Foxcroft Academy sports update: Smith dominates PVC meet, baseball and softball combine for five wins, and tennis qualifies for postseason

Hunter Smith high jump

Smith leads Ponies to runner-up finish at PVCs

The Foxcroft Academy boys’ track team scored 133 points to finish second at the 2015 PVC Small School Championship Meet in Dover-Foxcroft on Friday, marking the Ponies fifth consecutive top-two finish at the PVCs. Orono High School outpaced 16 teams with 194 points while George Stevens secured 58 points to take third.

Foxcroft junior Hunter Smith was named Outstanding Performer of the Meet after accounting for 40 of the team’s points with wins in the 110-meter hurdles (16.29), the 300-meter hurdles (40.88), the high jump (6-00.00), and the long jump (20-07.50).

“Hunter’s performance was transcendent,” said Foxcroft Assistant Coach Graham Pearsall. “To win four events and match the school record for most points scored at a meet–and to do it against the best competition in the conference–is just phenomenal.”

Also scoring points in individual events for the Ponies were Pete Boyer (second in the shot put, second in the discus, and third in the javelin), Edison Chen (third in the 110-meter hurdles, fourth in the long jump, and fifth in the 300-meter hurdles), Julian Zepeda (second in the 100-meter dash), Brandon Brock (fourth in the javelin and fifth in the shot put), Sebastian Zepeda (third in the 200-meter dash), Jason Eubanks (fourth in the 200-meter dash and fifth in the 100-meter dash), Cooper Nelson (fourth in the 1600-meter run), Gabe Piquette (fourth in the 3200-meter run), Dylan Richards (sixth in the 100-meter dash), Paul Birtwistle (sixth in the 400-meter dash), and Justin Diamond (sixth in the 200-meter dash).

In relay action, Eubanks, Julian Zepeda, Sebastian Zepeda, and Richards won the 4×100-meter relay while Julian Zepeda, Diamond, Nelson, and Eubanks were runners-up in the 4×400.

The Foxcroft girls’ team scored 17 points to finish in seventh place. Senior Fern Morrison led the way with second-place finishes in the 400-meter dash and the 800-meter run. Jennifer Clawson took sixth in the 1600-meter run to pick up an additional point for the Ponies.

“The PVC meet was a momentum builder,” said Pearsall. “The team competed with a lot of heart. We improved our seeds for States, and the team is looking strong as it enters one last week of practice before States this Saturday. There is a lot of strong competition in Class C this year, but we know what we’re capable of, and if we perform to our ability good things will happen at the state meet.”

The Class C State Championship Meet will kick off at 10 am in Yarmouth on Saturday.

Click here to see lots of great photos from the meet (a collaborative effort from Kirio Yu ’16, Matthew Kim ’16, and Nick Phan ’16).

abe simpson shuts down ellsworth

Baseball team surging toward the postseason

The Foxcroft baseball team is coming off an excellent week that featured an 8-3 win at Dexter on Tuesday, a 13-0 win at PCHS on Friday, and a 3-1 win over Ellsworth on Saturday. Coach Mark Chevalier’s Ponies are now 11-4 and occupy the #4 spot in the Class B East Heal Point standings (just 0.6 points behind Belfast for the third and final bye position) heading into Tuesday’s regular-season finale at John Bapst.

Abe Simpson picked up victories on the mound in the Dexter and Ellsworth games, limiting his opponents to just seven hits and one earned run over 11 stellar innings of work. The junior is now 6-1 with a 1.78 ERA. Nick Decker earned his second win at PCHS and leads the staff with 29 strikeouts in 22.66 innings, and Nate Church continues to throw the ball very well out of the bullpen, posting an 0.88 ERA while logging 16 innings and appearing in nine of the team’s 15 games.

Senior catcher Brooks Law paces the Ponies with a .396 batting average and 18 RBI, Simpson is hitting .348 with 12 stolen bases, and Eli Olson has driven in 15 runs while batting .341. Chandler Rockwell (.333, 17 runs, 13 steals), Church (.333, eight stolen bases), Dylan Huff (.324, five extra base hits), Clay Carroll (.286, 13 runs, 11 steals), Billy Brock (.286, eight runs), and Decker (.279, five doubles, 13 RBI) continue to be productive players for a Pony offense that has now scored 120 runs.

Photo of Abe Simpson taken by Holly Ly ’15. Click here to see more of her great work from Saturday’s game.

grace bickford

Softball team remains near the top of Class B East

The Foxcroft softball team is 10-5 after a week that saw them fall 6-5 at Dexter, beat PCHS 13-3, and defeat Ellsworth 11-9. Coach Scott Anderson’s team is now ranked fourth in the Class B East Heal Point standings and will close the regular season at John Bapst on Tuesday.

Freshman Jenna Clukey notched both wins on the mound and is now 8-4 with a 4.34 ERA over 87 innings of work.

Sophomore shortstop Grace Bickford smashed a three-run homer in the Ellsworth game and is now hitting .451 with five doubles, three triples, two home runs, 17 runs, 14 RBI, and nine stolen bases. Desirae Brawn is up to .426 with 10 RBI and a team-high 11 doubles, Gabie Johnson is batting .418 with nine RBI and nine runs, Clukey is at .414 with 10 runs, and Alli Bourget is hitting .407 with a team-leading 15 steals. Senior Liz Richard (.365, 11 runs, 10 steals) celebrated Senior Day on Saturday with a single, double, and triple, and Avery Carroll is now hitting .354 with 11 RBI, 11 runs, and 11 stolen bases. Kiara Prescott (.308, five steals) and Abbi Bourget (13 hits and six RBI in just 29 at bats) round out a Pony lineup that is hitting an impressive .390 and has plated 90 runs.

Photo of Grace Bickford taken by Kirio Yu ’16. Click here to see photos by Kirio and Jen Bickford from Saturday’s softball and baseball games.

doubles tandem

Tennis teams eye postseason success

Coach Ryan Dankert’s boys’ and girls’ tennis teams completed the regular season with wins over Dexter on Tuesday. The boys won 5-0 behind victories from KO Zhong, Guillermo Sanchez, Bram Dennis, Nick Boyd-Woo Jun Kim, and Kazu Kawashima-Dexter Canning (pictured above) while the girls won 4-1 with victories coming from Madison Fadley, Ricky Chen, Lexi Raymond-Sophia Kurzius, and Hannah Vainio-Jessi Breton.

The boys’ team finished up at 9-3 and has earned the #8 seed in the Class B East postseason tournament. They are scheduled to host #9 Erskine at 5:30 pm on Tuesday but will play on Wednesday if tomorrow is a washout. The Ponies will travel to Ellsworth to battle the top-seeded and unbeaten Eagles if they prevail.

The girls went 8-4 and will also enter the playoffs as a #8 seed. They’’ll take on #9 Presque Isle either at 3:00 tomorrow (if the weather holds) or a time to be determined on Wednesday. A win would send the Ponies to #1 MDI.

“I’m pleased with the records of both teams and the opportunity we will have in the playoffs,” said Coach Dankert. “For both teams I feel we won the matches we should have and lost to the better teams as well. However, I’m optimistic that both teams can make a playoff run and look forward to seeing the teams play their best tennis.”

In other news, Fernando Caceres advanced to the Round of 16 in the State Singles Tournament before falling to the #4 seed, Teodor Antelj of Fryeburg Academy.

Toby Nelson

About Toby Nelson

I am the Director of Communications at Foxcroft Academy.