HOULTON, Maine — Greater Houlton Christian Academy captured both the boys and girls championship crowns at the Aroostook County Middle School Championships Wednesday, Oct. 14.
For the GHCA girls, it marks the seventh straight County championship. Girls team scores were: GHCA, 19; Presque Isle Middle School, 45; and Caribou Community School, 74.
For the boys, GHCA placed first with 35 points, followed closely by Presque Isle, 37; Woodland Consolidated, 69; and Caribou Community School, 89.
Individual runners from Valley River Middle School also participated in the meet.
In the past, each school faced each other before the championship meet. This year, with restrictions on numbers allowed at meets, GHCA did not face all of its competition before the championship meet, held Wednesday, Oct. 14, in Houlton.
In a photo finish, GHCA runner Isaiah Ervin captured the boys overall title with a time of 12 minutes 35.80 seconds, breaking the previous course record of 12:38, and outrunning his competitor Aldeon Reardon from VRMS by one hundredth of a second (12:35.90). Following in third place was Presque Isle’s Charlie Peers with a time of 14:26.
Teanne Ewings easily captured her second straight female overall title with a time of 12:57, breaking her previous course record this year of 13:11. Following Ewings was Andrea Ross, also of GHCA, with a time of 14:26, and coming in third was GHCA’s Tori Ervin with a time of 14:45.
Greater Houlton Christian Academy’s middle school cross-country teams started the seasons just the same as every sports team in the County, not knowing if there would even be a season or what one would look like if there was.
“There were so many uncertainties and changes were occurring on a daily basis,” said coach Angie Ewings. “Each practice was a challenge, not knowing what to tell these young athletes and trying to keep them motivated, knowing that the season may not happen.”
When the actual season started, GHCA did not have a full boys team, as it has not for the past two years. The girls, on the other hand, had a full team. After the first week of practice, a few more boys decided to join, giving GHCA a full boys’ team, albeit with four out of the six runners new to the sport. Runners from Houlton Middle-High School were able to join GHCA.
“As the uncertainty to the season continued, both the GHCA boys and girls teams continued to work hard, improving each and every practice,” the coach said. “Once the final decision to have a season was confirmed, adjustments to the schedule had to be made. The schedule changed several times, but not these athletes work ethics and determination.”
Teanne Ewings was the top girls runner. (Photo courtesy of Angie Ewings)
Isaiah Ervin captured the boys title. (Photo courtesy of Angie Ewings)
The complete girls results were as follows: 1, Ewings,GHCA, 12:57.70; 2, Ross, GHCA, 14:23.60; 3, Ervin, GHCA, 14:45.70; 4, Maggie Bell,CCS, 14:50.20; 5, Charlie Casavant, PIMS, 14:58.50; 6, Dalayna Mincey, GHCA, 15:11.40; 7, Natalie Johnson, GHCA, 15:27.60; 8, Elizabeth Wing, PIMS, 15:57.20; 9, Taylor York, PIMS, 16:06.30; 10, Ada Cote, PIMS, 16:09.20; 11, Stephanie Tuttle, GHCA, 16:40.50; 12, McKenna Phillips, GHCA, 16:59.10; 13, Reagan McCormick, PIMS, 17:14.80; 14, Vivienne Prashaw, Woodland, 17:18.20; 15, Aleah Rideout, PIMS, 17:19.90; 16, Lydia Bragdon, PIMS, 17:21.60; 17, Neve O’Donnell, PIMS, 17:22.80; 18, Abigail Duff, GHCA, 17:25.60; 19, Julia Daggett, PIMS, 17:39.70; 20, Haley McGuire, GHCA, 17:43.20; 21, Amelia Drake, GHCA, 18:02.50; 22, Khora Marker, CCS, 18:03.70; 23, Kate Bechtel, CCS, 18:11.30; 24, Lauren Lister, CCS, 18:17.30; 25, Hailee Pellitier, Woodland, 18:24.50; 26, Rowan Tanguay, VRMS, 18:40.20; 27, Ellie Blackstone, PIMS, 18:50.10; 28, Brynna Fox, PIMS, 19:08.20; 29, Taylor St.Peter, Woodland, 19:20.10; 30, Madelyn Waugh, PIMS, 19:55.30; 31, Olivia Buster, PIMS, 20:05.10; 32, Liberty Herweh, PIMS, 20:14.70; 33, Makenna Walsh, PIMS, 20:33.70; 34, Emerson Miller, CCS, 20:52.10; 35, Bailey Davenport, PIMS, 22:02.30; 36, Addison Watson, GHCA, 22:26.30; 37, Sage Gagnon, Woodland, 23:40.70; 38, Abby Haney, CCS, 25:43.70; 39, Tiffany Bruce, CCS, 25:53.80; 40, Siri Beltran, PIMS, 26:01.80; 41, Elizabeth Robbins, CCS, 26:13.30; 42, Faith Lagasse, CCS, 26:19.00; 43, Brianna Buster, PIMS, 26:26.30; 44, Faith Getchell, PIMS, 26:39.70; and 45, Grace Lagasse, CCS, 28:55.30.
The complete boys results were: 1, Ervin, GHCA, 12:35.80; 2, Reardon, VRMS, 12:35.90; 3, Peers, PIMS, 14:09.60; 4, Drayton Josiah, Woodland, 14:21.70; 5, Isaac Watson, GHCA, 15:21.40; 6, Caleb Brewer, GHCA, 15:31.20; 7, Logan Wing, PIMS, 15:42.20; 8, Jacob King, PIMS, 15:50.10; 9, Brayden Drake, GHCA, 15:53.20; 10, Seth Dubay, CCS, 16:33.20; 11, Alex LeClair, PIMS, 16:46.00; 12, Elias Drayton, Woodland, 16:53.80; 13, Cruze Casavant, PIMS, 17:33.40; 14, Robert DeMerchant, CCS, 17:34.80; 15, Ryder Chandler, PIMS, 17:58.10; 16, Noah Parmelee, PIMS, 18:33.20; 17, Tyler Hart, PIMS, 18:45.30; 18, Emmett Singer, Woodland, 18:57.90; 19, Cole Watson, GHCA, 19:11.10; 20, Josh Pitre, CCS, 20:55.20; 21, Wyane Shackett, Woodland, 21:55.10; 22, Anthony Singer, Woodland, 21:56.10; 23, Alex Wasson, PIMS, 21:56.70; 24, Waylon Davis, GHCA, 22:03.30; 25, Benjamin Pelletier, Woodland, 24:08.60; 26, Dominic Albair, Woodland, 24:09.20; 27, Landin Spooner, CCS, 30:33.80; and 28, Michael Chisholm, CCS, 30:56.80.
