By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
BAR HARBOR — Several cross country teams from throughout the state, including Class B Aroostook County squads Caribou and Presque Isle, began their campaign Saturday with an exhibition meet hosted by Mount Desert Island High School.
The annual event is unique and features individual races along with girls, boys and mixed relay competitions.
The defending state champion Viking boys had a strong start to their season by beating eight other schools en route to the boys’ title in the open race.
In the 118-runner field, Caribou featured eight runners among the top 20 on the 1.77-mile course. Leading the way was Viking senior Caleb Chapman, who was third with a time of 9:40. He trailed only meet winner Dan Curts of Ellsworth (9:17) and Presque Isle’s Matt Eager (9:35).
Also for the Vikings, junior Ron Lund was fifth overall at 9:52. Senior Jesse Sandstrom placed seventh in 9:54 and sophomore Ryan Washington eighth in 9:57. Kjetil Rossignol, another senior, placed 15th in 10:17 and sophomore Lucas Kinney claimed the 16th position in 10:22. Senior Josh Kovach came in 18th in 10:31 and junior Brendan Wood was 19th in 10:33.
For the Wildcats, Eager was followed by junior Jon Rochester, who was 23rd in 10:47. Trevor Levesque, a sophomore, was 34th in 11:02 and junior Joel Shay 38th in 11:11. Frank Nunez was the fifth PI runner to finish, coming across the line in 11:22, which was good for 43rd position overall.
Caribou won with 38 points, followed by York with 74. Ellsworth (85) and John Bapst (87) were third and fourth, respectively. Presque Isle took fifth with 126 points. Bangor Christian, MDI, Hermon and Bucksport were the other teams taking part.
“The boys worked hard, took it seriously and are off to a good start,” said Caribou coach Roy Alden. The veteran coach noted that York should be one of the top teams in Western Maine. He said York opted to save their top runners for the relay portion of the meet, held on a longer course (1.81 miles), which accounted for the disparity in the team scores in the open meet.
“We looked at it as a training day, and I had all the experienced runners do two races.”
York had the top two relay teams on the boys’ side, while Caribou followed with the third- and fourth-place squads. The Vikings’ A team of Sandstrom, Lund and Washington combined for a 32:09 showing and the B team of Kovach, Kinney and Rossignol came in at 33:30.
Presque Isle’s A team was sixth behind Saul Nunez, Mike Donovan and Matt Tilley. Their time was 35:21. The B team for the Wildcats was 10th in 37:15. That unit included Matt Burtt, Brandon Marcos and Noah Rossignol.
The Caribou girls finished a strong third out of eight teams in their opening race. First-place MDI and second-place John Bapst dominated the top 10 individually, but Caribou still had five runners in the top 18 to finish with 68 points.
Freshman Kristin Macek was 10th in 12:28, classmate Robyn Larrabee 12th in 12:30 and senior Kelly Kashian 13th in 12:31. Nerissa Larrabee, also a freshman, was 15th in 12:34 and senior Natasha Bishop came in 18th in 12:47. Katherine Page (22nd) and Rena Dube (24th) were other top runners for Caribou.
“I was really impressed with how the girls ran as a tight group,” said Viking girls coach Thomas Beckum. “We have been working on staying as close as possible and running with each other.”
Ninety runners participated, with host MDI winning with 38 and the Crusaders just two points back with 40.
For Presque Isle, Bonnie Corey was the first team member to finish. She clocked the course in 14:12, good for 36th place. Amanda Bennett was 47th in 14:34, Lauren Schiff 54th in 15:03 and Samantha Simonds 56th in 15:06 for the Wildcats, who placed sixth out of eight teams.
Caribou had the fourth-place girls relay team. Chelsea Bard, Katie Plourde and Ashley Richards combined for a time of 39:55. PI’s Schiff, Lydia Short and Shannon Sweeney posted a time of 55:54, which placed the Wildcats 11th.
A mixed relay was also held on the 1.81-mile course. Caribou’s duo of Chapman and Mackenzie Belyea was second only to Ellsworth’s Aleta Looker and Dan Curts. The Viking pair registered a time of 22:08.
PI’s mixed team of Jacob Towle and Bennett was ninth in 29:32 and the Wildcat combination of Mitchell Bennett and Simonds was 10th in 29:55.
The next cross country race is the Ellsworth Invitational slated for Saturday beginning at 11 a.m.
