict, and they’ll have to make a decision,” Goode said.
Durgin said MPA officials never considered canceling the regionals altogether and holding states next weekend, as regionals is a determining factor in who participates in state championship competition.
“If you skipped the regional you’d be doubling the numbers at the states,” Durgin said.
He added the MPA does not have any backup course options in the event Belfast or Cumberland sites become unfit for competition.
“We have very limited facilities,” he said.
The time schedules for the championship meets are as follows:
North Regional: Class B, boys: 11 a.m.; girls: 11:35 a.m.; Class C, boys: 12:30 p.m.; girls: 1:05 p.m.; Class A, boys: 2 p.m.; girls: 2:35 p.m.
South Regional: Class B, boys: 11 a.m.; girls: 11:35 a.m.; Class C, boys: 12:30 p.m.; girls: 1:05 p.m.; Class A, boys: 2 p.m.; girls: 2:35 p.m.
State Championship: Class B, boys: 11 a.m.; girls: 11:35 a.m.; Class C, boys: 12:30 p.m.; girls: 1:05 p.m.; Class A, boys: 2 p.m.; girls: 2:35 p.m.
The postponements will not have any conflict with the New England championship meet, scheduled for Nov. 12 in Vermont.
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