BELFAST, Maine — The Greater Houlton varsity cross country team took part in the largest single-day sporting event in New England this past Saturday, October 5, competing at the 23rd annual Maine XC Festival of Champions in Belfast. The event saw its biggest turnout ever with 85 Maine schools and 12 out-of-state teams, including international representation from Nova Scotia, Canada.
The Houlton runners excelled in a deep and competitive field, with many athletes achieving season or career-best times. “The bonus of competing in loaded fields is that we get to face teams we don’t normally see in the season, especially from southern Maine. Since Belfast is the site of the regional championships, it also gives us a good idea of where we stand against potential opponents,” said assistant coach Will Janakis. “The atmosphere felt like an all-state championship, and our Houlton kids really rose to the challenge.”
Individual places mentioned are from all combined race results.
Leading the charge for the Houlton girls was Teanne Ewings, who took an impressive 2nd place overall. Close behind Natalie Johnson earned 7th place in the girls race, with both runners standing out among the 642 female competitors. In the team’s scoring pack, Katie McQuarrie (179th), Dalayna Mincey (187th), and Andrea Ross (200th) made strong showings, while Kylah Tuttle (408th) and Amelia Drake (409th) rounded out the displacing scores. Mincey also recorded a significant personal best, finishing in 498th place.
Overall, the girls team placed 19th out of 61 scoring teams. In just the Class C competition, the Houlton girls would have finished as runners-up behind Waynflete, narrowly beating out Boothbay/Wiscasset.
On the boys’ side James Brady led Houlton, finishing 67th overall in a field of 891 male competitors. He was followed closely by Brayden Drake in 78th place. Malachi Witmer (118th) and Nathan Brady (120th) also delivered strong performances, while Jackson Adams (807th) and Neal McQuarrie (808th) completed the scoring. On a special note, Nathan Brady competed in the freshman boys race and finished 5th overall out of 228.
The boys team placed 26th out of 74 scoring teams. Within Class C competition Houlton finished as the 2nd overall team, well behind Orono and just ahead of rival George Stevens Academy.
The full results from the day can be found here https://me.milesplit.com/meets/634718-maine-xc-festival-of-champions-2024/results and they are broken down by race sections and overall combined heats.
High resolution photos can be found in our Google folder here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1hF7QlMkw3Iq1IztDCU2mhvcsrGyEWA_4?usp=sharing
And a full Facebook compression photo album can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.559074683327493&type=3.
The Greater Houlton varsity cross country team’s next race will be the Greater Houlton Border Bash on Saturday, October 12. The event will feature 14 teams from the Penobscot Valley Conference, Aroostook League and two schools from New Brunswick, Canada. The varsity boys’ race begins at 12 p.m., followed by the varsity girls at 12:40 p.m. and the combined JV race at 1:20 p.m. Concessions will be available, and the community is invited to attend and support the team.
Houlton will also host the PVC championships on Saturday, October 19, welcoming all conference schools to compete on their home course. The team encourages all community and school members to come out and show their support at these exciting home meets.