HOULTON, Maine — The Caribou cross country teams claimed supremacy in the region by winning Aroostook League titles in a meet held Friday in Houlton.
The Viking boys scored 33 points to win easily over runner-up Presque Isle, which posted 59 points. GHCA had 85, LCS/MSSM 89, Fort Kent 114 and Houlton 124.
The Caribou girls totaled 41 points and finished ahead of second-place GHCA by a margin of 12. LCS/MSSM registered a score of 73 to take third, while Presque Isle (85), Houlton (131) and Fort Kent (150) also competed.
Washburn runners also participated, but due to a lack of runners didn’t figure in the team results.
The Caribou boys had five runners in the overall top 13, led by Dylan Marrero and Evan Desmond, who were second and third, respectively. Marrero crossed the finish line in 17:54.2 and Desmond came in at 18:28.4.
Alec Cyr was eighth in 19:09.3, Bryce Coffin took 12th in 19:40.5 and Kyle Boucher was 13th in 19:49.4.
James Cyr of LCS/MSSM tied Hodgdon’s Joel Bond for fourth in 18:34.8. Devon Maynard led the Beavers by taking ninth in 19:20.4.
The race winner was Houlton’s Isaiah Brown in 17:31.9.
In the girls race, Viking teammates Madeline Gudde and Ashley Violette were fifth and sixth, respectively. Gudde’s time was 21:52.2, while Violette followed in 22:00.6.
Finishing in succession just out of the top 10 were Caribou teammates Katrina Salch (22:29.7), Emily Austin (22:32.7) and Sarae Greenier (22:59.7). They claimed the 11th through 13th slots.
“The girls trained through the meet to fine tune themselves for the upcoming PVC and Eastern Maine Championships,” said Thomas Beckum, the Viking girls’ coach, noting Gudde came through with an outstanding performance. “The [team] has done an excellent job this year running as a pack in races.”
Leading Washburn was Kassandra Farley, eighth in 22:12.9. For LCS/MSSM, Hannah Nelson came in 10th in 22:16.6.
The race winner was GHCA freshman Teagan Ewings in 21:13.2.
Washburn hosts other Class C Aroostook County schools in a meet this afternoon beginning at 3:30 p.m. Caribou competes in the Penobscot Valley Conference championships Saturday at Old Town High School. The boys are aiming for their fifth consecutive PVC title and coach Roy Alden feels the team will be ready.
“PVCs should be very competitive for the Class B schools,” Alden said. “We will need to all race extremely well, but we are excited and should be rested and feeling great.
“The key will be if our 3, 4 and 5 runners can close the gap between them and Dylan and Evan,” he added.
