Brewer, Ellsworth capture team titles> Pietras, O’Keefe take individual crowns

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BANGOR – In cross country, times are relatively unimportant.

The combination of hill and dale, muck and mire – all of which were readily available in Saturday’s Penobscot Valley Conference championship – make the stopwatch virtually inconsequential.

On Saturday, the only time that really mattered was this: 22 seconds.

That’s the magic number both the Ellsworth girls and Brewer boys used to earn PVC crowns.

That’s 22 seconds between Brie Jellison, Ellsworth’s top runner, and teammate Anna Chornyak, the fifth and final scorer for the Eagles.

And it’s 22 seconds between Brewer’s No. 1, Keith Pearson, and the Witches’ No. 5, Andy Jenson.

“We practice together, doing repeat miles, and we always strive to be right together,” said Jellison, a freshman at Ellsworth and one of four runners who have occupied the top spot this season.

“That’s what our strength is,” she said.

Ellsworth coach Andy Beardsley said the strength has been apparent for much of the season, with his runners swapping positions and roles as the year progressed.

“That’s a typical Ellsworth pack,” he said.

That pack – freshmen Jellison and Katie Hessler, junior Allison Cherry, senior Sarah Carter and junior Chornyak – paved the way to Ellsworth’s victory.

The Eagles scored 69 points, Bucksport had 87, Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln tallied 96, while three-time defending champ Brewer was fourth with 119 and Hampden Academy had 130.

Mattanawcook’s Corrie Pietras was the individual champ, touring the sloppy Bangor Mental Health Institute course in 19 minutes, 6 seconds.

Bucksport was the small-school (Classes C and D) champ.

The Witches topped a 19-team boys field with 50 points. Bangor scored 63, George Stevens Academy had 108 and Mount Desert Island had 146. Sumner rounded out the top five with 193.

Sumner’s Brendan O’Keefe took the invididual title in 15:47. His nearest challenger, MDI’s Ian Jones, was 40 seconds back.

GSA earned honors as the top small school in the field.

Beardsley was pleased, but not surprised by the victory.

“I thought we could win. I thought on paper it was Brewer or us,” he said.

Brewer’s Glendon Rand watched as his top runner, Heather Jovanelli, led the race early, flagged later on, and staggered across the line in 14th place. Jovanelli was taken to the hospital for treatment of dehydration.

But Rand pointed out that Jovanelli’s woes had nothing to do with the meet outcome: The Eagles were unstoppable.

“I was kind of thinking that maybe they were the team of the future, and in the years to come they were going to be very good,” Rand said. “They obviously showed that they’re here [already], and they just ran a brilliantly tactical race.”

In the boys race, the upstart Witches continued a season of success that has even stunned their coach.

Brewer, which hadn’t won a PVC crown since 1986 and hasn’t qualified for the Class A state championship meet as a team since 1991, packed its five runners into the top 14 places to take the win.

Rand said runners usually make a methodical progression from JV to varsity. Some then make the leap to being contenders.

But this year’s team has challenged his theory, because they all skipped the middle step.

“Every now and then you’ll see one guy do that. But a whole team, going from being JV or back-of-the-pack varsity runners to being top 20 kind of runners? Five in the top 14?” he said, shaking his head. “I seriously underestimated them when they came into this season.”

That, according to senior frontrunner Keith Pearson, is easy to understand: there’s been a huge difference in how this year’s team has gone about its business.

“We really improved our work ethic and everything,” Pearson said. “I can tell we’re goofing off less. We’re sticking to the workouts and we’ve just improved so much. It really feels good.”

Pearson finished fifth and was followed by sophomores Ian Fraser (sixth) and Chris Sighinolfi (12th), and seniors Tony Foster (13th) and Jensen (14th).

Bangor tucked three runners in the top ten, topped by Ben Allen’s third-place finish.

On Saturday, Brewer’s combination of a new work ethic and a last-minute strategy session paid dividends.

After his girls struggled, Rand went to his boys squad at the starting line and changed the entire plan.

“Yesterday he told us to go out [at an] even pace,” Fraser said. “But today he told us to go out a little faster so we could get ahead of people, then step back into our pace.”

High school AT NATANIS GC, Vassalboro Maine State Team Championships Class A

Portland 320, Nokomis 322, (tie) Gorham 329 and Thornton Academy 329, Lewiston 331, Lawrence 341, Mount Ararat 343, Oxford Hills 356, Sanford 359, Presque Isle 361, Messalonskee 374

Portland: Isaiah Oliver 80, Vincent Russo 80, J.D. Walker 86, Shaun Irish 79, John McCallum 81

Nokomis: Joey Mendell 81, Nick Martin 82, Doug Kus 80, Eian Kurro 87, Jon Spinney 79

Gorham: Joe Manganaro 80, Justin Ball 81, Ryan Burnheimer 85, Rick Harmon 83, David Greer 89

Thornton: Matt Brennick 78, Scott Fennell 78, Ryan Kerry 85, Derek Schroeter 88, Nate Letarte 95

Lewiston: Chris Cloutier 80, Jeff Lavoie 82, Derek Ducharme 80, Blaine Pelletier 90, T.J. Anthoine 89

Lawrence: Ross Murray 75, Adam Bolduc 85, Josh Gwadosky 85, Matt Ceban 96, John Smith 104

Mount Ararat: Rob McDonough 73, Mike Doran 89, Jared Farmer 92, Richie Thibeault 105, Ryan O’Connor 89

Oxford Hills: Jack McCarthy 90, Bryan Martin 92, Jeff Wetter 86, Josh Wyman 90, Garrett Olsen 90

Sanford: Chris Woodward 86, Morgan Myer 86, Derrick Connors 92, Steve Berard 95, Derek Labreque 100

Presque Isle: Brook Griffin 93, Brad Boyles 85, Micah Desmond 87, Jim Donahue 96, Aaron Keirstead 105

Messalonskee: Joe Finnemore 83, Josh Woodbury 99, Bobby Herzig 92, Lance Elias 100, Mary Timmons 101 Class B

Cape Elizabeth 319, Maine Central Institute 322, Falmouth 326, Hall-Dale 327, Ellsworth 329, Maranacook 330, Lincoln Academy 335, York 338, John Bapst 340, George Stevens Academy 353, Caribou 359

Cape Elizabeth: Tim Ervin 73, Andy Rowe 74, Alysa Hayes 91, Jayson Emery 86, Mike DeAngelo 86

MCI: Justin Ladd 74, Kory Martin 84, Josh Campbell 79, Cory McAvoy 85, Sindre Vad 94

Falmouth: Denny Mitchell 76, Sean Hotckiss 83, Curtis Krauss 83, Jason Kindall 86, Cole Hutchins 84

Hall-Dale: Jake Doiron 82, James Graham 81, Josh Vachon 84, Anthony Massey 80, Jason Maddox 100

Ellsworth: Brian Bohm 85, Tiffany Shoppe 86, Adam Smith 77, Mike Archer 84, Steve Batson 83

Maranacook: John Hamilton 78, Tyler Rowe 82, Evan Hall 85, Nate Belz 88, Marco Gasbarrone 85

Lincoln Academy: Tyler Plummer 84, Brian Greggy 80, Tristan Durgin 83, Alex Gaeth 94, Nick Rauscher 88

York: Chris Thomas 83, John Cheverie 84, Sean Schmigle 89, Dustin Freeman 82, Nate Ergmann 99

John Bapst: Brian Dunn 83, Dan Lux 83, Ray Whitney 85, Ben Gray 89, Luc Wardwell 96

GSA: Peter Collier 91, Toby Cole 77, Colby Allen 91, Jacob Berkowitz 108, Simeon Allen 94

Caribou: Jason Griffeth 95, Steve McCormick 89, Travis Beaulieu 86, Emily Jose 89, Derek Jepson 100 Class C

Calais 333, North Yarmouth Academy 340, Central Aroostook 353, Orono 356, Telstar 359, Sumner 370, Winthrop 381, Madawaska 396, Deer Isle-Stonington 399, Washington Academy 425, Islesboro (did not field full squad)

Calais: James Frost 78, Dan Reed 83, Katie Frost 88, James MacDonald 84, Doug Adams 88

NYA: Devin Dobrowolski 85, Chris Bixby 84, Sam Ferguson 91, Brad Myers 80, Beck Eckhard 92

CAHS: Craig Allen 81, Craig Durost 93, Justin Woodworth 92, Jason Tapley 107, Ryan Bell 87

Orono: Stuart Cady 78, Tom Round 107, Eric Gordon 84, Travers Kurr 95, Eric Kempen 99

Telstar: Charles Johnson 84, Josh Eichenberger 103, Josh Mowery 100, Per Sandstrom 90, Cooper Willard 85

Sumner: Matt Falabella 119, John Albee 96, Matt Wycoff 82, Mike Hardy 81, Josh Rock 111

Winthrop: Marja Hatfield 93, Jarek Bell 93, Eric Dennett 97, Dustin Harrington 98, Justus Myers 102

Madawaska: Travis Cyr 79, Jason Martin 104, Whitney Bouchard 108, Ryan Colgan 105, Tony Levesque 112

DI-Stonington: Jason Weed 89, Matt Martin 102, Adam McDonald 101, Eli Hill 107

WA: Brent Colbeth 104, Dan Smith 104, Jason Martin 102, Ryan Maker 115

Islesboro: Elek Miller 88, Ryan Grindle 102, Jon Bolduc 98