LR: Enough to surprise?

PREVIEW: VARSITY CROSS COUNTRY

Head Coach: Dan Dors

Assistant Coach: Kurt Peterson

Girls’ roster: Senior Maya Critchfield; Juniors Kari Eldridge, Savannah Devoe, Maude Meeker, Julia Carlson, Leanne Kugelman; Sophomores Briana Gallinari, Maggie Knudsen; Freshman Nicole Noble.

Boys’ roster: Seniors TJ Leach, Dillon Knudsen, Colin Bridge-Koeningsberg, Greg Locke; Juniors Mason Kluge-Edwards, Mark MacDougall, James McCann; Sophomore Ben Roy; Freshmen Nick Aceto, Kyle DeSouza, Nick Hall, Adam Butler, Kevin Flanagin.

Invitational: On the girls’ side, the Lakers were led by Briana Gallinari, who covered the 2.72-mile course at LRHS in 21:14, good for 12th in the field of 48.

Lake Region tied McAuley for third in the eight-school meet. Windham won the event with 12 points, followed by North Yarmouth Academy with 66 points and Lake Region with 76.

Maude Meeker finished 17th in 21:55 followed by teammates: Savannah DeVoe in 21st at 22:29, Kari Eldridge in 25th at 22:53, Maggie Knudsen in 37th at 25:10, Maya Critchfield in 40th at 25:43 and Julia Carlson in 43rd at 27:11.

“Briana had a great run. She doesn’t know yet how good she can be. She is a very hard worker, and the miles she ran this summer paid off Saturday,” Coach Dors said. “Maude (Meeker) and Savannah (DeVoe) had excellent runs, and are off to great starts. This was Savannah’s best run in the past year. Maude is a great leader, and is one of our captains.”

Coach Dors felt the meet was “very productive” for both girls’ and boys’ squads.

“I am excited about the upcoming season,” he said. “Both teams ran well within themselves. If we stay injury free and healthy, we will surprise a few people.”

On the boys’ side, Mark McDougall posted the best LR time in 17:20, good for 11th in the field of 83.

The Lakers were fourth with 102 points, trailing North Yarmouth Academy (34), Windham (56) and Fryeburg Academy (70). Other schools taking part in the annual Lake Region Invitational were Gray-New Gloucester, Sacopee Valley and Poland.

TJ Leach checked in at 13th in 17:25 followed by teammates: Dillon Knudsen in 29th at 18:36, Nick Aceto in 33rd at 18:54, Mason Kluge-Edwards inn 37th at 19:13, Kyle DeSouza in 40th at 20:01, James McCann in 54th at 21:12, Adam Butler in 74th at 25:58 and Kevin Flanagin in 78th at 27:42.

“Excellent job (by the boys). They are working hard, and it is paying off,” said Coach Dors, noting his top three — MacDougall, Leach and Knudsen — were solid while freshmen Aceto and DeSouza show “a lot of promise.”

Season opener: The Lakers travel to Falmouth this Friday for a 4 p.m. meet. Lake Region’s home meet is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 16 at 4 p.m. against Greely, Sacopee Valley and Waynflete.

Laker Fun Run will be held on Saturday, Sept. 17 at 9 a.m. Entry fee is $15, with proceeds benefitting the LR cross-country program. The course is two miles.

FA aiming for states

PREVIEW: VARSITY CROSS COUNTRY

Head Coach: Bill Reilly

Assistant Coach: Dylan Alden

Boys’ roster: Silas Eastman, Logan Gerchman, David Fulton, Kyle Barboza, Sullivan Briggs, Jonathan Burk, Andrew Emery, Eric Hannes, Jesse Liljedahl, Tyler O’Keefe, David Powers, Thomas Rose, Milos Todosijevic, Like Yang and Liam Leconey.

Outlook: “Finally great numbers! Three freshmen and six sophomores,” Coach Reilly said.

Returning state champion, Silas is ready to defend. He cruised to a win Saturday at the annual Lake Region Invitational, posting a time of 15:01 over the 2.8-mile course — well ahead of Gray-New Gloucester’s Will Schafffer (15:31), whom is expected to be one of Eastman’s top challenges this fall.

Fryeburg was third in the team standings with 70 points, behind North Yarmouth Academy (34) and Windham (56). Seven schools participated.

Coach Reilly also thought Logan Gerchman “looked great” as he placed fifth overall in the field of 84 in 16:21. Freshman Thomas (TJ) Rose had a solid start to his high school career, crossing the finish line in 17:29 to place 14th overall.

Other FA finishers were: 36. Eric Hannes 19:07; 38. Liam Leconey 19:47; 39. Liuke Yang 19:56; 69. David Powers 23:38; 70. Andrew Emery 23:45.

David Fulton is the team’s captain this season.

“The team looks like a strong contender to go to the State Championship Meet,” Coach Reilly said.

Girls’ roster: Laura Pulito, Corinn Bedell, Elizabeth Grzyb, Danielle Delucco and Meghan Costello.

Outlook: Again, the Raiders sport low numbers to start the season with the hope of recruiting more runners by the opening of school.

Co-captains Laura Pulito and Corinn Bedell give the Raiders a solid 1-2 punch. Pulito was 16th at Saturday’s run at Lake Region, finishing in 21:53 (winning time was 18:14). Freshman Elizabeth Grzyb had a strong debut, placing 19th in 22:16, while Bedell was 24th in 22:48. Newcomers Meghan Costello (46th in 31:11) and Daniele Delucco should help.

Coach Reilly attended the USATF Level 2 School this summer, and hopes to pass along some of that experience to Raider runners.

“We will stress fitness for life, good nutritional habits, clean living, team loyalty and adaptive training theory plus a whole lot of (pizza eating, swimming in the Saco, hikes etc.) — and lots of fun!” he said.

Season opener: The Raiders travel to Greely (Cumberland) this Friday to run against the Rangers, Merriconeag, Traip Academy and Wells. Girls open at 4:30 followed by the boys at 5 p.m.