PI girls place third in regional XC event
BELFAST, Maine — The Wildcat seniors are finishing their high school career in style. Mandy Graham came in fourth in Saturday’s Class B North regional cross country meet out of a field of 90 runners, while Jason Bartley also came in fourth in the boys’ meet, which featured 105 competitors.
Graham’s 20:12.58 effort on the 5K course highlighted a strong day for the entire Wildcat girls’ team, which placed third out of 14 teams to qualify for this weekend’s state meet in Cumberland.
Freshman Madison Jandreau had a superb race, coming in eighth in 21:17.51, while sophomore Isabelle Jackson took 14th in 21:33.54 and senior Emily Colligan 22nd in 21:57.41 to spearhead Presque Isle’s effort.
“I’m very proud of the girls accomplishments,” said second-year coach Mike Waugh. “They’ve come on really strong at the end of the season and to finish in the top three in the region was a goal of ours and with hard work and determination we got there.”
Also scoring for Presque Isle was senior Alyssa Sweeney, whose time of 23:50.22 put her in 54th place.
The individual title went to Lauren Brown of Waterville, who crossed the line in 19:01.29. Her Panthers were the first-place team, while Caribou was just two points clear of PI for runner-up honors.
Old Town, Mount Desert Island and John Bapst were the other team qualifiers.
“We’re aiming to do our best for States,” Waugh said. “I think we can move up among the northern Maine teams and hopefully shoot for the top five teams overall — we’ll see.”
The PI boys did not figure in the team scoring with only four participants, but Bartley was stellar by completing the course in 17:11.35 and trailing just three runners, including champion Nick Dall of Waterville (16:42.84). By placing among the top 30, Bartley will be back racing on Saturday at the state meet.
Sophomore Max Bartley was 50th in 19:17.79 and PI freshman Trace Cyr claimed the 62nd position in 19:46.55. Brandon McKnight, another freshman, came in 73rd in 20:26.24 to round out the list of racers for first-year PI coach Evan Graves.
Caribou dominated the meet with six runners in the top 11 and captured its second consecutive regional title. Second-place Waterville will join Belfast, Camden Hills, Erskine Academy, MDI and Old Town as the other teams reaching the state meet.
In Class C, the Washburn boys’ and girls’ teams both qualified for the state meet. With the top five teams in the field advancing, the Beaver boys placed third and the girls fourth.
“We are very pleased as both teams exceeded expectations,” said second-year coach Andy Churchill. “Our success this year is very much attributed to the strong Aroostook County cross country environment as the quality of teams is strong and the coaches are very invested in their sport.
“Meets are becoming events, not just races,” he added, and the buy-in from our athletes and fans is evident.”
Senior Derek Baker came in ninth place out of 87 runners in 17:34.48, while sophomore Devon Maynard took 20th in 18:27.62. Junior McCall Turner (34th), senior Noah Caron (41st) and senior Kevin Jordan (49th) were the other scorers.
Orono and George Stevens Academy were first and second, respectively, with 29 and 32 points. Washburn was a distant third with 122 points, ahead of Fort Kent, Lee Academy, Washington Academy and four other schools. John Hassett, a junior from GSA, had the fastest time of 16:20.09.
The girls’ team from Washburn posted 129 points, which was behind Orono (19), George Stevens Academy (36) and Mattanawcook Academy (97) and ahead of Lee Academy (160), Limestone-MSSM (165), Washington Academy (171) and Machias (187).
The top finishers for the Beavers were freshman Kassie Farley (19th, 22:06.88) and senior Emilia Churchill (22nd, 22:15.99). They were the only team members in the top 30. Kristen Sarmiento, a junior, was 35th in 24:31.93, while freshman Mollie Clark (44th) and Samantha Churchill (55th) were the other scorers.
Junior Tia Tardy of Orono was the winner in 18:34.19 out of a field of 80 runners.
Churchill is hoping the team’s success continues through this weekend on the Cumberland course.
“We hope to continue with our momentum coming off the Belfast race, and our goal is to finish both teams in the top half of the field for both boys and girls,” Churchill said. “We are also pushing our seniors to achieve personal records for this course, with a final sustained effort to end their successful high school careers.
“If we continue to tighten our pack, I expect great results,” he added.
