News
Greater Houlton Varsity Girls pulled off the upset over the heavily favored Orono Red Riots for first-ever PVC Championship Team Title
Ewings, Ross both place third in their races
It was a pretty wet and soggy day last Saturday at the Penobscot Valley Conference Championships in Bucksport, but the Greater Houlton team bested both the field of competitors and the elements with some of their top performances of the season. Despite the rain, the course remained true to its reputation for fast times.
The PVC splits the meet into four different races – JV and Varsity races for both girls and boys. In the Varsity section, Class B and C runners race together, however, they are separated for the results into their respective class.
The JV races keep the runners together and do not separate them based on class.
“A week ago, we snuck by the Riots at their home meet by a margin of four points,” said coach Chris Rines. “With a few more schools in the mix this week and the championship atmosphere upon us that margin shrunk to a single point.”
The results: Houlton/GHCA 41, 2 Orono 42, 3 George Stevens 74, 4 Bangor Christian 109, 5 Bucksport 119, 6 Mattanawcook 120.
Greater Houlton placed three girls in the top 10, five scoring runners in the top 15, and two displacing runners were in at 17 and 18, ahead of Orono’s fifth scoring runner.
7. Leanne Ross 21:19
8. Natalie Johnson 21:22
12. Elena Ardell 22:17
18. McKenna Phillips 23:01
In the Girls JV Race, senior
Hope Royal had the race of her career, setting a new personal best time by nearly three minutes over her previous best. Her time of 24:36 earned her the 10th place medal.
Teammates Amelia Drake and Dani Espenscheid also ran strong. Drake came in 19th and was followed by Espenscheid in 20th with her new personal best time of 29:03.
In the boy’s races, senior Daniel Ross leads the way for
the team, settling in behind a big pack of some of the top class B and C runners through the first mile.
Eventually, the pack dissipated, but Dan was able to hang on and slowly work his place up in the race. Daniel cruised through the finish in a new personal best of 17:05, good for 3rd place overall.
