Even though the wind was howling and temperatures were somewhat cool at last Friday’s Penobscot Valley Conference track and field meet in Brewer, Caribou coach Roy Alden couldn’t help but be thrilled as his Vikings, along with Aroostook County counterparts Fort Kent and Fort Fairfield, took to the track for the first time this spring.

“It’s a lot better than being in the gym,” said Alden after Caribou finished second in the girls’ meet and third in the boys.

The Vikings had been practicing in the school gymnasium throughout the preseason, but finally got on the track recently.

“We still have some snow around the edges, but we took a snowblower and cleared it all,” said Alden.

While the distance runners, sprinters, throwers and a solid number of the jumpers are able to practice on the track, some athletes are still relegated to training indoors.

“We still don’t have the long and triple jump areas, they’re still buried where there were ski trails,” said Alden.

Alden’s long and triple jumpers are still practicing in the gym, which can be tough technique-wise as far as getting marks down and actually jumping into a pit.

“We set up mats in the gym and we go through run-throughs,” he said. “It’s really hard for long and triple jump to do very much.”

Brewer alumni meet set

Brewer High School will host its alumni track and field meet at Pendleton Street Field on Saturday, May 24.

This’ll be the second time in three years the Witches have held the competition. It was last run in 2006, with the 2007 edition wiped out due to poor track conditions.

All former Brewer track athletes are eligible to compete, and post-meet activities, such as a cookout, are currently in the works.

Event limitations will be as follows: Two running events, one field event, and one relay, or two field events, one running, and one relay.

Any questions, contact Brewer coach Jamerson Crowley at 992-7400.

Peterson to attend Bowdoin

Hall-Dale of Farmingdale’s Laura Peterson, one of the state’s top track and field athletes, will take her talents to Bowdoin College in Brunswick next year.

Peterson, who won the high jump, long jump and triple jump in leading the Bulldogs to the Class C state championship last spring, won the triple jump in this winter’s Class B state championship meet with a leap of 35 feet, 10 inches, adding to a second-place effort in the long jump.

Peterson and the Bulldogs should be in the hunt for the state title in the Class C ranks this season.

Orrington 10K a Cake walk

Judson Cake continued his assault on the Maine road racing scene this spring, blitzing a field of 73 runners at last weekend’s Orrington 10K.

Cake, a Bar Harbor native, cruised through the flat out-and-back loop in 32 minutes, 16 seconds.

Second-place finisher Adam Goode of Bangor finished a minute behind Cake, but still recorded a speedy time of 33:16. Joe Capehart, a coach at John Bapst Memorial High School, took third, while Tom McWalters of Old Town was fourth and Andrew Seeley of Eastport fifth.

Kristine Guaraldo, a former Brewer runner now living in South Portland, was the top female finisher in 43:02 while Samantha Matoush of Bangor finished a close second in 43:14.

The race was the first of 12 in the TradeWinds Marketplace/Sub 5 Track Club Race Series.

rmclaughlin@bangordailynews.net

990-8193