This past Saturday was the 11th running of the Maine Cross Country Festival of Champions. The meet is structured to showcase some of the best competition from the state of Maine. Part of this festival includes inviting 10 non-Maine teams to compete. Both the Cumberland Boys and Girls team made the journey to Belfast Maine. Cumberland represented the state of Rhode Island with strong performances in both the varsity and freshmen races.
The most exciting competition of the day was the boys varsity race. The Clipper’s were led by Trevor Crawley who ran 15:37, good enough to finish second overall on the day. Crawley has put together a very consistent first half of the season, habitually dipping below 15:40 and solidifying his claim as the front runner for this year’s state championship. Crawley was supported by junior Kevin Seaver (16:44) and sophomore David Agudelo (17:31). The Clippers gained some unlikely contributions from the freshmen race. Because the meet does a combined score (pulling the top 7 times for each team from any of the freshmen, jv, and varsity races to make a “combined” score”), the Clippers were bolstered by the efforts of Sean Laverty who ran 17:37 in the all freshmen race. The Clippers finished first overall in the team score by the thinnest of margins, defeating Lewiston High School by only 1 point with a score of 195-196.
With such an exciting finish the men’s team score, it was hard to imagine the Rhode Island team placing any bigger a stamp on festival. However, not to be outdone by her brother, Amy Laverty won the freshmen race in a blazing 19:30.6. The Clipper freshman was the twelfth fastest time of the day from all the girls races. The Cumberland ladies were able to finish 7th overall in the team scoring with strong performances by senior Mei-Ling Feng (42nd, 20:40.8) and freshmen Meaghan Scullin (69th 21:20)
For more information such as meet results, videos, and photos, please visit the Milesplit Maine portal - Milesplit Maine