AUGUSTA — The best athletes are never satisfied with just being good.
The goal for runners like Cony High School sophomore Anne Guadalupi is always to be better.
Additional Images
Kennebec Journal/Morning Sentinel All-Stars
First team
Anne Guadalupi, So., Cony
Lauren Brown, Jr., Waterville
Hannah Despres, Sr., Maranacook
Avery Brennan, So., Messalonskee
Anne McKee, Jr., Kents Hill
Second team
Cecilia Morin, So., Waterville
Emma Wilson, Sr., Hall-Dale
Megan Charles, Fr., Mt. Blue
Sydney Green, Sr., Maranacook
Maggie Hickey, So., Mt. Blue
“I just love the pain that goes with it because it makes me feel like I know I’m going to get better,” Guadalupi said. “I also like just running, just the sport in general so it kind of makes it easier for me to run hard knowing I’m trying my best at practice.
“It kind of has a satisfying feeling to it when you’re done with a practice. The pain itself doesn’t feel good but after the practice you feel great.”
Guadalupi routinely pushed herself to the limit and beyond this fall. She won the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A championship (20 minutes, 30.6 seconds), placed second at the Eastern Maine Class A Regionals (19:40.91) and third at the Class A championship (19:18.90).
For her efforts this fall, Guadalupi has been named the Kennebec Journal Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year. Kents Hill’s Anne McKee was also strongly considered for the honor.
“Coming into this year she struggled a little bit in track because of some injuries and I don’t think she was really happy with how things ended last spring,” Cony cross country coach Shawn Totman said. “I just think she had it in her mind that the harder she worked, the better she’d be. Obviously for the most part that’s pretty much true. It’s like any workout I could throw at her she just ate it up and just asked for more.”
Guadalupi certainly showed that determination at the KVAC championships. Visibly exhausted as she approached the finish line, Guadalupi continued to push and collapsed just after finishing the race ahead of the rest of the field.
“I do push as hard as I can but I try to make sure that I can finish the race,” Guadalupi said. “I try to make sure I have enough to finish but that kind of didn’t happen in the state race because I kind of got really tired in the end.”
At the state meet held at Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast, Guadalupi was in front with less than one mile to go with Westbrook’s Halee Phelps and Marshwood’s Maddy Doyle each giving chase.
The sophomore standout did not have enough left in the tank to finish, however, and crossed the line eight seconds after Phelps and six behind Doyle.
It was an example of how Guadalupi, already one of the best runners in the state as just a sophomore, could get even better.
“Her freshman year she just kind of went out and ran,” Totman said. “This year she tried to be a little more tactical, which I think in some races worked and others it didn’t.
“I think that experience is going to pay off huge with two more years to go, just trying to figure out what kind of runner she wants to be.”
After finishing in front of the vast majority of her competitors on land, Guadalupi will be looking to do the same this winter in the pool with the Cony swim team. When it comes to picking which sport she prefers, Guadalupi has a simple answer.
“I like both,” she said. “Both have their disadvantages and advantages, but all my friends are on each team. I don’t really have a favorite.”
Evan Crawley — 621-5640
ecrawley@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @Evan_Crawley
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