Hannah Steelman (Orono) leads her teammate Kassidy Dill during the Ellsworth Invitational (Photo by Paul Nantkes)
Ellsworth Invitational: Hassett & Steelman better than the rest
Results: Varsity Boys | Varsity Girls | JV Boys | JV Girls
Interview: Hannah Steelman
George Stevens Academy overcame the 1-2 finish of Orono High School's Hannah Steelman and Kassidy Dill with GSA placing 5 girls in the top 16. Caribou placed third while missing their #2 runner.
Steelman, who was the runner-up a year ago, showed her fitness level is at another level compared to 2014. Today's wining effort was 19:14.36 almost a minute faster than her 2014 effort. This could be bad news for the rest of the state because a year ago she was the Class C individual champion.
Steelman was followed by her junior teammate Kassidy Dill who also ran under 20 minutes for the 3 mile course, her final time was 19:58, and like her teammate her time was much faster than a year ago, 1:08 to be exact.
In the boys race Orono took the victory over Caribou in a tight race. Orono had 4 runners in the top 10 and Caribou matched them. It came down to Orono's 5th man who placed 12th overall. The individual winner went to John Hassett of George Stevens in a flying time of 16:40. Top three teams Orono 35, Caribou 40 and GSA 95.
Hassett who repeated as champion, did so much faster this year. His winning effort from 2014 was 17:40, while yesterday the junior was 16:40, exactly a minute faster.
"I guess that means that this season is going to be a good one. This is kind of a surprise." Hassett said after learning how much faster his time was this year.
In the JV races Caribou girls put 6 runners in the top ten for the team title with the individual winner Anya O'meara also from Caribou, with a time of 23:11. This time would have placed her 20th in the Varsity race.
In the boys JV race it came down to another dog fight with Orono and Caribou with Orono coming on top behind a 1-3 finish. Freshman Gavin McDonald was the individual winner with his 18:57 performance.
Ellsworth Invitational Varsity Boys top 10 (photo by Thomas Beckum)
1 John Hassett JR George Stevens 5:33.7 16:40.90 1 2 Matt Keresey SO Orono High School 5:46.3 17:18.92 2 3 Tristan Butterfield SR Orono High School 5:53.3 17:39.80 3 4 Evan Desmond SO Caribou High School 5:56.5 17:49.52 4 5 Chathu Karunasiri SR Caribou High School 6:02.2 18:06.51 5 6 Caleb Hunter SR Caribou High School 6:03.0 18:08.81 6 7 Will Entwisle SR George Stevens 6:03.2 18:09.50 7 8 Lowell Ruck JR Orono High School 6:04.6 18:13.70 8 9 Daniel Randolph SO Caribou High School 6:05.3 18:15.86 9 10 William O'Neil JR Orono High School 6:10.0 18:29.93 10
Ellsworth Invitational Varsity Girls top 10 (photo by Thomas Beckum)
1 Hannah Steelman JR Orono High School 6:24.8 19:14.36 1 2 Kassidy Dill JR Orono High School 6:39.6 19:58.77 2 3 Amanda Boyd JR John Bapst 6:53.6 20:40.59 3 4 Eliza Broughton SO George Stevens 6:58.5 20:55.39 4 5 Mary Richardson SO George Stevens 7:05.6 21:16.63 5 6 Zeya Lorio SO George Stevens 7:11.8 21:35.26 6 7 Julia Page JR Caribou High School 7:19.0 21:56.94 7 8 Olivia Fandel SR Orono High School 7:22.2 22:06.41 8 9 Audree O'Meara FR Old Town 7:23.8 22:11.21 9 10 Jen Clawson SR Foxcroft Academy 7:26.2 22:18.45 10
Ellsworth Invitational JV Boys top 10 (photo by Thomas Beckum)
1 Gavin McDonald FR Orono High School 6:19.2 18:57.38 1 2 Jonathan Steelman FR Orono High School 6:23.0 19:08.93 2 3 Stanley Levitsky SR Orono High School 6:36.0 19:47.79 3 4 Alec Cyr SO Caribou High School 6:39.6 19:58.82 4 5 Thomas Sanborn JR Old Town 6:49.8 20:29.25 5 6 Emerson Duplissie-Cyr SO Caribou High School 6:52.5 20:37.31 6 7 David Hunter SR Caribou High School 6:54.2 20:42.58 7 8 Jacob Gallon JR Orono High School 6:57.2 20:51.46 8 9 Riley McDuffie SR Caribou High School 7:04.2 21:12.61 9 10 Kyle Boucher FR Caribou High School 7:06.2 21:18.51 1
Ellsworth Invitational JV Girls top 10 (photo by Thomas Beckum)
1 Anya O'Meara SO Caribou High School 7:44.0 23:11.94 1 2 Kassie Farley FR Washburn 8:14.6 24:43.59 2 3 Maren Moir FR Caribou High School 8:16.5 24:49.27 3 4 Elyssia Smith Mattanawcook 8:27.2 25:21.47 4 5 Lilly Cook FR MDI 8:30.4 25:31.23 5 6 Lauren Morrison Mattanawcook 8:36.2 25:48.52 6 7 Ciara Richards SO Caribou High School 8:38.8 25:56.15 7 8 Olivia Austin FR Caribou High School 8:38.8 25:56.42 8 9 Maura Freme SR Caribou High School 8:39.7 25:58.84 9 10 Ashley Violette FR Caribou High School 8:57.0 26:50.99 10
Much of the story was written from the contribution of Thomas Beckum.