OLD TOWN, Maine — The Viking cross country teams placed second at the 66th annual Old Town Sectional Invitational, held Saturday.
The Caribou girls and boys both were second to the victorious Orono Red Riots. In the girls’ results, Orono cruised with 17 points, with Caribou next with 92 and Mount Desert Island a close third with 98. Washburn was ninth with 174 points.
The race winner was Tia Tardy of Orono in a time of 18:04.97 – a course record. Tardy had set the previous best of 19:19.24 last year as a member of the Mattanawcook Academy Lynx.
Orono also featured four of the next five fastest runners.
The Vikings received a ninth-place performance from Julia Page, whose time was 20:19.89. Teammate Simone Michaud was 19th in 21:28.79 and fellow Viking Anya O’Meara took 21st in 21:39.9. Madeline Gudde and Emma Belyea were 23rd and 24th, respectively, both less than 12 seconds behind O’Meara.
Washburn’s top effort was recorded by Emilia Churchill, who was 17th in 21:18.59. A total of 58 female runners competed.
For the boys, the Red Riots won with 26 points, with Caribou following with 38. The host Coyotes were third with 98. The Washburn boys came in seventh with 194 points.
Taking first place was Matt Keresey of Orono in 16:25.89. He also established a course record. With four other Red Riots in the top 12, they were able to hold off the Vikes for the team championship.
Caribou’s Chathu Karunasiri was the runner-up in 16:46.76 and teammate Evan Desmond was fifth in 16:54.09. Caleb Hunter came in 11th in 17:18.64 and Daniel Randolph 13th in 17:29.31 to help the Vikes’ effort. Tsion MacLeod was the other Viking scorer, taking 15th overall out of 70 competitors.
Derek Baker had a strong race for Washburn, coming in 10th place in 17:16.78.
Other teams participating were Foxcroft Academy, John Bapst, Central of East Corinth, Hermon, Mattanawcook and Presque Isle.
The next event is Saturday’s Festival of Champions in Belfast.
