Emily Ward and Silas Eastman Win 2012 Bridgton 4 on the 4th

Silas Eastman, Tim Even, and Peter Bottomley (in the distance) stride for the top three places in the 2012 Bridgton 4 on the 4th

Silas Eastman – champion runner and skier at Fryeburg Academy

(Bridgton ME) The last few years runners “from away” have shown up at the Bridgton 4 on the 4th and gotten the best of the local runners.

Not this year. Familiar faces Silas Eastman, Tim Even, and Peter Bottomley took the top three spots in the male division under overcast conditions. (It was almost like having Americans take the first three spots in the Boston Marathon!)

However, in the women’s division vacationing Emily Ward, formerly a Division 1 runner for the University of Richmond, was seventeenth overall (24:26) and defeated the second place woman (Cathleen Balantic) by fifty seconds.

Interesting coincidence that last year’s men’s winner (Jonny Wilson) was also from the University of Richmond.

Winner Silas Eastman from Chatham (NH) just finished his junior year at Fryeburg Academy and has won the Class B state cross country championship the last two years. The 17-year-old is also one of the best skiers in Maine.

Emily Ward – former University of Richmond runner finishes first

Silas ran the course in 21:33 defeated FA alum Tim Even by eight seconds. When I saw the two runners near the Magic Lantern, Silas appeared to be stretching his lead over Tim.

Second place finisher Tim (23) from Stoneham (ME) graduated this year from Southern Maine. He was the 2012 Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year in the Little East Conference.

Third place finisher Peter Bottomley was 16th in 2003 but has been in the top ten every other year since 2001. The 50-year-old’s best finish had been sixth before today‘s third place. The Maine Track Club named Peter the 2011 Outstanding Runner in the 40-49 age bracket.

Dominic Vernazza (1936) finished 4th. Kevin On (1689) fifth. Max Warner (1431) sixth.

Dominic Vernazza took fourth. He is at Camp Winona by way of Chatham, New Jersey. Dominic (15) is a sophomore at Chatham High. He was the Fishawack 4-mile run winner in New Jersey on June 9th.

Kevin On (19) from Chicago got 5th and Max Warner (24) on the staff at Camp Owatonna was sixth.

Young Nick Brown (14) from Madison (NH) finished seventh. Nick was 9th yesterday in a race in Manchester (NH).

Colton Tinker (22) was eighth. Colton was a junior this year at Southern Maine and part of the 2011 Little East champion cross country team with Tim Even.

Cathleen Balantic (795) second and April Wernig (1973) third.

Matt O’Rourke (17) took ninth. Matt was a junior at Arlington (MA) High School this year.

Dr. Kyle Rhoads runs this race regularly. Kyle is the principal of the Windham (ME) Primary School. He finished tenth today.

On the women’s side, Emily Ward was seventeenth overall and Cathleen Balantic was twenty-fifth. Cathleen won a 5K ran in Juneau (Alaska) on June 16th.

Former Bowdoin runner April Wernig finished third for the women and thirty-sixth overall.

(All of the pictures above and below enlarge significantly if you click on them.)