MDI girls, Ellsworth boys still champs Foxcroft boys, MA girls win

BANGOR – The Mount Desert Island girls and Ellsworth boys cross country teams retained their status as Penobscot Valley Conference champions Saturday at Saxl Park.

The Trojans tucked three runners in the top 10 and all five scorers finished in the top 15 as MDI compiled 46 points, beating out four other Class B competitors.

Caribou was second with 60 points, John Bapst of Bangor third (61), Presque Isle fourth (82) and Old Town fifth (96).

The Ellsworth boys used strong pack power to defeat Caribou 32 points to 44, with all five Eagle scorers finishing in the top 11.

Presque Isle was third out of six scoring teams with 74 points, MDI was fourth (84), John Bapst’s 137 was good for fifth and Hermon was sixth (163).

The Foxcroft Academy boys and Mattanawcook of Lincoln girls captured Class C titles.

In the boys meet, Presque Isle’s Corey Park outlasted Logan Will of Ellsworth and Caribou’s Spencer McElwain to capture individual honors in 16 minutes, 35.6 seconds over 3 miles.

Will finished second (16:40.3) and McElwain third (16:52.8).

Teammates Akihisa Ishida, Ben Chapman and Alec Phippen joined Will in the top 10, finishing fifth, sixth and eighth, respectively, while Dakota Hellum was 11th.

All five of Ellsworth’s runners finished ahead of the Vikings’ fifth.

Jesse Stephens was fourth for Caribou while Stephen Melbourne was seventh. MDI’s Nigel Storer rounded out the top 10 individuals in 10th place.

Matthieu Nadeau of Orono was first in the Class C race in 17:05.8, but the Red Riots couldn’t overcome FA’s pack.

The Ponies, who scored 42 points, were led by Graham Pearsall’s second-place effort while Chris Bridges was fifth and Kaleb Mann eighth.

Mattanawcook’s Eric Lichtenberg and Jacob Rhodes finished third and fourth, respectively, while Stearns of Millinocket’s Michael Rioux was sixth.

Cole Larson-Whittaker from George Stevens in Blue Hill was seventh, Schenck of East Millinocket’s Brandon Theriault ninth and Sumner of East Sullivan’s Ben Bricker 10th.

In the girls meet, Old Town senior Hilary Maxim outran MDI junior Heather Spurling to capture the individual title in 19:12.9.

Spurling, who finished in 19:24.6, led an MDI squad that finished with a solid pack time of 1:56.

Kailyn Russell, a freshman, took 10th while soph Jessica Swanson was 11th. Classmates Frances Blank, Mackenzie Curtis and Lily Madeira finished 11th, 14th and 19th, respectively, while junior Jessica Rothenheber captured 26th.

John Bapst sophomore Kim Spencer finished third in 19:33.4 to pace the Crusaders, while Hannah Saunders and Dayna Michaud finished 4-5 for Caribou.

Rounding out the top 10 were Katy Schrader (sixth) and Brianne Dunn of Ellsworth (seventh), Presque Isle’s Alecia Palmer in eighth and Bapst’s Maggie Bryan in ninth.

MA’s Renee LaFlamme finished first among Class C runners while junior Jana Larlee was second in leading the Lynx to their second straight PVC “C” crown.

Hannah Ruhl captured fifth for MA while Abby Paul was seventh and Katelyn Deraps 14th.

Others in the top 10 were Penobscot Valley of Howland’s Casey McCloskey in third, Lee Academy’s Aarika Ritchie (fourth) and Brooke Harris (sixth), Bucksport’s Angie Johnston (eighth), Anne Davison of Orono (ninth) and GSA’s Allegra Pellerano in 10th.