BELFAST, Maine — It was a tough ending to an otherwise successful season for the Caribou boys’ cross country team.
The Vikings, who took first place in both the Penobscot Valley Conference and Class B North regional championships, slipped on Saturday at the state meet, taking 12th place out of 16 teams.
“We certainly didn’t have our best day when it mattered the most,” said Caribou coach Roy Alden. “The level of competition was excellent, but we had a wide starting box and got out behind, and there were too many people to get by.”
Caribou’s top runner was junior Evan Desmond, who was 42nd overall in 17 minutes and 58.03 seconds. Sophomore Dylan Marrero was 51st in 18:07.94 and Alec Cyr, a junior, 55th in 18:15.65.
Bryce Coffin and Kyle Boucher were 73rd and 74th, respectively, as the other Viking scorers.
Caribou posted 269 points. Waterville, John Bapst and Camden Hills, teams the Vikings had beaten at last weekend’s regionals, finished ahead of them. Greely came in first with 66 points and Wells was next with 81.
“One race doesn’t take away from the outstanding season they have had,” Alden added. “This is a group that made the most of their talents and really understood the importance of being a team. I am extremely proud of them and they showed tremendous heart all season long.”
With 214 points, the Caribou girls took ninth place out of 13 teams after claiming third place the previous weekend at ‘B’ regionals.
The Vikings were led by senior Simone Michaud, who was 38th in 20:55.65. Freshman Katrina Salch was 42nd in 21:04.55 and sophomore Ashley Violette 49th in 21:29.78.
Sarae Greenier was 52nd and Madeline Gudde 67th as the other scoring runners for coach Thomas Beckum’s squad.
Greely took first place in the team results with 71 points, followed by Yarmouth in second with 82.
The LCS/MSSM girls took ninth place out of 10 teams in Class C, tallying 217 points. The Eagles were paced by Hannah Nelson and Naomi Kihn, who were less than two seconds apart in completing the course in the 40th and 41st positions. Nelson’s time was 22:14.44 and Kihn’s was 22:16.11.
Allison Johnson was the team’s third runner, coming across in 23:09.58, good for 54th place. Bailey Chalmers (65th) and Charlotte McCulloh (75th) were the other scorers.
George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill was the top team with 52 points and the runner-up was Orono with 61.
Kassandra Farley of Washburn competed individually after having qualified last weekend. She placed 26th in 21:19.25.
On the boys’ side, the Eagles’ James Cyr was 34th in 18:23.54 and the Beavers’ Devon Maynard was 57th with a time of 19:16.02.
