Eager has another strong finish
for PIHS at Ellsworth Invitational
By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
Presque Isle’s Matt Eager turned in another strong running performance Saturday. He placed second out of 84 runners at the Ellsworth Invitational Cross Country Meet.
The event, held on a course measuring three miles in length, included 13 teams. Most were fellow Penobscot Valley Conference schools, with Sanford making the trip up to represent Western Maine.
Dan Curts of the host Eagles turning in the winning time of 16 minutes and 51 seconds, but Eager was only 19 seconds back at 17:10.
In the team results, Caribou’s depth proved too much as the Vikings scored 44 points with four runners placing among the top 10. John Bapst finished second with 77 points, followed by Ellsworth with 96 and Sanford fourth with 98.
The Wildcats were seventh with 177 points. Other Presque Isle runners, along with their placement and time, included Matt Tilley (42nd, 20:19), Frank Nunez (44th, 20:20), Noah Rossignol (46th, 20:28), Trevor Levesque (47th, 20:31), Jon Rochester (55th, 21:12) and Joel Shay (63rd, 21:49).
The Presque Isle girls scored 204 points, eighth out of as many teams. John Bapst won the meet with 29 points, while Mount Desert Island was third with 49.
Leading the Wildcats was Shelby Condon, who placed 29th overall in 24:49. Amanda Palmer was next for PI by coming in 39th in 26:10 and Samantha Simonds was 42nd in 26:40. Lydia Short and Shannon Sweeney were the other ‘Cat runners to finish.
The individual winner was Aleta Looker of Ellsworth, whose time was 20:20.
At Fort Kent last Wednesday, the Washburn girls and boys came away with victories on the 2.9-mile course.
Carsyn Koch of the Beavers set the pace in the girls’ race. Koch, the defending Class C state champion, had a time of 22:21. Mackenzie Worcester and Carmen Bragg, Koch’s teammates, were second and third, respectively. Worcester’s time was 22:59 and Bragg came across the finish line in 23:16.
Marianne Helton, Joan Overman and Hannah Heald were eighth, ninth and 10th, respectively, for the winning Beavers. They totalled 17 points to defeat Greater Houlton Christian Academy, which posted 46. Fort Kent and Limestone-MSSM also had runners in the meet, but due to a lack of runners did not figure in the team results.
Nick Bragg had the winning time for Washburn in the boys’ event at 19:53. The Beavers notched a meet-low 31 points by getting solid efforts out of Michael Ericson (fifth
, 21:58), Ethan Pendexter (eight, 25:17) and Cameron Preston (ninth, 25:22). Kyle McLaughlin was Washburn’s other scorer, coming in 12th in 27:32.
GHCA placed second in team scoring with 42 points and the host Warriors had 51. Limestone-MSSM and Hodgdon also competed.