OLD TOWN, Maine –Cross-country runners from Hodgdon, Houlton, Presque Isle, Greater Houlton Christian Academy, Washburn and Caribou were part of a massive 15-team race over the weekend at the annual Sectional Invitational hosted by Old Town High School.
The 68th running of this race continued its stretch as the longest continually running cross country contest in the state. Held under very hot and humid temperatures for this time of year, the conditions impacted a number of runners.
“It was clear the unseasonably warm weather took its toll not only on our runners, but a majority of the field as well,” Houlton coach Chris Rines said. “Several of our athletes did post improvements over their time’s from a year ago, however, compared to how well they have been doing in practice and their recent accomplishments at other meets this season, the results were a little depressing to some of them.”
The Caribou girls and boys placed in the top three overall. In their fourth meet of the season, it was the first time both were out of the No. 1 position.
Individual runners, who did not have enough members to qualify as a team, did not accumulate points toward team totals. Therefore, the final placement of some runners may not be characteristic of the points they received toward their team’s score.
Girls team scores were: Orono 43, Caribou 59, Brewer 109, GHCA 123, MDI 125, Ellsworth 141, Presque Isle 184, Old Town 202, John Bapst 210, Washburn 249 and Hermon 259. Katahdin, Mattanawcook, Foxcroft, Bangor Christian, Houlton and Hodgdon did not have enough runners to score as a team.
For the Caribou girls, Abigail Wimmer (seventh, 21:54.24) and Ashley Violette (10th, 22:13.39) led the Vikings on the 3.1-mile course. Sarae Greenier took 11th in 22:14.52, while the other scoring runners were Maren Moir (15th in 22:39.49) and Emily Austin (16th in 22:44.41). The other Caribou competitors were Kacie Haney, who came in 25th in 23:32.74, and Katrina Salch, 35th in 24:14.54.
The GHCA trio of Grace Graham, Bridget Hill and Teagan Ewings all turned in top-10 performances and helped the Eagles place fourth. Results for GHCA were: 5) Graham, 21:37.54; 6) Hill, 21:40.22; 9) Ewings, 22:12.84; 49) Olivia Nadeau, 26:01.51; and 68) Chloe Fekete, 28:27.33.
Katahdin’s Jordyn Ritchie turned in a solid effort, finishing 20th with a time of 23:11.94.
“Jordyn Ritchie of Katahdin looked good after another week into her post-injury training,” the coach said. “The senior has slowly been adding mileage on week after week trying to stay healthy while juggling different training demands. She’s certainly looking a lot like her old self the more we progress through the season.”
For Houlton, Emmalyne Drake was the sole runner. She finished 40th with a time of 24:34.54. For Hodgdon, Jeannelle Ross was 55th at 26:54.09 and Jillian Ross was 66th at 28:08.11.
“Jillian dropped about 25 seconds off of her total time from last year’s sectionals and sister Jeannelle dropped about 1:30 from her previous best at the course as well,” Rines said. “The sisters have now improved their times from each race they competed in from a year ago in four of the last five meets we have been to.
“Emmalyne took well to the 5k course for her first running on it,” Rines said. “Lauren Swimm ran in the field of junior varsity girls runners. Both found the heat hard to race in.”
Isabelle Jackson was tops for Presque Isle in 22:35.55, good for 13th overall. Teammate Madison Jandreau placed 17th in 22:52.82. PI placed seventh as a team.
Madison Miller led Washburn by placing 37th in 24:19.16 and Kassandra Farley was 42nd in 24:44.6. Washburn was 10th in the standings.
Boys results
The Caribou boys came in third with 83 points. Dylan Marrero was the third finisher in 17:39.14 and Evan Desmond of the Vikes was sixth in 18:05.82. Kyle Boucher was 14th in 18:52.22, Aaron Macek 29th in 19:43.69 and Malachai Willey 34th in 19:52.2 as the other Caribou scorers.
Boys team scores were: Orono 46, MDI 43, Caribou 83, Brewer 101, Hermon 127, John Bapst 136, Ellsworth 169, Presque Isle 181, GHCA 266, Old Town 299, Mattanawcook 301, and Washburn 322. Bangor Christian, Foxcroft, Houlton, Hodgdon did not have enough runners to score as a team.
Max Bartley of Presque Isle took 17th in 19:15.65. Jonah Clark was 21st in 19:29.74 and Trace Cyr 45th in 20:36.35. Carter Jackson (48th) and Owen McQuarrie (56th) were the Wildcats’ other scorers.
Results for GHCA runners were: 25) Wesley Ganglfinger, 19:31.47; 57) Cole Winslow, 21:10.90; 61) Will Austin, 21:30.78; 65) Alex Walker, 21:53.60; 70) Joel Carmichael, 22:04.99: and 78) Isaac Potter, GHCA, 23:37.16.
Aidan Churchill of Washburn was 54th in 21:05.3 and teammate Devon Maynard took the 67th position
Joel Bond of Hodgdon took ninth in 18:32.16.
“Joel ran past the mile in 12th place, just outside the lead pack,” Rines said. “By the time he had traversed the out and back course he had climbed to 10th and was running neck and neck with an Ellsworth runner. He was able to pour in a push with about 100 meters left to break the deadlock and claim ninth.”
For Houlton, Jeremy Cook was the lone Shire in the varsity race. He finished 60th at 21:30.45.
Caribou’s John O’Meara was the winner of the JV race in 19:39.64. Teammate Calvin Mokler came in second place in 20:10.4.
