Page 12 - Newsletter_Spring_2019

More Shire Success! Part 2

Girls Cross Country is Northern Maine Runner-Up

is story is based on articles by Joe Cyr ’89, Houlton Pioneer Times From the
and Ernie Clark and Pete Warner, Bangor Daily News. e contents
are reprinted with permission.
Shire girls XC places second in regional meet

It was an historic day for the Houlton Middle-High School
girls cross country team on Saturday, October 20th as the
Shires fi nished runners-up in the Class C Northern Maine
Regional Championships.

Held at Troy Howard Middle School, the Shire girls pulled
off a remarkable fi nish, placing second in the Class C
standings. It marks the fi rst time in coach Chris Rines
tenure with the club that a squad has fi nished as regional
runners-up and, quite possibly, the fi rst time in decades.

In so doing, the girls team qualifi ed for the state The Houlton girls cross-country team finished as Class C North
championship meet that was held October 27th on the same runners-up in the fall. Showing off their plaque are, from left, assistant
Belfast course. coach William Janakis, Jayden Swimm '22, Emmlyne Drake '21,
Jannelle Ross '20, Makenna Cooley '22, Lauren Swimm '19, Ellie Grant
“ e Northern Maine Regional Championships was a '22, Elisabeth Donahue '19 and coach Chris Rines. Not pictures is
bittersweet success story for our young cross-country Aliyah Sabbattis-Weber '22. (photo courtesy of Julie Winslow)
program,” Rines said. “All our athletes rose to the occasion and poured in their best performances of the year for the chance
to make it to the state meet. I’m happy to report that while not everyone made it in, the majority of our group did qualify for
states next weekend and we will be bringing the largest group of kids to a cross-country meet that I ever have.”

Orono was the top girls team with 23 points, followed by Houlton, 85; MSSM, 88; Fort Fairfi eld, 92; Washburn, 115; Fort
Kent, 118; and Machias, 169.

Greater Houlton Christian Academy did not have enough girls to score as a team, but junior Teagan Ewings (who trained
with the Houlton squad and plays for the Lady Shire’s basketball team) placed fourth in the race, completing the course in 21
minutes, 36.40 seconds.
Results for the Houlton girls were 9, Emmalyne Drake ‘21, 22:15.40; 20, Ellie Grant ‘22, 23:09.10; 23, Makenna Cooley ‘22,
23:16.80; 31, Jeannelle Ross ‘20, 24:45.30; 57, Elisabeth Donahue ‘19, 29:31.90; and 71, Jayden Swimm ‘22, 36:23.70.

“ is group of girls is quite incredible,” Rines said. “ rough all the virtual meet predictions we have sat pretty solid in fourth
place through most of the season. I don’t think anyone would have thought at the end of the day Houlton would be walking
home with a runners up plaque, ourselves included.”

Drake has been the Shires’ front-runner for two seasons now and has led the team in scoring. e freshman tandem of Grant
and Cooley soon followed. “ ese two have been going back and forth all year and they have really pushed each other to the
benefi t of the team,” the coach said.
For the boys, Houlton placed ninth (208 points) and did not qualify for the states.

“Despite their best eff orts, all having hit career best times, the boys fell two team places outside of qualifying for the state
championships,” the coach said. “At the beginning of the season, I wouldn’t have even thought we were in the mix. I’m really
happy for the boys and what they accomplished this year. ey should not hang their heads at all.”

e boys’ results were 23, Daniel Ross ‘22, 19:26.90 (state qualifi er); 37, Brandon Roshto ‘21, 20:19.50; 48, Donald Ouellette
‘19, 20:48.00; 64, Ean Bolstridge ‘20, 21;53.20; and 81, Nolan Jacobs ‘20, 22:59.80.

“Every boy hit career bests multiple times this postseason, culminating with all fi ve doing it at the regional meet,” Rines said.

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