BELFAST, Maine — Derek Baker of the Washburn Beavers placed 113th out of a field of 866 boys competing in Saturday’s Festival of Champions cross country meet. His time led the way among runners from the region competing in the state’s biggest meet of the fall.
Baker had an impressive time of 18 minutes and 4.19 seconds on the five-kilometer course.
Sam Nishi of Hardwood Union in Vermont was the individual champion in 15:50.48 and Cumberland, R.I. took the team championship with a low score of 135, finishing just ahead of Western Maine programs Scarborough (144) and Falmouth (148).
Out of the 65 teams competing, Caribou was 29th with 134 points and Washburn 58th with 1,528.
The Vikings’ top performer was Caleb Hunter, who was 146th in 18:21.82. Teammate Daniel Randolph was 150th in 18:22.7 and Elijah Verhoff 203rd in 18:48.32. Also in the team’s top five were Lukas Lagasse, 212th in 18:51.05, and Mitchell St. Peter, 224th in 18:53.92.
Also for the Beavers, Devon Maynard came in 321st in 19:29.42, while Michael Ericson was 474th in 20:32.95.
In the girls’ race, which featured 693 finishers, the Larrabee twins of Caribou were solid. Robyn was 123rd overall in 21:52.41 and Nerissa just over two seconds back and in 128th in 21:54.26.
The individual champion was Amy Laverly of Cumberland, R.I. in 19:01.02. The top team was Cape Elizabeth with 137 points, with Class C Orono the runner-up with 166 and Falmouth in third with 175.
Mackenzie Worcester of Washburn also cracked the top 100 as she placed 97th in 21:28.47. Her Beaver teammate, Emilia Churchill, was 121st in 21:52.06.
Also for Caribou, Adessa Judd was 186th in 22:32.72 and Madeline Gudde 193rd in 22:40.13. Chelsea Haney came in 196th in 22:41.36 and Lauren Chapman 223rd in 22:54.32.
In the team scores, Caribou was 27th out of 58 teams with 746 points and Washburn came in 38th with 1,007 points.
On Friday, Caribou makes the trip to Hermon for the annual Pendale Invitational Meet, which starts at 4 p.m. Today, Washburn will host fellow Class C Aroostook County teams Houlton, GHCA, Fort Kent and Limestone-MSSM for a meet beginning at 3:30 p.m.
