Festival of Champions held in Belfast on Saturday
It’s a cross country competition runners and their families gear up for every year. The Festival of Champions was held Saturday in Belfast and runners from both Caribou and Washburn once again were able to experience being part of an event that included over 650 female and 850 male competitors.
In the seeded race, which included 58 girls’ and 61 boys’ squads from as far away as Rhode Island and Prince Edward Island, Caribou placed a respectable 24th. Madeline Gudde led the Vikes by placing 112th in 21:28.03, while teammate Katrina Salch was 118th in 21:33.59. Ashley Violette was the third Caribou runner to cross the finish line, recording at time of 21:40.47, which was good for 131st overall.
Kassandra Farley of the Washburn Beavers came in 114th in 21:03.02.
The race winner was Tia Tardy of Mount Desert Island, whose time was 18:32.71. Cumberland High School of Rhode Island was the team champion.
For the boys, the Vikings were led by Dylan Marrero, whose time of 17:41.44 was good for 78th in the standings. Teammate Evan Desmond took the 102nd position in 17:54.08. Alec Cyr was 204th in 18:51.87. Caribou was 34th in the team results.
Washburn’s best time was turned in by Devon Maynard, who was 299th with a 19:27.99 clocking.
Winning was Luke Laverdiere of Yarmouth in 15:33.84. The team champion on the boys’ side was Falmouth.
In the unseeded girls race, Caribou’s Emma Belyea came in third place out of 290 runners in 22:28.9. The fastest for the Vikings in the freshmen race was Danielle Cyr, who was 64th in 23:56.86.
Calvin Mokler of the Vikings was 94th in the unseeded boys race in 20:24.69 and teammate John O’Meara was 75th in the freshmen race in 20:34.35.
Aroostook County teams will make the trip to Houlton Friday for the All-Aroostook Selection race, which begins at 3:30 p.m.
