Sports Reporter
PRESQUE ISLE – Unseasonably warm temperatures greeted cross country runners Saturday at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, with teams from John Bapst, Mount Desert Island, Hermon, Old Town and Ellsworth joining local squads Presque Isle and Caribou and individual runners from other area schools for an invitational meet.
It was another quality showing by the Aroostook County teams, with the Caribou Vikings winning the boys’ meet and placing third in the girls’ meet, and the Presque Isle Wildcats taking third place in the boys’ competition and fourth among girls.
Both teams will join runners from local schools such as Fort Kent, Limestone-MSSM and Greater Houlton Christian Academy at an Aroostook League meet to be held under the lights Friday at Caribou High School. The meet is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
In the most recent meet, the Caribou boys had four runners within 20 seconds of each other in the front of the lead pack, with No. 5 runner Jacob Michaud just four slots back, as the Vikings tallied 22 points to take first place in the team standings.
Christian Sleeper was third overall in 18:15 and led the Vikings, while right behind him were Timothy Freme (18:23), Finn Bondeson (18:27) and D. J. Flynn (18:35) in consecutive order. Michaud was 10th overall in 19:21.
Coach Roy Alden was pleased with how Michaud bounced back to run a strong race after finishing 22nd at the Ellsworth Invitational the previous weekend.
Robbie Kiehn (18th, 20:14) and Jesse Sandstrom (29th, 22:11) were Caribou’s other varsity runners.
“Hopefully the next few weeks we can remain focused and continue to get stronger,” Alden said. “Harvest is always a challenging time for our program.”
The Presque Isle Wildcats proved to be a formidable challenger to the rest of the competing squads. PI scored 71 points to finish ahead of Hermon, Old Town and MDI and just 12 behind Ellsworth.
For PI coach Mike Waugh, he was impressed with how his squad performed. After finishing close to 40 points behind Ellsworth seven days earlier, the Wildcats made marked improvements at the home meet.
“We have some new guys, a couple first-year seniors (Chris Cawley and Tyler Hotham) who have helped us and we have added a front pack to help with our score,” Waugh said. “It’s the best looking squad I’ve had in my five years.”
Veterans Logan Thibeau, a junior, and Matt Eager, a sophomore, have been particularly strong early on for the ’Cats. Thibeau ran to a seventh-place finish Saturday, just behind the Caribou frontrunners, and had a time of 19:02.
“Logan worked hard over the summer and it shows,” Waugh said. “He has a lot of tenacity and is ready to do some damage.”
Eager was 20th in 20:18 and Waugh said he doesn’t think the sophomore “really knows how good a runner he is.” Cawley placed 12th in 19:44 and Hotham was 19th in 20:15. Zach Barnes was PI’s No. 5 runner and closed out the scoring by ending up 25th in 21:10.
The race winner was John Bapst’s Gabe Stewart, who finished the 3.1-mile course in 17:20 – a 41-second margin over runner-up Ben Chapman of Ellsworth.
For Limestone-MSSM, Pat Brown finished ninth overall in 9:16. Teammate Justin Thompson was 42nd in 25:36.
On the girls’ side, John Bapst featured the winning team and Old Town had the first-place individual, but Caribou and Presque Isle also performed admirably and were within six points of each other in the race standings.
Bapst scored 51 points and MDI was the runner-up with 54, but Caribou and PI were not far behind. The Vikes scored 76 points and the Wildcats had 82. Ellsworth (100) and Old Town (147) were fifth and sixth, respectively.
Dacie Manion earned the race victory. The Old Town Coyote standout clocked the course in 21:45, 11 seconds ahead of runner-up Mackenzie Curtis of MDI.
Coming in third place was Presque Isle’s Alecia Palmer, whose time was 22:03. Caribou’s Dayna Michaud and Mary Jo Sheehan were seventh and 11th, respectively. Michaud’s time was 22:59 and Sheehan came in at 23:16.
Backing up Palmer were fellow Presque Isle runners Jaylee Fox (12th, 23:26), Elizabeth Wright (16th, 23:41), Hallie Bartlett (27th, 24:31) and Jerica Fox (32nd, 25:17).
Presque Isle coach Lori Googins said the time her team spends on hill work during the week paid off Saturday.
“We work on hills a lot and there are plenty of ups and downs on this course, both on the outer portions in the potato fields and in both the beginning and end,” Googins said, “so a lot of them are used to it.”
Googins is pleased with the improvement her runners have shown since last year. At last year’s home invitational meet, Palmer’s time was two minutes slower and Jaylee Fox was approximately 2:30 slower than this year.
“I thought they did really well,” Googins said. “The pack time is much smaller than it was last year – they’ve improved individually and as a group.”
She said Jaylee Fox, now a junior, was the team’s last runner her freshman year and has made great strides since to become the No. 2 behind Palmer. “She has really put the time in and it has paid off,” Googins said.
Rounding out Caribou’s scoring Kendra Stephens (17th, 23:43), Laura Collins (24th, 24:22) and Mackenzie Belyea (26th, 24:24).
Limestone-MSSM’s Lucy Wilcox was 36th in 25:52.
XC ACTION — From left, Jaylee Fox of Presque Isle leads a large group of runners in the early stages of the girls race; Presque Isle’s Logan Thibeau, center, and teammates Chris Cawley, left, and Matt Eager stay in a close pack during the boys race; and Wildcat Elizabeth Wright stays close behind a Mount Desert Island runner during Saturday’s Presque Isle Invitational Meet.
Staff photos/Kevin Sjoberg
