HOULTON, Maine — The Greater Houlton Christian Academy boys and girls cross country squads are hoping to build on last year’s remarkable success.
With head coach Angie Ewings back leading the Eagles after a brief hiatus, the varsity squads could once again be poised to make some serious noise over the course of the new season.
Ewings previously coached GHCA for four years before stepping down to focus her efforts on the junior high program. This fall she will be coaching both squads.
“On a team level, the obvious goal would be to have both the boys and girls teams qualify once again for the state meet,” coach Ewings said. “On an individual level it would be for every runner to improve over last season, to take a weakness and make it a strength and just become an overall better runner and athlete.”
Isaac Potter is one of several returning runners for the Greater Houlton Christian Academy boys team this fall. (Joseph Cyr)
Members of the girls squad are seniors Chloe Fekete, Bridget Hill and Grace Graham and sophomores Olivia Nadeau, Katherine Nightingale and Teagan Ewings.
Members of the boys team are seniors Alex Walker and Wesley Ganglefinger; juniors Cole Winslow and Isaac Potter; sophomore Will Austin; and freshmen Joel Carmichael and Jeremy Stone.
Both teams were competitive in every meet a season ago and qualified for the Eastern Maine championships and states. On the individual side, Teagan Ewings, the coach’s daughter, won the Aroostook County championships.
At the state competition, Hill finished 14th in Class C with a time of 20 minutes, 37.29 seconds, while Teagan Ewings was 20th at 20:53.08. For the boys, Ganglefinger was the top Eagle, finishing 28th (18:10.0).
Teagan Ewings, shown here at last year’s Aroostook County Cross Country Championship, could be poised for a big season for GHCA this fall. (Joseph Cyr)
With so many returning runners, coach Ewings is excited for the start of the season.
“On the boys side there will not be a learning curve for them or for myself,” she said. “With the exception of one, all of these boys have run for me before. I know what to expect from them, and they know what to expect from me. As far as race strengths, we have the ability to put all of our boys in scoring positions and be competitive in any race and compete for the win.”
For the girls, the Eagles have three runners — Hill, Graham and Ewings — who could challenge for the top spot in any given race.
The Eagles lost no runners to graduation on either squad, which should make the team even stronger this year.
“My hopes are they start to develop more in the team aspect of running (race pack running) which means three or four runners in the top 10 is much more beneficial as a team than individuals placing well,” the coach said.
GHCA opens its season Wednesday, Aug. 30, at 4 p.m. hosting a meet behind the Millar Civic Center.
