Vikings edge Ellsworth for B title

BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY MICHAEL C. YORK Sam Seekins, Erskine Academy, eventual winner of the Boy's Class B event leads second place finisher Gabe Stewart, John Bapst, in Belfast on Saturday.

BELFAST, Maine — The Caribou and Ellsworth boys have had their fair share of drama on the Class B cross country stage over the years.

The plot certainly thickened this fall with a new addition to the cast in Hampden Academy.

Act One went to the Vikings, as coach Roy Alden’s club won its second straight Eastern Maine crown Saturday, besting the Eagles 73-76 while Hampden scored 91 to finish third at the Troy Howard Middle School course.

The top seven Class B teams qualified for next week’s state meet so that means Presque Isle (161 points), Belfast (171) Medomak Valley of Waldoboro (178) and Winslow (185) will also head to Cumberland next weekend.

The top 20 individual finishers in Classes A and B and the top 30 in Class C also punched their tickets.

Brunswick won the Class A title while Orono claimed Class C.

Class B: As expected, this race was tantalizingly close between three classic Class B rivals, but the Vikings had just enough pack power to overcome a strong Ellsworth finish.

Junior Christian Sleeper led the way with a ninth-place finish while seniors Tim Freme and Finn Bondeson finished 11-12 and junior D.J. Flynn 14th.

But none of those proved bigger than junior fifth man Jake Michaud, who came in 27th but passed a couple of runners in the final moments of a close race that even Alden didn’t know the result of.

“What was the final score?” the puzzled, yet happy coach asked.

How does a narrow three-point win sound?

“Yeah, that’s pretty close,” Alden said. “I thought it could be, we prepared for it to be close.”

While Caribou’s formidable top four did its job soundly, Michaud, who has improved strongly throughout the season in that crucial No. 5 hole, stood out the most to his coach and teammates.

“Jake really poured his heart out today, he had a real good race,” Alden said.

“It takes a lot of guts to do that, he has a lot of pressure on him being the fifth man,” added Freme.

Michaud’s effort was needed, as Ellsworth’s Ben Chapman finished fourth to lead the Eagles while their 2, 3 and 4 guys finished 16-17-18 to make it a close meet and the Vikes a tad apprehensive.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever been more nervous sitting over there on the floor. I think we all were,” said Bondeson.

Erskine Academy’s Sam Seekins captured the individual crown in 16 minutes, 30.72 seconds over a fast Belfast 5-kilometer course which featured very few wet spots.

HA’s Darik Frye was fifth and John Bapst’s Gabe Stewart second.

Class C: Matt Guiod, a sophomore from Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln, ran to the individual win in 17:27.23, but Orono proved tops in the team competition.

The Red Riots emerged with a 59-72 victory over Bangor Christian while Lee Academy (74), Calais (115), MA (129) and Sumner of East Sullivan (149) also qualified for states.

Alex Bulteel powered the Red Riots with a second-place overall finish, right behind Guiod, while Karl Koehler was fourth among runners who were on teams with five competitors.

Paul Robinson in 11th, Schuyler Collet in 15th and Avery Cole in 28th rounded out the Riots’ scorers.

Class A: Brunswick senior Will Geoghegan proved tops among his Eastern Maine brethren, posting the day’s quickest time at 15:46.02 while leading his Dragons to a 72-78 win over Edward Little of Auburn.

Cony of Augusta finished third, Mt. Blue of Farmington fourth, Lewiston fifth and Mount Ararat of Topsham sixth to round out the state-meet qualifiers.

Sam Nisbett, a Bangor senior, turned in a sixth-place finish, clocking in at 16:44.53.