Morning Sentinel
HIGH SCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY: Madison's McClintock gets his state title
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BY MATT DIFILIPPO, Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 11/08/2009

CUMBERLAND -- Matt McClintock started in a box not with his teammates -- there were none at the race -- but in a box with runners from Machias, North Haven and Schenck.

For McClintock, a sophomore at Madison Area Memorial High School, his position didn't matter. Whatever box he was in, he was getting out of it.

McClintock entered the Class C state championship cross country race unbeaten this season and finished it that way, taking the state title in 16 minutes, 54 seconds over the 5-kilometer course Saturday afternoon at Twin Brook Recreation Area. McClintock finished second at states last fall.

"I wanted to get out fast and get away from all the boxes," McClintock said, "so I could sort of pick where on the course I wanted to run, and not be boxed in by anybody."

The Mt. Blue girls also made a strong showing by placing third in Class A and qualifying for the New England championships, which will be held Saturday in Manchester, Conn. The state champions were the Cheverus boys and girls in Class A, the Cape Elizabeth girls and Greely boys in Class B, and the Waynflete girls and Boothbay boys in Class C.

Mt. Blue's Melody Lam (ninth in Class A girls) and Kelton Cullenberg (fourth in Class A boys) and Erskine's Sam Seekins (seventh in Class B boys) qualified for the New Englands as individuals.

Lam finished 1:39 behind Class A girls champion Abbey Leonardi of Kennebunk, who bounced back from an upset loss to Emily Durgin of Cheverus at the Western A regionals.

"I wanted to get eighth, and I ended up ninth, so I can't complain, really," Lam said. "This (course), to me, it seemed really challenging. Some other people said it was pretty easy for them, but I really died on some of the hills."

Addie Cullenberg and Gwen Beacham backed Lam by finishing 24th and 25th, respectively. But Mt. Blue coach Kelley Cullenberg said in preseason the states would come down to her next four runners, and Cullenberg's prediction turned out to be dead-on accurate.

In this case, it was Louisa Stancioff (36th) and Shelby Aseltine (43rd) who finished fourth and fifth, giving the Cougars enough points to earn a spot at New Englands.

"My girl who's been running fifth all season (Stancioff) ran fourth today," Coach Cullenberg said. "Her best going in to today was a 22:10, and she ran a 21:47. That was huge.

"If you looked at the predicted stuff, Louisa was supposed to be anywhere between 60th and 62nd place overall, and she was 36th. When you've got somebody who's potentially going to cut off 30 points from your score, that's pretty huge."

Ironically, considering Stancioff helped push Mt. Blue into the New Englands, Cullenberg said Stancioff was talking happily before Saturday about the states being the last race of the season.

"Hey, whatever makes you run faster," Cullenberg said, smiling broadly. "You want to get psyched that it's your last race, go for it. Guess what? Ha ha, you're not right!"

Kelton Cullenberg's fourth-place finish in the A boys race was an impressive one, especially since Cullenberg said he has been battling a cold the last three weeks. Cullenberg finished 31 seconds behind first-place finisher Will Geoghegan of Brunswick.

"I was shooting for top two, but I've been kind of sick," Cullenberg said. "I almost got over it early in the week. Then I got a little chest cough. I could definitely feel it during the race. I really wanted to stay with the leaders until two-miles, and I did that, but then they gained like 30 seconds in the last mile, so that was a little tough."

Matt DiFilippo -- 861-9243

mdifilippo@centralmaine.com

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