On a weekly basis during the season, the America East Conference chooses a top overall performer and top freshman for both men’s and women’s cross country. That’s four top runners each week in the nine-team conference.
And this week, all four of those top runners are University of Maine Black Bears.
Redshirt senior Helen Shearer, who ran locally in high school at Hampden Academy, was named America East women’s performer of the week. Fellow Hampden Academy Bronco-turned-Black Bear Charlie Collins took home the same weekly honor for men’s cross country.
“There’s a lot of talent in Maine, and especially locally, and we try to keep as much of that here as we can,” UMaine cross country coach Adam Ward said on Wednesday.
He credited both Collins and Shearer for their hard work.
“They’re seeing the success by staying home and representing Maine at the top level,” Ward said. “They’re both hard workers — definitely do all the little things.”
UMaine runner Lila Garbett won the weekly nod as the top women’s freshman performer and Ethan Keller earned that honor for the men.
The sweep of these weekly honors follows a strong showing by each of these four UMaine runners at the New England Championships in New Hampshire last Friday.
Shearer finished second overall in the 5,000-meter women’s race with a time of 17:28.29. She crossed the line a few seconds ahead of third place runner Ruth White, the sophomore phenom from Orono who had previously won every cross country race to start this season at the University of New Hampshire.
Collins, a junior, finished 7th in the men’s 8K race at the New England Championships with a time of 24:16.52. This is his second performer of the week award so far this season.
Garbett set a new personal record with her 18:23.25 time in the 5K at the Oct. 10 championships, which was good enough for 25th overall. Keller’s 8K time of 25:12.09 was 30th overall and helped earn him his third conference freshman of the week nod so far this season.
This is the second week this season that UMaine has swept these four awards. Collins and Garbett both won the same awards on Sept. 29, and UMaine women’s runners Megan Randall and Zara Darkin were named top conference performer and top freshman respectively that same day.
Randall is a former Bangor High School standout.
UMaine is now preparing for the America East Conference Championships on Oct. 31.
“We’re in a good spot. We’re heading in the right direction,” Ward said. “We’re gonna take the next couple of weeks to train and just get ready for conference, and then take a big swing and see what we can do.”
