Orono sweeps the Sectional XC meet
Results: Varsity Boys | Varsity Girls | JV Boys | JV Girls
Interview: Tia Tardy
Special to MaineTrackXC by Paul Nantkes
Orono High School was well represented on Saturday. Orono boys won both the JV and Varsity races. The Orono girl also won both JV and Varsity races. The Red Riots wore purple for the day in honor of Emily LeClair. Emily is a teammate and was diagnosed last year with cancer. The team wore the purple shirts that state "Riots 1 Cancer 0".
Matt Keresey led the way for the Varsity boys finishing 21 seconds ahead of Caribou's Chathu Karunasiri. Matt's time of 16:25.89 established a new course record. Jason Barley of Presque Isle, Isaiah Brown of Houlton and Evan Desmond rounded out the top 5.
On the boys side Orono who was missing Tristan Butterfield this week finished just ahead of Caribou High School 26-38 to take top team honors.
The Orono girls continued their winning ways finishing 1,2,3,5,6. Led by Junior Tia Tardy who established a new course record of 18:04.97 eclipsing her 19:19 record run from last year. Hannah Steelman of Orono, Kassidy Dill of Orono, Amanda Boyd of John Bapst and Olivia Fandel of Orono rounded out the top 5 finishers.
It was a close battle between Caribou High School and Mt. Desert Island High School for the runner up award for the girls. Caribou edged out MDI 92-98.
Race winners Tia Tardy & Matt Keresey of Orono HS.