AUGUSTA, Maine — As was the case with many of the state championship meets from around Maine this past weekend, our boys and girls faced some incredibly difficult weather with rain, wind, and cold temps weighing heavy on us.
The beginning of the Class C meet at Cony High School saw a lot of rain passing through the area and even forced the meet to postpone temporarily for 90 minutes after some of the preliminary rounds had concluded. After the break the skies had held off any additional rain for the majority of the remaining events and several of our athletes competing would take advantage of the improved conditions to run some incredible times and place high among the Class C ranks.
At the start of heat 2 in the girls 1,600 Teanne Ewsings and Natalie Johnson lined up against some of the best in the state. It was a great race, Teanne led and pushed the pace the entire time and came home with the state championship. She is the top-seeded Maine girl headed into the New England Championships. Natalie would finish with another incredible PR, 7 seconds better then the previous best.
(Contributed photo)
Teanne Ewings would run to two individual state championships, a feat she would repeat from a year ago. Her first victory came in the 1,600 with a time of 5 minutes, 04.09 seconds, about 2.5 seconds ahead of 2nd place Ruth White of Orono. The now 2-time defending state champion is the top Maine girls seed headed into the New Englands 1,600 and she will also compete in the girls 800.
Natalie Johnson continued her breakout season with another pair of personal best times in both the 1,600 and 3,200, each effort finding a place on the podium and scoring for the team. Leanne Ross was the next highest scorer for the girls with her 5th place finish in the 800, besting her previous record by nearly 10 seconds. She had an equally impressive PR in the 1,600 as well, shedding 15 seconds in that event but narrowly missing out on a podium spot. Sister Andrea also rose to the occasion with another fantastic showing in the 3200 dropping 32 seconds off of her previous best and she was also able to run her first sub 6:00 1,600. Ariana was able to add to the team score with her run in the 200 for 8th place, the time of which was just 2 tenths of a second shy of her career best.
Out of nearly 47 schools competing on the day, 31 teams ended up on the scoreboard in the girl’s championship. Our ladies were able to place in a tie for 5th with George Stevens Academy. The top 10 schools were 1. Orono 121, 2. North Yarmouth Academy 79, 3. Bucksport 77, 4. Maine Central Institute 59, T5 Houlton/GHCA 37 and George Stevens 37, 7. Kents Hill School 35, 8. Piscataquis 30, T9 Bangor Christian and Winslow 24.
Landon Laferriere ran to an 8th place overall finish in the 800 at Cony High School on Saturday, earning a point for the boys team. He has set a new PR in this event every week for the last five weeks and has really come a long way in a short amount of time.
(Contributed photo)
Our two boys had a great day as well. James poured in a tremendous effort for us as he was able to lower his career best time in the 1,600 by three seconds, ending his season with a 5:03. Landon continued his streak of setting a new personal best in the 800 and he finished the race in 2:14, good enough for 8th place and scoring the boys a point to make it onto the scoreboard. James returned later in the meet to make a run in the boys 3,200, but was unable to lower his pr as conditions began to worsen again.
Thirty-three boys teams scored and Houlton/GHCA was on the board with a single point. The top 10 schools were 1. Orono 105, 2. Lisbon 69, 3. Washington Academy 65, 4. Maine Central Institute 50.5, 5. Mt. Abram 49, 6. Boothbay/Wiscasset 47, 7. Winslow 39, T8 George Stevens and Sumner 38, 10. Winthrop 31.
Full meet results: https://me.milesplit.com/meets/556914-maine-class-c-state-championship-2023/results/943739?type=formatted.
New PRs from states –
James – 1,600
Natalie – 1,600, 3,200
Landon – 800
Andrea – 1,600, 3,200
Leanne – 800, 1,600
Podium finishes (top 8) –
Teanne Ewings – state champion girls 1,600 and 800
Natalie Johnson – 3,200 3rd, 1,600 4th
Leanne Ross – 800 5th
Ariana Ardell – 200 8th
Andrea Ross – 3,200 8th
Landon Laferriere – 800 8th
Other top 10s – Leanne Ross 1,600 9th
Full results, including names, times, and places from the meet can be found here: https://me.milesplit.com/meets/556914-maine-class-c-state-championship-2023/results/943739.
Our very own Teanne Ewings will be moving on to the New England championships this Saturday, June 10 hosted in Bangor at Cameron Stadium. We would like to invite you all to come down and watch the meet if possible. This championship is an amazing showcase of talent and oftentimes garners some of the best performances in the country. We are grateful for Bangor being the host and excited to compete here again as we have had two regular season meets there this year. Final entries for New Englands will be posted on Sub5 either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.
Our middle school team is gearing up for their fourth and final meet of the season, the Aroostook League Middle School championships this Wednesday in Presque Isle.
Check out the latest results and photos from our Middle School team with their first three meets of the season –
Results Caribou 1 (5/11), Presque Isle 1 (5/18), Caribou 2 (5/31)
Albums Caribou 1 (5/11), Presque Isle 1 (5/18), Caribou 2 (5/31)
For more information, please check out our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/houltontrack.
