Pack running isn’t part of the strategy for the boys cross-country team at Deer Isle-Stonington High School.
With only three runners, there is no pack.
Brendan Penfold does much of his training in solo fashion, and while his version of “Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner” may not resemble the 1959 short story of the same name, it has produced significant results for the Mariners’ senior this fall.
During the last three weeks he has won the Hancock County individual championship and the Penobscot Valley Conference Class C crown, and last weekend he added the Class C North title to a rapidly growing resume.
Penfold won his first regional title with a time of 16 minutes, 40.70 seconds over the 3.1-mile course at Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast, trailing only the top three finishers in the day’s Class A race for the best time regardless of class in the meet.
“It was kind my plan to take it out relatively easy and maybe not take the lead too early on,” said Penfold, “and then around the last half-mile to try to pull ahead and have enough of a lead where I didn’t have to sprint too much at the end.”
Penfold moved ahead according to plan in the late stages of the race to edge runner-up Jonathan Steelman of Orono by 2.45 seconds, though Steelman’s effort led the Red Riots to the team championship.
“Around the 800 mark he started to get up in front of me,” said Steelman, “and I just worked off him after that hoping to get a PR and I was able to accomplish that.”
Penfold, his younger brother Benjamin, a sophomore, and freshman Eaton Wyatt represent this year’s Deer Isle-Stonington boys cross-country team coached by the Penfolds’ mother, Mary.
But Brendan Penfold’s training isn’t limited to long-distance cross-country runs by himself. He has also been active in track and field in co-operative fashion with the George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill team.
Penfold has followed the lead of former GSA standout John Hassett, the 2016 Class C cross country state champion who added state titles in the 1,600 and 3,200 and 3,200 relay at last spring’s Class C state track and field championships.
Hassett is now a freshman at the University of Maine.
“I’ve definitely learned a lot from John, I’ve trained with him for years,” said Penfold, who placed fifth in the 3,200 and sixth in the 1,600 at the 2017 Class C outdoor state track meet.
“He’s been almost like a mentor. The way he just runs so confidently, he always goes right to the front. I’ve been trying to do that a lot this year, but I’m not as fast as he was last year.”
Penfold next will compete in the Class C state cross country championships Saturday at Twin Brook Recreation Area in Cumberland, where he finished 19th as a sophomore in the 2015 state meet.
“It feels pretty good,” said Penfold of his regional title. “A lot of the guys I was running against (Saturday) I’ve been running against before, so I’m really looking forward to states where I think there will be a couple of new faces.”
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