CARIBOU, Maine — The Greater Houlton Shiretownes boys and girls cross country teams have had three weeks of competition in Aroostook County to start the season and the squads finished the third leg of the tour with a successful showing in Caribou on Sept. 19. The first meets of the year hosted by Houlton, Presque Isle and Caribou provided several challenges for the team but the great terrain from the County has left runners sharp and ready for the next challenge.
In Caribou the Greater Houlton boys team completed a perfect sweep of the series with the low score of 21 points, besting No. 2 Caribou High School (39) and No. 3 Presque Isle High School (67).
The charge was led by senior captain Brayden Drake in 17 minutes 12.02 seconds as he stormed across the line for an overall second individual place. It wouldn’t be long until all five Shire men were tallied as over the next 21 seconds the remaining four boys had crossed the line: 3. Malachi Witmer (17:13.55), 4. Logan Witmer (17:24.60), 5. Nathan Brady (17:27.52) and 7. Wyatt Quint (17:33.25) rounded out the varsity scoring. Also running in the boy’s race were 15. Stevie Cormier (19:40.05), 20. Lucas McPhee (21:48.85) and 24. Victor Burlock (23:28.39).
The girls team continued to shrug off some early season injuries and turned in some promising results. First-year runner Isabella McCarthy was the low time for the Lady Shires with her effort of 26:41.42, good enough for 16th overall. Following behind her were 17. April Mazur in 27:20.11 and 19. Dalylah Mincey in 28:44.57. Rounding out the scoring for the girls were 25. Alaina Locker at 34:31.46) and 26. Sandra Quinlan in 40:03.17.
Full results are online.
The cross country team is next in action at the Cony High School Homecoming meet in Augusta on Friday, Sept. 25 as Houlton runners get to compete on the host site for the state championship against some of the best talent from central Maine’s KVAC conference. The middle school program also gets a chance at hosting the Aroostook League on Wednesday, Sept. 23.
