Ellsworth High School rebounded from double-digit losses to defending state champion Hermon at the recent Big East and Penobscot Valley Conference championship meets to edge out the Hawks for the Class B North title at the Cross Insurance Center on Saturday.
The Eagles scored 88.2 points compared to 85.5 for runner-up Hermon in capturing their first regional crown since 2013.
“This is the first time we’ve won this title in our high school years,” said Ellsworth junior Emma Whitney. “It’s really crazy.”
Hermon, the two-time defending Class B state champion and five-time reigning regional titleholder, went first among the 15 competing teams. A couple of bobbles during its performance created an opportunity for Ellsworth, the Hawks’ primary rival in recent years.
“It’s tough to go first, you kind of have to set the bar,” said Hermon coach Kristie Reed. “There were some things we did really well; there were other things we missed. It just didn’t go the way we wanted it to.
“When you make mistakes, you always leave that door open.”
Ellsworth, the 10th team to perform, took advantage with a clean three-minute performance that proved just enough to slip past the favored Hawks.
Hermon had defeated runner-up Ellsworth by 13.1 points (83.2-69.1) at the Big East championships and by 10.3 points (84.5-74.2) at the PVCs.
“We really hadn’t been prepared our last couple of meets,” said Melanie Omlor-Fox, who coaches the Ellsworth team with Kat Dickens. “This was really the best performance we’ve had. Our kids were much more conditioned for their routine.
“We have a really hard routine and we had a couple of falls last week and the week before and obviously that takes your confidence down. But this past week was a really good, successful practice week for them and gave them a lot more confidence to perform what they have to do.”
That increased confidence left the Eagles entering the regional minus the pre-performance jitters of earlier meets.
“I just felt like we weren’t nervous that much, we were just really excited,” said Ellsworth junior Tanner Hardison. “We were ready to this.”
Old Town placed third at the regional with 72.5 points and will join Ellsworth, Hermon, Presque Isle (70.1), Mount Desert Island of Bar Harbor (66.2) and John Bapst of Bangor (66.2) at the state championships scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 9, at the Augusta Civic Center.
John Bapst, the final team to perform at the regional,slipped past Foxcroft Academy of Dover-Foxcroft for the final ticket to the state championships. Foxcroft, which finished 11th at the Big East championships and tied for sixth in the PVC, placed seventh in Class B North with 59.1 points.
Other teams in the field were Erskine Academy of South China (58.4), Winslow (52.9), Caribou (51.9), Gardiner (51.2), Waterville (49.4), Washington Academy of East Machias (48.5), Mount View of Thorndike (48.0) and Nokomis of Newport (45.5).
Competing for the regional champion Ellsworth Eagles were Hardison, Whitney, Bailey Peterson, Abigail Bland, Anna Brown, Chenell Campbell, Brooke Carver, Allison Dorr, Laura Jude, Jada Kairys, Ellie Kane, Alexis Rossi, Paige Sawyer and Kerrigan Shorey.
Members of the runner-up Hermon squad are Alanna Berube, Jasmine Boulier, Brooklyn Brown, Ella Campbell, Kailey Curry, Cali Cyr, Mercedes Davis, Madison Despault, Hailey Gogan, Madison Higgins, Kristen Lusignan, Hannah Morin, Olivia Nash, Riley Perry, Alexis Raymond, Caitlinn Whitehouse and Torria Wittmer.
