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ELLSWORTH – One thing the Caribou boys cross-country program prides itself on is having a solid junior varsity team year in and year out.
When it comes time for those runners to step into the varsity ranks, they are ready and raring to go.
With four newcomers in its lineup, including two JV frontrunners from a year ago, the Vikings dominated Saturday’s Ellsworth Invitational, tucking all seven runners in the top 25 and scoring 57 points for their third team title in four years.
Coach Roy Alden’s varsity newcomers include sophomores Finn Bondeson and Tim Freme, both of whom were JV runners last fall, and freshmen Christian Sleeper and Jesse Stephens, who played soccer for the Vikes in ’06.
“We’re excited because it’s a young group, and they did a real good job today,” Alden said. “This is a good start. We have a lot to do, but it’s a real good start.”
Falmouth finished second in the nine-team field with 71 points while Sanford was third with 77. Presque Isle’s 104 was good for fourth and host Ellsworth took fifth with 128.
Falmouth captured the girls meet with 32 points, while Caribou finished second with 92.
York also scored 92 points, but the Vikes’ sixth runner, Karyn King, finished ahead of the Wildcats’ Cara Cavalieri, which gave Caribou runner-up honors.
Defending Class B state champ Mount Desert Island was fourth with 100 points and John Bapst of Bangor finished fifth out of 10 scoring teams with 110.
Falmouth’s Ethan Shaw (14 minutes, 20 seconds) and MDI’s Heather Spurling (17:30) won the individual titles.
In the boys meet, the Vikes have traditionally gotten their ship sailing in the right direction at this season-opening meet.
“We have a long, long way to go,” Alden said. “Ellsworth’s going to improve tremendously, they have three to four of their best runners back from last year.”
Leading Caribou’s pack was senior captain Spencer McElwain, who finished third in 15:12.
Alden said McElwain is ready to take on the roles of top runner and senior leader.
“I was talking to [Falmouth coach] Danny Paul earlier about him, [and] he’s put in a real good summer,” Alden said. “I think he’s going to step it up and run with the best kids in Eastern Maine and hopefully the best kids in the state.”
Stephens finished 11th, Bondeson 14th, Sleeper 15th, while varsity returnees Jordan Powers and Steven Melbourne finished 21st and 23rd, respectively.
Freme rounded out the Vikes’ lineup with a 25th-place finish.
Other top individual finishers were Corey Park of Presque Isle in fourth, Orono’s Matthieu Nadeau in seventh and Graham Pearsall of Foxcroft Academy in 10th.
Falmouth’s Shaw led from wire to wire, touring the 2.75-mile course 19 seconds over Steven DeWitt’s course record.
In the girls meet, MDI junior Spurling was among a pack of runners that included Old Town senior Hilary Maxim, Falmouth’s Maddie Grygiel and Vicky Hewey of Sanford throughout the race.
The Trojans’ lead runner took over on the second lap – the course starts in an open field next to Route 1A before looping around an open field that runners do twice – after coming out of the woods.
Spurling admitted she was baffled with the end result.
“I was very surprised, I didn’t expect to [win],” said Spurling, who finished in 17:35 while Maxim was fourth in 17:41.
Spurling ran a solid tactical race, waiting patiently to make her move on what turned out to be a breezy afternoon.
After taking the lead, Spurling never let up, knowing Grygiel, Hewey and Maxim were still out there and in the hunt.
“I was thinking all the way down the stretch someone was just going to pass me at the finish line,” Spurling said.
The defending state champs lost some key runners to graduation, but like Caribou’s boys, MDI had a strong JV team last year, with a plethora of runners ready to step into varsity roles, such as Frances Blank, who finished 23rd in Saturday’s race.
“They already have [stepped into varsity roles], four of them ran in the varsity race today,” Spurling said. “They really stepped it up.”
Like their counterparts, the Caribou girls are young, with six freshman on the roster, but coach Thomas Beckum has noticed an early competitive fire in their bellies.
“They’ve got the attitude like they want to win, its going to make a big difference,” Beckum said.
Junior Hannah Saunders paced the Vikes second-place effort with a sixth-place finish, while frosh Dayna Michaud was 12th and senior Janelle Gagnon 17th.
Like his colleague, Beckum knows you never can tell who’s going to win the state title at the first meet.
“MDI got eighth here last year and they were state champs. It’s pretty deceiving, the first meet. You can’t ever go by the first meet.”
Falmouth won the team title going away, placing five runners in the top 10 and all seven in the top 25.
Grygiel captured second, Erin Morris was fifth, Kourtney Bonsey took seventh, Emily Follo eighth and Francesca D’Alfonso in 10th rounded out the scoring.
Kim Spencer of John Bapst finished ninth in 18:43.
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