By Meridith Paterson
Staff Writer
The Presque Isle High School cross country varsity teams showed the Wildcat pride in Saturday’s State Championship at Leavitt High School. The girls placed 11th with a total time of 1:53:58.76 and the boys came in 12th with a combined time of 1:34:19.86. Cape Elizabeth raced to the girls’ title at 1:43:08.97, and Greely claimed the boys’ at 1:29:40.32. “In a nutshell, I thought they performed really well under the conditions,” commented girls’ coach Lori Googins. The rainy weather made for a slick and muddy trail on an already difficult course. “I’m glad that we went first,” laughed Googins. The Class B girls had the first start, and as each race finished, the conditions worsened. “The girls were muddy when they finished but the guys were covered.”
Wildcat Alecia Palmer claimed a top-20 spot, sprinting ahead of a Viking runner at 18th with 21:07.21. After pooling the classes together, Palmer had the 27th spot, two away from qualifying for the New England race.
Erin Thomas (48th, 22:15.82) and Krista Buck (56th, 22:38.05) crossed next for the Big Blue. Jerica Fox (65th, 23:12.90) and Julia Brown (80th, 24:44.78) completed scoring runs for Presque Isle. Running in reserve were Jaylee Fox (87th, 25:25.28) and Arielle Googins (88th, 25:29.81). The Wildcats achieved their goal to finish11th.
As individual racers, the day belonged to Corey Park who placed fifth in the state at 17:12.15 and eighth with combined classes, good enough to qualify for the New England Championship. Teammate Alex Carter had the next Wildcat time at 56th with 18:56.25. Matt Howe (63rd) and Jason Johnson (66th) crossed within four seconds of each other at 19:04.72 and 19:08.96. Brandon Hafford scored for Presque Isle at 94th with 19:57.78. Jeremy Fuller (96th, 19:58.72) and Locke Robbins (109th, 22:41.21) kicked in for the varsity team.
