The Caribou girls cross country team just may be peaking at the right time.
Caribou runners, from left, Hannah Saunders, Mary Jo Sheehan and Dayna Michaud lead a large pack of runners from the starting line during Saturday’s meet in Belfast. Sheehan was seventh and Michaud was 18th in the overall standings.
The Lady Vikes made the trip to Belfast Saturday for the Maine Cross Country Festival of Champions, and finished eighth overall out of 47 teams.
Caribou also received a brilliant performance from sophomore Mary Jo Sheehan, who placed seventh in 20:17.7. Teammate Dayna Michaud was a very solid 18th in 20:46.3.
“Everyone ran a really good race,” said Caribou coach Thomas Beckum. “Everyone ran their best time or close to it.”
Hannah Saunders, the Lady Vikes’ No. 1 runner, had missed the last several meets with a hip injury and attemped to run at Belfast, but dropped out at around the midway point.
“We thought it’d be a good chance to test it,” Beckum said. “The trainer okayed it and we tried her, but told her if she felt anything to stop running.
“Hopefully with some daily physical therapy and some running here and there, we can get her healthy for the Eastern Maine and state meets.”
That made Caribou’s performance even more impressive.
“Our freshmen are really stepping up,” said Beckum, noting Katelynn Plourde managed a 66th place finish out of nearly 700 runners and Ashley Clark was 80th.
The Caribou boys went down to defeat for the first time all season, placing 23rd. The Vikes were without some of their top runners, including Jesse Stephens, Tim Freme and Finn Bondeson.
Steve Melbourne was 34th in 17:52.9 and Christian Sleeper was 51st in 18:08.3 to pace Caribou.
At Old Town last Tuesday, Sleeper led wire to wire as Caribou defeated six other teams in the 59th Sectional Invitational Meet. Sleeper’s winning time was 17:41.09 on the five-kilometer course.
Stephens, back from an injury that had sidelined him the past four weeks, was fourth overall in 18:07.81 and Melbourne was fifth in 18:16.3.
Robbie Kiehn had a great race for the Vikings, according to coach Roy Alden, passing six people down the stretch to place among Caribou’s top five. He was 22nd overall.
In the girls’ competition, Caribou placed second only to Mount Desert Island. Michaud placed third in 20:47.45 and Sheehan took fourth in 20:50.76.
The next race is the Pendale Invitational in Hermon Friday afternoon. It is the final regular season event before the championship portion of the schedule begins with the Penobscot Valley Conference Championships Oct. 18, hosted by John Bapst.
