FA boys run to a first-place finish, girls place second on home course

Ellen Curtiss •September 23, 2015

Piquette wins boys’ race, Clawson second among the girls

By Stuart Hedstrom
Staff Writer

DOVER-FOXCROFT — The Foxcroft Academy cross team country took advantage of the familiarities of the squad’s home course during a Penobscot Valley Conference meet on Sept. 18. Running with unusually warm temperatures for mid-September, the thermometer mercury rose into the mid-80s by the late afternoon, the Pony boys finished first in a field of five schools while the Foxcroft girls placed second.

Observer photos/Stuart Hedstrom

START OF A PAIR OF 5K GALLOPS — The Foxcroft Academy cross country team ran on its home course Sept. 18 with the Pony boys placing first and the girls coming in second. Senior Gabe Piquette had the day’s fastest time as he finished in first place, and senior Jen Clawson placed second in the girls’ race.

The top five Foxcroft boys combined for a score of 42 points, edging meet runner-up Lee Academy by two. John Bapst Memorial High School of Bangor came in third with a score of 53 points, followed by 82 points for Central High School of Corinth and then Hermon High School’s 141 points.

Pony senior Gabe Piquette had the fastest time of the day. Piquette covered the 3.1 miles in 19 minutes, 12.90 seconds to finish first among 55 entrants.

Fellow senior Cooper Nelson was the second runner to cross the finish line, doing so in a time of 19:30.30. Junior Liam Casey joined his teammates by placing in the top 10, as Casey’s time of 20:28.80 was good for seventh place.

Freshman Nicholas Daneman was the next Pony in the standings, as he came in 14th place at 21:34.20. Senior Hunter Giacomuzzi rounded out the five scoring positions by coming in 20th with a time of 22:26.70.

The rest of the Foxcroft contingent was comprised of sophomore Kazu Kawashima, 22nd at 22:47.40; sophomore Kaiyuan Ma, 25th at 23:03.60; junior Ethan Poland, 28th at 23:14.50; senior Paul Birtwistle, 30th at 23:38.30; senior Joon Yeob Kim, 31st at 23:39; senior Blaine Robinson, 50th at 27:49; and freshman Nathaniel Skomers, 52nd at 29:06.70.

Dexter Regional High School junior William Strauch ran in the meet. Strauch was eighth overall, covering the five kilometers in 20:42.10.

The Foxcroft girls compiled a score of 37 points on the home course, trailing only the 25 for John Bapst and less than half of the 78 points for third-place Lee. Hermon finished fourth with 83 points and in fifth place was Central with 142 points.

Pony senior Jen Clawson had the second fastest girls’ time on Sept. 18. Clawson finished second out of 38 runners with a time of 22:48.50.

Sophomore Jenna Clukey was the next Pony to cross the finish line, as she placed fifth at 25:29.70. Teammate Alice Russo was next as the senior came in sixth at 26:02.70.

Junior Erika Chadbourne had her team’s fourth top 10 run by placing ninth with a time of 27:26.60. Junior Sujeong Kim concluded the Pony point-scoring five by finishing 15th at 28:56.10.

Also running for Foxcroft was senior Elena Russo, who came in 19th at 30:00.90, and sophomore Virginia Macomber, who was 21st with a time of 30:10.10.

Gabe Piquette