Cyclone speed

By Shane Mettlen

Published: September 24, 2008

Charlie Bayne didn’t have much trouble navigating the Eastern View cross country course Wednesday. Despite some rough terrain in places, Bayne pulled away from the competition and gave the Cyclones an individual title, crossing the finish line in 17:47, two seconds ahead of King George’s Ray Gamache.

“This is a good course, but it has bad footing around it,” Bayne said. “So I think I did good today.”

Gamache’s second place finish helped the Foxes edge out Courtland for the boys’ team crown. King George finished with 32 points and Courtland was just behind with 33.

Eastern View came in third with 71 points. King George also won the girls competition with 27 points. Eastern View was second with 49 and Courtland finished with 50.

“It was exciting hosting the first meet here,” EVHS coach Paul Lutz said. “I was happy to see Charlie win. He’s got his name in the record books for winning the first meet here. I think he ran a very smart race.”

Bayne and Gamache ran in tandem ahead of the rest of the pack for about a mile and half before the Eastern View runner began to pull away. By the time Bayne hit the three-mile mark there was no other competitors in sight.

“I felt really good, especially for the first mile,” Bayne said. “When (Gamache) dropped off I knew I had to keep up there and keep a good lead. Every time I got to a mile mark I just tried to push it.”

Patrick Wallach was the second Cyclone to cross the line, coming in 17th in a time of 20:09. Michael Letts came in 18th in 20:20 and Nick Sites was 22nd with a time of 21:11. Jesse Gilman finished 23rd in 21:17.

For the Eastern View girls, Logan Clore was the top finisher, coming in sixth in a time of 22:34. Justine Weaver was the second Cyclone girl to cross, finishing ninth in 23:37 and Mandy Martell came in 12th for Eastern View with a time of 24:15.

Taylor Smith was finished 13th in 25:02 and Katie Batiste was 14th, crossing the line in 25:13.

“On the boys’ side we got to keep working to take off time and get together,” Lutz said.

“We’re making progress and that’s what we’re looking for. On the girls’ side, Logan has the heart of a champion and she’s determined to be the No. 1 runner on our team, but Justine is pushing her hard. The best thing about the girls’ team is we have a good, solid five or seven runners that are close together.”

Shane Mettlen can be reached at 825-0771, ext. 127 or