CARIBOU, Maine — Four Caribou Viking wrestlers are headed to the Class B state championship in Freyburg on Feb. 15 following their performance during Saturday’s regional tournament held at Caribou High School.
State qualifying wrestlers were Angel Riopelle, who went 2-2 and placed fourth in the 138 pound weight class, Seth Lister, who went 3-2 and placed fourth in the 160 pound weight class, Kaden DeMerchant, who went 2-1 and placed third, and Thomas O’Meara, who went 2-2 and placed fourth.
“The kids wrestled the best that I have seen in the last three meets,” coach Thomas Beckum said. “We had three major upsets for us to qualify for the state meet.”
Beckum said key victories that led to this placement were Lister beating Lucas Theriault of Fort Kent for the first time in the season, O’Meara beating Everett Huckins of Ellsworth for the first time in the season and Kaden DeMerchant pinning Logan Perkins of Dexter, last week’s PVC champion.
Caribou placed eighth overall and Beckum said he was pleased with the performance during the Saturday’s tournament.
“This is the best the Caribou wrestling team has done since 2014 and every wrestler is returning next year,” he said. “I am extremely proud of how the team believed in each other and their confidence going into the regional meet. Every wrestler went to the mat and gave it their all.”
Belfast won the Class B North title with 174.5 points. Dexter, the reigning Penobscot Valley Conference champion, scored 156 points to edge Mattanawcook Academy/Lee Academy by six points for second place. Foxcroft Academy of Dover-Foxcroft was fourth with 131 points with Bucksport (64.5) rounding out the top five.
Other schools in the field were Piscataquis of Guilford (56), Ellsworth (53), Caribou (44), Fort Kent (40), Penobscot Valley of Howland (31), John Bapst of Bangor (26), Mount Desert Island of Bar Harbor (25), Washington Academy of East Machias (24), Old Town (22), Calais (15), Woodland (2) and Sumner of East Sullivan (no score).
