CARIBOU, Maine — The championship portion of the wrestling season begins Saturday for the Caribou Vikings.
Coach James “Chico” Hernandez’s Caribou squad will be at Piscataquis Community High School in Guilford Saturday for the Penobscot Valley Conference championships. The meet begins at 9:30 a.m.
“As we go into the meet, our team still has to work harder, be more consistent, wrestle smarter and most of all believe in themselves,” Hernandez said. “Our team is better and I am really happy and proud of what they have done and all of the hard work they have put in to get this far. Now the real journey starts.”
The Vikings are coming off a successful weekend of competition. Caribou won three of its four matches, beating PCHS, Gardiner and Winslow, while falling only to Erskine Academy.
“Going 3-1 is what I wanted, but I wasn’t quite sure if we would be able to pull off the upset over PCHS,” Hernandez said. “They are a very good team and have been on the rise the last few seasons.”
The Vikings finished with a 9-8 record in dual meets this season.
Rylee Saucier, competing in the 120-pound weight division, went 2-2 but one of the victories was over Gardiner’s Evan Grady by a score of 11-6. Grady entered the match with 21 victories on the season.
“She is at the point of going to the next level,” Hernandez said. “If she can develop more of a consistent mental toughness and learn to wrestle smarter, then she could be a threat down the road to the regionals.”
Angel Riopelle (145 pounds) and Chloe Kirschmann (220) both went 4-0 on the day, while Caleb Robbins (138) went 3-1 and is the team leader in victories with 19. Riopelle, Saucier and Kaden DeMerchant (160) are all tied for second with 18.
Also during the wrestling meet, Caribou’s Matt McCormack scored a technical fall win over Tony Marino of Hall-Dale in the 138-pound division and Tom O’Meara (152) pinned Riley Landry of Winslow.
