Three County runners will compete in New England Championships

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (WAGM) - The New England Cross Country Championships will be run tomorrow in Rhode Island.

Three County runners qualified for the event. Teanne Ewings and Natalie Johnson of Houlton/GHCA and Kayley Bell of Caribou will lace up the running shoes tomorrow morning. This is the second straight year that Ewings and Bell qualified for the race.

(Teanne Ewings):” I learned there is a lot of people there and it is nerve wracking, but it is going to be the last race so just have fun.”

(Kayley Bell):” A huge group of people in the race and now I know and will just go and have fun.”

Ewings and Bell were the top two County qualifiers at the State Championship two weeks ago. They both hope to use their experience from previous big races to run their own race.

Ewings:” Conserve my speed in the first mile so I can use it in the end. There’s a lot of girls towards the finish that I can probably sprint. Racing against the same people and I was a little closer this year and I could pace off them.”

Bell:” The race goes out super fast and you have to pace yourself and do your best. I am just really looking forward to it and I am going to go as fast as I can.”

Sophomore Natalie Johnson and Ewings are teammates on the Shires team. Johnson will be competing in this race for the first time.

(Natalie Johnson):” I was so excited. I was still pretty tired from the race so it didn’t really sink in until later that night. I was like oh my gosh I actually made it. I was really excited about that.”

This race brings together the best of the best in New England and Johnson has received some advice from Ewings and also coach Chris Rines.

Johnson:” Coach and Teanne have been really supportive. They just said it is a race to have fun with, try your best, but this is it so have fun. This is a race to have a good time and give it your all.”

The Shiretowners are a very young team. Johnson and Ewings are both sophomores and most of the rest of team will also return to compete next fall. Johnson said that she would like to see the whole team qualify next year.

Johnson:” I am hoping so. I think our team has the potential to do that. We have come really close in previous years, so I think that we can as a team do that at some point.”

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