Sports Reporter
BELFAST – The boys’ race featured 47 teams and nearly 570 individual competitors for three separate events (freshman race, unseeded race and seeded race), and the girls’ race had 36 teams and close to 444 runners.
Contributed photo/Laurie SheehanTimothy Freme of the Caribou Vikings, left, runs stride for stride with Waterville’s Jeff Hale, as Freme’s father, Bruce, looks on during Saturday’s Festival of Champions cross country race in Belfast. Freme finished 34th overall at 17:27.9 and beat out Hale by less than a second. The Vikings as a team took ninth place overall out of 47 total schools.
The Festival of Champions cross country event in Belfast Saturday was indeed the largest any of the local teams will compete in this season, and both Caribou teams proved they are getting ready for the championship portion of their schedule.
The Caribou boys ran to a ninth-place finish and the girls placed 16th.
“To compete in a race with that many runners is a unique experience,” said Caribou boys coach Roy Alden. “The quality of the competition was excellent. It was an exciting experience for our team.”
Christian Sleeper led the Vikes by coming in 31st overall on the 3.1-mile course in 17 minutes, 24.8 seconds. Teammate Timothy Freme was close behind in 34th position (17:27.9). D.J. Flynn was 58th (17:52.9) and Finn Bondeson 60th (17:54.8). Jake Michaud took the 107th slot in 18:34.3 to close out Caribou’s scoring.
“We were a little off our best and in a big event like this, a few places can be a lot of places and points,” Alden said. “We are used to finishing a little better than ninth, even in a field this big.
“Hopefully, this will provide the motivation we need to take it to the next level as we move toward the championship part of the season.”
Alden was especially pleased with the performance of Robbie Kiehn, who ran 20 seconds faster than he did the previous weekend in Old Town. Kiehn received an award for finishing in the top 10 in the unseeded race.gives us an indication of where we are at this point of the season.
The Caribou girls finished 16th in the team rankings and were led by Dayna Michaud, who was 31st in 21:06.9. Mary Jo Sheehan took 42nd in 21:18.5, followed by Katie Plourde, who was 116th in 22:31, and Kendra Stephens, 121st in 22:34.6.
Scarborough edged J.H. Gillis of Canada for the team victory in the boys’ race, with Edward Little of Auburn taking third place. Cheverus of Portland was the girls’ team champion, followed by John Bapst and Gorham. The individual winners were Will Geoghegan of Brunswick in 15:33 and Emily Durgin of Cheverus in 18:34.2.
The next meet is the Aroostook League All-Star competition in Limestone Friday at 3:30. Following that race is the Penobscot Valley Conference championship Oct. 17 in Bangor, hosted by John Bapst, the Eastern Maine meet in Belfast Oct. 24 and the state meet at Twin Brooks in Cumberland Oct. 31.
Contributed photo/Laurie Sheehan
Caribou’s Katie Plourde stays ahead of a large group of runners taking part in Saturday’s Festival of Champions cross country meet, held in Belfast. Caribou finished 16th out of 36 teams. The Vikings will next race in Limestone Friday.
