2014 George Stevens Boys XC team (photo by Paul Perkinson)
The George Stevens Academy boys XC is tredning upwards in a rapid rate. "The boys had a terrific season last year. The year before, the team placed 12th at States and last year they progressed to third. They were a young team and really enjoyed competing." said Coach Eric Reed. The program has one state championship to its name that coming 21 years ago in 1993. This squad is primed to make a run at the school's second XC state title this fall with 6 of the 7 runners from last year back.
With 6 runners back that ran in the state meet last fall gives GSA an advantage over the rest of Class C. GSA was a very young team a year ago as they were led by a pair of freshman, John Hassett (5th) & Ollie Dillon (17th). Dillon won't be competing this fall as he is stydying aboard but watch for sophomore Devlin Valle was the 3rd runner finishing 27th overall a year ago. On the track Valle emerged running 10:17.62 for 3200m. Also watch for Oliver Broughton, Tate Yoder, and Aylen Wolf to round out the top 5. The team picked up nine new athletes so the likelyhood of one someone emerging from that group is strong.
Coach Reed thinks this GSA team is ready to do well this fall as well, "Our team is spirited and healthy, and we have more maturity and focus this year."
At the recent Ellsworth Invitational the squad finished 3rd, 13 points behind Class C rival Orono. This will be a matchup to watch throughout the fall, as these figure to be two of the best team in all of Class C.
Coach Reed Says...
"I hope to have more focus on overall training this year, and less on weekly meet performances. We are keying for the Festival of Champions and States. While we have some very talented athletes, for the team to be successful we need to develop more depth beyond our top five."
2014 Returner's Top Times
| 19 | George Stevens Academy (ME) | 628 | ||
| 1) John Hassett | 17:24.16 | 49 | ||
| 2) Devlin Valle | 18:10.55 | 106 | ||
| 3) Ollie Dillon | 18:17.54 | 120 | ||
| 4) Oliver Broughton | 18:36.03 | 158 | ||
| 5) Tate Yoder | 18:57.91 | 195 | ||
| Average Time: 18:17.24 Total Time: 1:31:26.19 1-5 Split: 1:33.75 | ||||
| 6) Aylen Wolf | 19:29.02 | 249 | ||
| 7) Michael Salois | 21:09.99 | 381 | ||
| Boys 1,600 Meter Run | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 4:38.03 | Hassett, John | PVC Small School Championship | 2014-06-02 |
| 5:15.08 | Valle, Devlin | PVC: ELL, GSA, SUM, WA, NAR @ MDI | 2014-05-02 |
| 5:22.70 | Dillon, Ollie | PVC: ELL, GSA, SUM, WA, NAR @ MDI | 2014-05-02 |
| 5:45.08 | Merritt, Marvin | Hancock Cty. Meet: BUC, ELL, GSA, MDI, SUM | 2014-05-23 |
| 5:49.07 | Shute, Griffin | Hancock Cty. Meet: BUC, ELL, GSA, MDI, SUM | 2014-05-23 |
|
Boys 3,200 Meter Run |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| 10:17.62 | Valle, Devlin | PVC Small School Championship | 2014-06-02 |
| 10:26.79 | Hassett, John | Maine Class C State Championship | 2014-06-07 |
| 13:06.23 | Taylor-lash, Alex | Hancock Cty. Meet: BUC, ELL, GSA, MDI, SUM | 2014-05-23 |
| 13:14.10 | Brache, Merin | PVC: GSA, JB, SPRT, SUM, WA @ MDI | 2014-05-16 |