The year was filled with a number of memorable sports stories. From Washburn’s Carsyn Koch establishing a national record and getting an Olympic Trials berth to the Caribou boys’ basketball team falling a buzzer-beater short of reaching the Class B North championship, and from a successful inaugural Caribou Marathon to another regional title for coach Roy Alden’s Viking boys cross country team, there were plenty of exciting moments in the world of local sports. A look at a few of them follows:
January
• Brendan Cyr of Caribou earned a spot on the United States Youth World Biathlon Team. He qualified at the team trials held in late December, 2016 in Anchorage, Alaska. An athlete with the Maine Winter Sports Center team, he is a Caribou High School graduate and the son of Kevn and Gail Cyr.
• Senior Donovan Savage hit the game-winning shot as time expired to lift Caribou to a 61-59 home basketball victory over then No. 1 Orono. He also had 30 points in a 60-57 triumph over Mount Desert Island, in a game also played at CHS.
• Caribou’s Parker Deprey and Madison Stratton advanced to the state finals in the Elks Hoop Shoot foul shooting competition by placing first in their respective age divisions at the districts held in Bangor.
• The Caribou varsity cheerleading squad missed out by just 7/10ths of a points in qualifying for the Class B state championships. They came in seventh at the regionals held at the Cross Insurance Center.
• The Fort Fairfield Tigers capped a 10-game winning streak with a 66-57 victory over Washburn behind 23 points from sophomore forward Isaac Cyr.
• Thomas Beckum of Caribou placed first in a pair of competitions at the USA Track and Field New England Indoor Championships, which took place in Providence, R.I. He won the mile and the 800, while his wife, Marie, placed third in the 5,000-meter run at the same event.
February
• Peter Kelley was honored at halftime of Caribou’s home basketball against Presque Isle. Kelley, a Caribou attorney, was recognized for being inducted in both the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame and the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.
• Carlisle completed its first season as a cooperative swimming team. Carlisle has athletes from Caribou, LCS/MSSM and Presque Isle and is coached by Erin Tateishi-Ouellette. Austin Scott placed ninth in the 100 butterfly at the state meet, held in Orono.
• The Caribou boys’ Nordic ski team captured Aroostook League titles in both the classical and freestyle County meets. The Vikings went on to place second at the Class B state championship meet held at Titcomb Mountain in Farmington. Riley McDuffie, Dan Randolph, Alec Cyr and Lukas Lagasse were able to register top-10 performances in their competitions.
• Cory Jandreau, the team’s 132 lb. wrestler, and Izaiah Thayer, in the 220 division, both placed fourth at the Class B North Regional Championships held in Winslow.
• The Caribou Vikings made a great run at the Class B North regional basketball tournament, but lost in overtime to eventual regional champ Ellsworth in the semifinal round as Bryce Harmon’s desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer forced extra time and Bruce St. Peter’s 10-footer as time expired in OT won it. Donovan Savage scored 18 points for Caribou, which had beaten Foxcroft Academy in the prelim round and Washington Academy in the quarters.
The Washburn girls saw their streak of five consecutive gold balls come to an end as they were beaten by Shead of Eastport in the Class D North semifinals. The Beaver boys were also beaten in the semifinals by Easton, while the Fort Fairfield girls lost to PVHS in the semifinals and the Tiger boys fell to Hodgdon in the quarterfinals.
March
• Donovan Savage capped off a solid career for the Caribou boys’ basketball team by being named to the Big East Conference first team. He also was named to the Bangor Daily News all-tournament team for his performance at the Cross Insurance Center during the team’s playoff run. Savage was also selected to play in the McDonald’s Senior All-Star weekend and was a semifinalist for the state’s Mr. Basketball Award. He also made the state’s All-Academic Team and competed in the free throw championships.
• The Caribou grade 4-6 girls’ recreation department basketball team defeated Presque Isle in the finals to win the Aroostook County championship. Ashlyn Bouchard and Salena Savage were both named to the all-tournament team.
• Carsyn Koch set a national record in the 800-meter run at the Div. II Women’s Indoor Track and Field Championships held in Pittsburg, Kan. Koch, a sophomore at Cedarville University in Ohio and a 2014 graduate of Washburn District High School, had a time of 2:15.12 to take first in the event. She is the daughter of Peter and Liane Koch of Wade.
• The LCS/MSSM girls and Washburn boys volleyball teams won their divisions in the Aroostook League volleyball championship tournaments.
• The Aroostook County Snowdogs entered three teams in different divisions of the Special Olympics state basketball tournament and one of them captured a gold medal. Brian Hamel is the coach of the Snowdogs.
• Sister and brother combination Madelyn and Parker Deprey of Caribou claimed state titles in the MRPA/Maine Red Claws Hot Shot Competition held at the Portland Expo.
April
• Fort Fairfield’s Amanda Hotham and Sydney Churchill were among the UMPI women’s basketball players honored by the Association of Division III Independents. Hotham was named to the first team and Churchill to the second team.
• P.J. Gorneault won the overall title at the UMPI Spring Runoff 5K Road Race held at the University of Maine at Presque Isle. Gorneault had a time of 16 minutes and 52 seconds. Marie Beckum of Caribou was the runner-up in the female division.
• Randy Norsworthy resigned as coach of the Washburn boys’ varsity team after nine seasons. Norsworthy’s Beaver teams won at least 14 games in each of his final six seasons and reached the regional championship game in 2015.
• Alec Cyr and Emerson Duplissie-Cyr of Caribou participated in the New England Festival in Bethel and Lance McKenney and Sarah Beaulieu of Fort Fairfield capped off the skiing season at the Eastern HIgh School Championships in Ripton, Vt. McKenney and Caribou’s Brendan Cyr also skied in the United States Ski Association’s Cross Country Junior Nationals in Cable, Wisc.
• Faith Sjoberg, the granddaughter of Carl and Sonja Sjoberg of Caribou, placed fifth nationally in the 10-11 age division in the Elks Hoop Shoot free throw shooting competition held in Chicago.
May
• Carsyn Koch of Washburn, a sophomore at Cedarville University in Ohio, qualified for the U.S. Women’s Olympic Trials thanks to the fastest 800-meter time (2:02.39) in NCAA Div. II women’s outdoor track and field history.
• Austin Findlen’s Black Bear North-Black AAU basketball team won the ninth-grade division of the AAU state championship. Findlen, from New Sweden, is a student at Caribou High School.
• P.J. Gorneault of Caribou took first place in the Sugarloaf Marathon with a time of 2 hours, 35 minutes and 24 seconds. He was just 75 seconds faster than runner-up Jonathan Baker of Cambridge, Mass.
• Caribou native Jillian Flynn, who played four years of hockey at Presque Isle High School as a goaltender, signed a letter of commitment to continue her playing career at Div. I University of Maine at Orono.
• The Caribou varsity track and field teams swept Aroostook League championships in a meet held at Caribou High School. Jonah Daigle of Fort Fairfield won the Emery Plourde Award for being the top scoring male athlete and Tori Koch of Wade, a junior at Presque Isle High School won the Howard Lello Award as the top scoring female in the competition. The Vikings went on to turn in top three placements at the Penobscot Valley Conference championships held in Dover-Foxcroft.
• Caribou sophomore Gabrielle Marquis reached the Round of 16 at the state singles tennis tournament held in Portland and Lewiston. Conner Spencer, Ashley Matlock, Alec Cyr and Ethan Plourde were other Viking players who had qualified for the event.
June
• Diana Trams stepped down after four seasons as head coach of the Washburn girls’ varsity basketball team. The Beavers won state titles in each of her first three seasons at the helm.
• The Caribou boys’ tennis team made it into the Class B regional championships after knocking off No. 1 John Bapst in the semifinals. The Viking girls were the top seed but were upset by Camden Hills in the semifinal round.
• Carsyn Koch won the 800-meter run at the NCAA Div. II Outdoor Track and Field Championships held in Bradenton, Fla. Her time was 2:03.48.
• Thomas Beckum ranked first in the United States in the master’s category in the steeplechase after his performance at Bentley University in Waltham, Mass. He qualified for the USATF National Championships in Michigan.
• Fort Fairfield was beaten by Penobscot Valley High School in the Class D North regional championship baseball game by a score of 3-2. The Tigers, coached by John Ala, had beaten Bangor Christian and Hodgdon to reach the title game.
• P.J. Gorneault of Caribou, with a time of 15:53.7, and Gabrielle Wheeler of New Sweden, at 19:21, placed first at the S.W. Collins 5K Road Race held in Caribou.
• Caribou softball coach Ryan Deprey, Caribou cheering coach Brandi Makepeace-Cote, Fort Fairfield soccer coach Tom Towle and Fort Fairfield cross country ski coach Paul Lamoreau and Fort Fairfield cheering coach Rachel Emery all stepped down from their positions.
July
• Inducted into the Fort Fairfield High School Athletic Hall of Fame were Clarence “Chub” Clark, Wilbur “Biff” Cyr, Timothy Doak, Devin Jewett, Kelly Koziol, Shawn Rogers, Jessie Giggey Thompson and Tony Ugone.
• Betty Deveau of Caribou won the women’s division of the Cary Classic Benefit Golf Tournament, while Ralph Michaud defeated Randy Hebert in a one-hole playoff to claim the men’s title.
• Machias Savings Bank downed Police, two games to one, to win the Caribou Little League playoff championship.
August
• For the 34th consecutive year, the Caribou Parks and Recreation Department tennis team captured the Aroostook County championship. The Caribou squad, coached by John Habeeb, dominated the doubles tourney held in Caribou and the singles event held in Presque Isle.
• Eric McGough was named the athletic director at Limestone Community School, Jocelyn MacDonald the girls’ soccer coach at Fort Fairfield and Michael Hartford the boys’ basketball coach at Washburn.
• Union 122 took the title in the Northern Maine Community Recreation Association 13-15 year-old baseball tournament. The team beat Cushman’s of Presque Isle, 8-2, in the finals behind a complete-game pitching performance by Austin Findlen.
• Marie Beckum of Caribou won the women’s division of the Mars Hill Mountain Challenge adventure obstacle race, while Bryce Coffin of Stockholm was first in the 29-and-under men’s division.
September
• Evan Graves and Marie Beckum were the winners of the Caribou Labor Day 8K Road Race. One hundred and twenty five young runners took part in the annual AFSL Viking Run earlier in the day.
• Erik McCarthy of Old Town (2:36:05.6) and Tracy Guerrette of St. Agatha (3:03:24.6) ran to overall titles in the first Caribou Marathon. Curtis Wheeler of New Sweden won the men’s half marathon and Stephanie Graves of Presque Isle was the women’s winner.
• Nine-year-old Michael Bruce of Fort Fairfield qualified for the Drive, Chip and Putt nationals to be held in Augusta, Ga. in April 2017 during Masters weekend. He won the regional held at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. after winning state and sub-regional titles earlier in the summer. He is the son of James and Melissa Bruce.
October
• Dylan Marrero and Evan Desmond led the Viking boys to the Aroostook League cross country championship, while Madeline Gudde and Ashley Violette were the Caribou girls’ top finishers en route to the team title. The Caribou boys also won the Penobscot Valley Conference championship meet held in Old Town, marking the team’s fifth consecutive league crown, and then won the Class B regionals in Belfast. The Caribou girls had a strong third-place finish in the regionals.
• Jon Bernard of Fort Fairfield placed eighth in the Class C individual state golf tournament with a score of 84. Sadie and Sara Edgecomb played in the girls’ state tourney.
• Kearstin Coty of Caribou advanced to the New England championships in the Elks Soccer shoot. She took first in the 12-13 girls’ division at the state finals held in Augusta.
• The Caribou girls lost to Presque Isle, 4-1, in the quarterfinals of the Class B North soccer tournament. Alexis Rodriguez scored the goal for the Vikings, which finished the season with an 11-4-1 record. The Vikings’ leading scorer on the season, junior Searra Herbert, suffered a torn ACL in the team’s prelim victory over Gardiner.
• Tyler Putnam, a former Hodgdon High School basketball standout, was hired to replace Diana Trams as coach of the Washburn girls’ varsity basketball team. Ben Arsenault was chosen as the new boys’ coach at LCS/MSSM, replacing Brian Massey.
November
• Fort Fairfield lost to Bangor Christian, 3-0, in the Class D North boys’ championship soccer game held in Fort Fairfield. The loss spoiled the chance for the Tigers to collect back-to-back state titles.
• Evan Desmond of Caribou won the Turkey Trot 5K road race held Thanksgiving weekend on an out-and-back course beginning at Caribou High School.
December
• Caribou’s Maddie Doucette and Andre Rossignol were selected as all-state soccer players by the Maine Soccer Coaches and honored at a banquet held in Bangor.
• The Viking varsity basketball team, which did not return a starter from last year’s team that reached the semifinals, was a surprise as it began the season with two wins in the first three games behind freshmen Alex Bouchard and Parker Deprey, who were the leading scorers in those three early-season contests.
• The Caribou girls and boys Nordic ski teams opened the season with victories in their first two meets held in Madawaska and Presque Isle, respectively.
