Editor’s Note: The following is the first of two articles highlighting some of the top sports stories from 2017. This article highlights the events from January to June. The second half of the year will be featured during the week of Jan. 3 on our website.
January
The Caribou High School Nordic ski teams dominated meets throughout the month against their fellow Aroostook County squads. Both the girls and boys turned in many solid performances, led by Bryce Coffin and Alec Cyr on the boys’ side and Kendra Furber and Ciara Richards for the girls.
The Fort Fairfield Tigers won their ninth consecutive game to stay atop the Class C North division. Coach Logan McLaughlin’s team finished the month with an 11-1 record.
Caribou hosted a large wrestling meet and juniors Cory Jandreau and Evan Michaud of the Vikings were among the meet standouts. Jandreau, in the 132 lb. division, came in first place, while Michaud, competing in the 126 lb. class, was the runner-up.
Caribou’s Wesley LaPointe and Washburn’s Brayden Castonguay advanced to the state finals of the Elks Hoop Shoot free throw contest. Representing Presque Isle Lodge 1954, both won the district championship held in Bangor, with LaPointe going 19 for 25 in the 10-11 age group and Castonguay making 20 of 25 in the 12-13 division.
Varsity cheerleading squads gathered in Caribou for the Aroostook League Championships. Houlton took first place, Presque Isle came in second and Central Aroostook was third. Hannah McDonald and Erin Jandreau of the host Vikings garnered All-Aroostook honors. At the Penobscot Valley Conference championships, also in Caribou, Hermon was the overall champion out of eight teams. The Big East Conference championships were held at Mount Desert Island High School and Hermon was the winner.
February
The Viking ski squads continued their excellent season in postseason meets. They each captured Aroostook League championships by sweeping the classical and freestyle championship events. Bryce Coffin and Erin Kashian were Caribou’s top skiers at the classical meet held in Presque Isle as both placed third overall. At the freestyle meet, Kendra Furber paced the Viking girls by taking fourth place and Alec Cyr was tops for the Caribou boys with a third-place finish.
Brayden Castonguay of Washburn won the Elks Hoop Shoot state championship in the 12-13 year-old age group at Bath Middle School. He connected on 21 of 25 shots to also take the Amos McCallum Award for being the boy with the highest overall score.
Former Fort Fairfield High School standout Amanda Hotham reached the 1,000-point mark for the UMPI women’s basketball team during a 72-34 win over Pratt University in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Nate Gere of MSSM came in fifth in the 100 butterfly and seventh in the 100 freestyle for Carlisle at the PVC championships held in Bangor.
The Caribou girls’ and boys’ varsity basketball teams failed to qualify for the Class B playoffs. Both teams finished with identical 4-14 records. The Washburn girls and the Fort Fairfield girls and boys all earned spots in the postseason.
At the tourney, the Washburn girls pulled off an upset over Central Aroostook, while the Fort Fairfield boys won their quarterfinal matchup over PCHS. The Tiger girls were eliminated by Woodland in the preliminary round of the Class D playoffs.
Cory Jandreau completed a successful wrestling season for the Caribou Vikings by placing fifth at the Class B state meet held in Bucksport. He came in third at the PVC championships and fourth in the regionals. Jandreau racked up 25 wins during his junior year under coach James “Chico” Hernandez.
March
The Caribou girls and boys Nordic ski teams both placed fourth at the Class B state meet held at Sugarloaf. Alec Cyr registered a ninth-place finish in the boys’ freestyle race for the top individual performance among Viking skiers.
Stockholm native and 2014 Olympic skier Russell Currier won the sprint race at the United States Biathlon Association national championships held in Jericho, Vermont.
The Caribou girls and boys recreation department basketball teams won Northern Maine Community Recreation Association tournaments held in Presque Isle and Caribou, respectively.
The Aroostook County Snowdogs, a Special Olympics basketball team, captured the Div. I state title at a tournament held in Gorham. The team competing in Div. II came in fourth and another in Div. III came in fifth. The teams are coached by Brian Hamel.
The LCS/MSSM boys’ basketball team was awarded the Maine Principals’ Association Good Sportsmanship Award for Class C North. Ben Arsenault coached the squad.
The Presque Isle and Fort Fairfield boys and Madawaska and Easton girls earned Aroostook League volleyball titles during tourneys held throughout the region.
Chris Giberson of the Fort Fairfield Tigers was selected to play in the McDonald’s Senior All-Star Game in Bangor. His Fort Fairfield squad made it all the way to the Class C North championship game but lost to George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill, 59-45. The Washburn girls fell in the semifinal round to Shead of Eastport, 51-29.
Madelyn Wing of the Carlisle swim team placed eighth in the 500 freestyle and 12th in the 200 freestyle at the Class A state swim championships held at Bowdoin College in Brunswick.
April
Fort Fairfield 9-year-old Michael Bruce came in third in the nation in his age group in putting at the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals held during Masters weekend in Augusta, Georgia.
The Caribou Middle School wrestling team took second place at a tournament held in Howland. Under coach Thomas Beckum, the squad had three wrestlers capture individual titles. They were Ashton Beauchamp, Brannon Hall and Angel Riopelle.
Caribou High School Athletic Director David Wakana received the Special Achievement Award from the Aroostook League at the Maine Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association spring conference in Rockport.
The Dream Team won the Men’s Basketball League championship for the third consecutive year, defeated Loring Job Corps in the finals, 60-50, behind Greg Whitaker’s 20 points.
Fort Fairfield native Lance McKenney enjoyed a successful competitive ski season. He made the United States Junior World Nordic Championship Team in the U20 age group. At the Junior Worlds in Soldier Hollow, Utah, he placed 20th overall in the classic sprints. He is a 2016 graduate of FFHS.
Caribou’s P.J. Gorneault and Marie Beckum were the overall winners of the UMPI Spring Runoff 5K Road Race held at the University of Maine at Presque Isle.
Howard Lello, who contributed to athletics in the community of Limestone from 1948 until his passing in 2012, was named one of the inductees into the Maine Sports Legends Hall of Honors.
Siblings Nick and Carmen Bragg of Washburn were both named United States Collegiate Athletic Association All-Americans. Both are students at the University of Maine at Augusta and played on the Moose basketball teams.
May
The Caribou girls and boys tennis teams finished the regular season with undefeated records. The girls entered as the No. 2 seed in Class B North, while the boys were ranked No. 1. The girls won all 12 of their matches by scores of 5-0.
The Viking girls’ track and field team placed second at the Penobscot Valley Conference Small School Championships held in Dover-Foxcroft, while the boys came in third place in the standings. Freshman Paige Espling took first place in the high jump for the girls and Evan Michaud, a junior, was first in the pole vault for the boys. The squads were victorious in the Aroostook League championships held in Presque Isle. Jonah Daigle of Fort Fairfield was the boys’ overall points leader after taking first place in four events.
Kelly Nicklaus of Caribou was a key player in last spring’s undefeated regular season and run to the Class B state runners-up in girls’ tennis. (File photo)
Washburn native Carsyn Koch won another national championship. The Cedarville University junior won the 800-meter race at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships in Bradenton, Florida with a time of 2 minutes and 5.21 seconds. She was named the conference’s female athlete of the year.
The Caribou Middle School track and field teams both won Aroostook League championships by sweeping a meet held at Caribou High School.
The Fort Fairfield baseball teams completed the month with a 12-0 record, putting them near the top of the Class D North rankings. Coach John Ala serves as the team’s head coach.
June
The Caribou softball team, under first-year head coach Kayla Richards, need a win over Presque Isle in the regular season finale to secure a playoff berth in Class B North. The Vikings won six of their last eight games to reach the postseason. They ended up losing to Medomak Valley of Waldoboro in the preliminary playoffs.
The Maine Lumberjacks’ 12-year-old and under girls’ basketball team took first place out of 12 team in the Zero Gravity National Finals held in Boston. The team includes three players from Caribou — Ashlyn Bouchard, Anna Jandreau and Salena Savage — along with Fort Fairfield’s Camryn Ala.
The Caribou Vikings’ girls tennis team lost to Greely of Cumberland in the Class B state championship by a score of 3-2. Singles player Kelly Nicklaus and the doubles team of Danielle Hanson and Ciara Richards posted victories for coach John Habeeb’s Vikings.
The Fort Fairfield Tigers’ baseball team beat PVHS in the quarterfinals and Hodgdon in the semifinals before losing to Bangor Christian in the Class D North regional championship game by a score of 9-3.
Maddie Doucette and Bryce Coffin were named outstanding senior athletes during Caribou High School’s spring sports awards night. Doucette played soccer, basketball and softball, while Coffin participated in cross country running, Nordic skiing and track and field. At Limestone, Travis Hatfield and Sierra Dann were named the recipients of the Pet Thornton/Howard Lello outstanding senior athlete awards.
Ryan Deprey and Tyler Putnam both resigned their girls’ varsity basketball coaching positions. Deprey coached the Caribou Vikings for seven seasons, while Putnam was with the Washburn girls for only one season. Kayla Richards was tabbed as Deprey’s replacement.
Evan Graves and Marie Beckum were the winners of the S.W. Collins 5K Road Race held in Caribou. A field of 46 runners participated in the third County Challenge Series race of the year.
