The University of Maine at Presque Isle cross country teams traveled to Castine on Saturday to compete in the Maine Maritime Academy Invitational, the last of seven regular-season races for the Owls. With the Sunrise Conference Championships scheduled for Nov. 7, the Owls are moving into their final preparation phase for the national qualifier to be held at UMPI. Teams from Paul Smith’s College, SUNY-Canton, Vermont Tech, the College of St. Joseph, University of Maine at Fort Kent will battle along with the hosts to determine which teams and individuals will make the trip to Washington State for the Nov. 21 NAIA nationals.
OWL RUNNERS – Members of the UMPI women’s cross country team are, in front from left, Ally Pizzuti, Shelly Hanson and Julie Rugg. Back row, assistant coach Tracy Guerrette, Katie Christoffel, Chandra Wisneski, Justine Cyr and coach Chris Smith.
The Owl women are led by Shelly Hanson (a third-year runner from Charleston) and Chandra Wisneski (fourth year from Amherst, N.H.). Justine Cyr (first year from Fort Kent) and Katie Christoffel (first year from Clifton Park, N.Y.) have been running with Hanson and Wisneski to provide a tight starting four up front. Julie Rugg (fourth year from Charleston) and Ally Pizzuti (first year from Caribou) have been improving steadily to solidify the team scoring.
All the Lady Owls have been putting in high volume up to this point in the season and will be tapering and peaking for the Nov. 7 conference meet.
“All these athletes have been on task from the time they arrived back on campus in late August,” said head coach Chris Smith. “They have all been very consistent and have put in the effort needed to get their fitness to where it now is. We need to now sharpen up a bit and rest properly so we have our best performance of the year on [Nov. 7].”
The Lady Owls are looking for that tight grouping (pack time) evident early on (24 seconds from positions one to four in the opener at the University of New England on Sept. 12). Christoffel and Hanson, each selected Sunrise Conference Runners of the Week during the season, will undoubtedly set the tone, according to Smith. The Lady Owls finished first in the MMA meet with Johnson State, MMA, Thomas College and Unity College following.
The men’s team is headed by Justin Fereshetian, another runner of the week recipient and a second-year athlete from Turner. Jason Johnson (first year from Presque Isle) and Aaron Schmersal (fourth year, from Winthrop) have been placing solidly for the Owls in the second and third team positions. Chris Rines (third year from Caribou) has inched closer to Johnson and Schmersal to set the first four positions well.
Rookie runner Hugh McLellan (Maitland, Nova Scotia) has been gaining experience each weekend and has closed the gap on his teammates to decrease the pack time significantly. Brian Korhonen (first year from Littleton) and James Cirell (second year from Bingham) have provided scoring support in select meets.
“With athletes having scheduled weekends off from racing, Korhonen and Cirell have figured positively into our team finishes, as evidenced in our third place finish at MMA on Saturday,” Smith said. “Although MMA and Johnson State were ahead of us in the final results, we ran well enough with two of our top five out to place ahead of Thomas College and Unity College.”
The outcome of the conference races will certainly depend upon top performances by all Owl runners on the Park Family Field cross country course.
“Other teams may be stronger up front than we are but we will pack well amongst their athletes,” Smith said. “Team success depends on five great performances and often comes down to a sixth or even a seventh runner finishing strongly to place ahead of another team’s fourth or fifth runners.
“The two New York teams (Paul Smith’s and SUNY Canton) and Vermont Tech may have their top one or two athletes on each team ahead of our runners so we will need to pack in well. UMFK and the College of St. Joseph (Vermont) will certainly enter into the final outcome. It all comes down to proper preparation and performing well when it counts.”
The Nov. 7 women’s conference championship meet is scheduled for 11 a.m. and will be followed by the men’s race at 11:45 a.m.
UMPI MEN’S XC TEAM – Members of the Owl men’s cross country team are, in front from left, Jason Johnson, James Cirell, Brian Korhonen and Hugh McLellan. Back row, assistant coach Alexei Sotskov, Justin Fereshetian, Aaron Schmersal, Chris Rines and coach Chris Smith. The UMPI cross country teams will host the Sunrise Conference Championships on Nov. 7 at the Park Family Field course on campus. The women’s meet begins at 11 a.m. and the boys meet follows at 11:45 a.m.
