Anne Guadalupi wanted to come into the fall in as close to peak shape as possible to set herself up for a strong cross country campaign.

“This past summer I decided to run a little bit more than I did (the previous) summer,” said Guadalupi, 16, a junior at Cony High School. “This year, I had no injuries coming into the summer so I wanted to be ready for the cross country season. I wanted to be in close to racing shape, and I think I was.”

Indeed, she was.

Guadalupi enjoyed a standout fall, winning the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference and Eastern A championship races. Guadalupi also finished fifth in the Class A state championship meet.

For her accomplishments this season, Guadalupi is the Kennebec Journal Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year. Hallowell native Anne McKee, of Kents Hill, was also considered.

“I had a very consistent year,” Guadalupi said. “I dropped some times, which made me happy. Overall, it was a good season.”

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Guadalupi opened the season on Aug. 28 by finishing fourth at the Laliberte Invitational at Cony with a time of 16:18.0. A little more than a month later, Guadalupi finished 11th out of 222 runners at the Festival of Champions in Belfast with a time of 19:14.12.

“I had a good race,” she said. “I would’ve liked to go faster but I did OK.”

Guadalupi won the KVAC A race on her home course with a time of 20:23.20, about five seconds faster than Mt. Ararat sophomore Katherine Leckbee.

“She was only a couple of seconds behind me so I was pushed,” Guadalupi said. “But I dropped about eight seconds off my time from last year’s KVAC race. This was one of my best races of the season. I felt prepared and very confident when I hit the hardest points of the race. I knew I could finish strong and I did.”

Guadalupi led for much of the race, but Leckbee stayed close.

“I actually didn’t realize she was so close behind me until the very end,” Guadalupi acknowledged. “I heard a lot of my friends yelling, ‘you got to go, you got to go.’ Then I heard her name being cheered so I gave it everything I had and hoped she wouldn’t catch me.”

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Guadalupi got the best of Leckbee as well as Brunswick senior Tessa Cassidy at the Eastern A regionals on Oct 24, also in Belfast. Guadalupi finished in 19:10.24 to win the race. Cassidy was second in 19:20.29 while Leckbee followed (19:21.32).

Guadalupi helped the Rams to a third place finish, which qualified the team for states.

“That was awesome,” Guadalupi said. “It really meant a lot to me that we went to states as a team.”

At the Class A state race at Twin Brook Recreation Park in Cumberland, Guadalupi said her goal was to make sure she had enough left at the end of the race.

“I had only run this course once before — in my freshman year — and I remembered I took it out too fast,” she said. “I knew I had to save something. I think I did fairly well.”

Guadalupi finished fifth in 20:16.60.

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“I stood my ground,” she said.

Guadalupi will next shift her focus to swimming, where she will look for another strong season in the pool for the Rams.

“There’s no break at all but I love swimming,” she said. “I’m looking forward to it.”

Bill Stewart — 621-5618

bstewart@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @billstewartMTM


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