LINCOLN, Maine — The Houlton boys’ and girls’ cross country teams traveled to Mattanawcook Academy Saturday to race in the Penobscot Valley Conference championships.
“I feel like the (home) race on Wednesday may have taken a toll on our runners a little more than they may be willing to admit,” Houlton coach Chris Rines said. “It certainly wasn’t an ideal scenario, but several of the kids really appreciated being able to run at home and I know they all loved being able to run for the home crowd. They were very happy to see everyone that was able to come out.”
Saturday was the second of the Shires’ postseason events. The PVC small and large school championship sees schools race in divisions together, but scores them as two separate races. They also run a JV championship race, which is scored as one race comprised of both divisions.
“The small school ranks is a good snapshot of what we will face next Saturday in Belfast (at Eastern Maine Championships) where several of the same teams also compete in our region,” Rines said. “We will be joined by several Downeast schools and our Aroostook League counterparts who aren’t in the PVC. I feel like with a week of rest, recovery, and tapering mileage down, our kids will be primed for regionals and I expect we will have a larger contingent of state qualifiers than last year’s outing.”
The weather for Saturday’s race was less than favorable as it had snowed almost all morning in Lincoln.
“There was about half a mile’s worth of ankle deep mud covered up by fallen leaves that runners had to make their way through at both the start and again as they came to the finishing leg of the race,” Rines said.
In the boys’ competition, Houlton’s Isaiah Brown finished seventh overall (third for small schools) with a time of 17:16.5. Adam Casillas placed 58th (25th in small schools) with a time of 20:15.01. Tim Glatter competed in the JV race and finished 49th at 24:21.15.
For the girls, Houlton’s Rylee Warman placed 16th (10th in small schools) with a time of 21:24.82, while Olivia Winslow was 43rd (18th in small schools) at 23:14.12. Victoria Holmes was 72nd (31st in small schools) with a time of 26:51.87. Kate Newman competed in the JV race, finishing 38th at 32:10.49.
