The Caribou High School XC meet held on Friday afternoon showcased all Aroostook County teams: Caribou, Fort Kent, Houlton/GHCA, Limestone/MSSM, Presque Isle, and Washburn. This meet gave teams a feel for how the Aroostook County Championship Meet held on October 8 at Houlton High School may play out. The course also showed as a preview to Houlton/GHCA, Caribou, and Presque Isle who will compete in the PVC Championship meet held right there on October 15th.

The boys race was a fight until the end between George Ferland and Ephraim Willey, both of Caribou. Ferland and Willey were neck and neck, pushing each other the entire race until Ferland was able to outsprint his teammate to clock a 18:05.61 while Willey crossed the finish line at 18:05.85. Griffin Duigan of Limestone/MSSM rounded out the top three with a time of 18:45.98.

When asked to comment, Ferland said "Me and my teammate ran the race together trying to establish that contact throughout the course knowing where we needed to push, and recover more . . . it is going to benefit us when the teams come up (for the PVC Championship)."

On the girl's side, Teanne Ewings of Houlton/GHCA led the whole race while Kayley Bell of Caribou trailed by only twenty seconds until the second mile. The second mile, which consisted of a ski hill, is where Ewings increased the lead to forty seconds. Ewings finished in a time of 19:54.64 while Bell finished in 20:40.58. Third place was taken by Natalie Johnson of Houlton/GHCA who ran a 21:24.11.

While Caribou boys were able to take first and second in individual results, the Washburn boys were able to take away the team win. Washburn placed all five of their runners in the top eleven to seal a victory of 33 points over Caribou's 43 points. Houlton/GHCA also had enough for a team and scored 51.

For the girl's team scores, it was all Houlton/GHCA. After taking first and third in the individual results, Houlton/GHCA was then able to place the remaining three scoring runners in the top ten to earn them a score of 28 points. Fort Kent took second with 58 points and Caribou in third with 63.

Both Ewings and Ferland noted they were most excited for the Festival of Champions race this season.

Ferland said "It's a great race for everyone. You get to see teams you never see, you get to race against all classes and teams out of the state. It's just a great environment."

Ewings said "I am very excited for Festival. I was unable to attend last year and I am looking forward to the opportunity to race against teams we don't normally compete against."