Photo courtesy/Brent Jepson
Viking skier Laura Collins completed the girls’ giant slalom in 26th place with a time of 1:40.65. Collins placed 18th in the slalom and is contending for the title of Skimeister today.
High school alpine and Nordic skiers from Wells to Caribou, representing 14 schools, hit the slopes and trails Monday and Tuesday for top notch skiing and lots of excitement including a first-place finish by Presque Isle’s Lucas Mathers in the giant slalom event. Mathers burned up the Big Rock course, making two runs (41.30 and 40.82 seconds) for a state title-winning combination of 1:22.12. Mountain Valley’s Jon MacKenzie placed second with a combined time of 1:24.29.
Yarmouth won the boy’s state alpine team title while Caribou placed ninth overall and PIHS tenth.
Ted Hall, principal of Yarmouth High School and a member of the MPA ski committee, was very impressed with the way Big Rock handled the skiing events. “[Today] went really well. Big Rock did a great job organizing everything – the trails were well set up and there were a lot of volunteers who all knew what they were doing. People have been very helpful,” he said, noting that though the Mt. Abram girls won today, Yarmouth’s girls have a significant chance of winning overall.
Lady Wildcat downhiller Jennifer Steeves placed in the Top 10 state GS finishers with a 10th-place time of 1:31.03 (45.58 and 45.45). Teamwise, the PIHS girls placed sixth in alpine skiing, just ahead of Caribou. Yarmouth won the state team title.
For Caribou, the boys’ Nordic team finished third overall, behind winner Maranacook and runner-up Yarmouth. On the girls’ side, the Viking team skied to a seventh-place finish, just ahead of Mountain Valley and Presque Isle.
In the Skimeister competition, which combines scores in slalom, giant slalom, cross-country classic and cross-country skate, Caribou’s Laura Collins was holding down second place with three of four events completed at presstime.
Chasing Collins in the Skimeister standings after three events from PIHS were Amber Griffin in fifth, Hallie Bartlett in sixth and Chelsea Carroll in seventh.
Mathers of PIHS was atop the boys’ Skimeister standings after three events, followed by teammates Andrej Chudozilav in eighth, Jusin Towle in 11th and Jacob Towle in 12th.
On Monday at Nordic Heritage Center, Jesse Stephens used a third-place effort to pace his Viking team to third overall with a time of 14:12.94 minutes. Other Caribou finishers and their times include: Finn Bondeson in 17th, 15:10.98; Caleb Chapman in 18th, 15:12.32; Taylor Jepson in 20th, 15:17.64; Ezra Duplissie-Cyr in 29th, 16:00.40; and Jared Sleeper in 48th, 18:18.30.
On the girls’ side, the Vikings skied to a seventh-place finish, paced by Laura Collins’ 10th place effort at 17:28.38 minutes. Other Caribou teammates and their times include: Katelynn Plourde in 16th, 18:10.83; Madison Outing in 29th, 19:56.76; Samantha Murchison in 33rd, 21:00.12; and Marigan Doody in 37th, 21:09.42.
At Big Rock Monday, Mathers was the big news in the giant slalom event, a personal favorite. “I prefer the giant slalom,” said Mathers after the event. “I like the excitement and speed of it.” Mathers will compete for the title of skimeister today, in the final event: cross-country skiing. “I’m feeling pretty positive about cross-country and coach Hendricson has helped me a lot this year. I don’t mind cross-country, but given the choice between the two I can almost guarantee I’ll choose Alpine,” Mathers explained. Caribou’s Ethan McDuffie was the top Viking finisher at 1:33.14 (45.80 and 47.34), good enough for 25th place. Other Viking finishers included: Timothy Freme in 31st, 1:35.26; Nate Rossignol in 42nd, 1:39.73; Dylan Ouellette in 49th, 1:46.94; Ben Blackstone in 53rd, 1:49.25; Trevor Cyr in 58th, 2:04.20; and DJ Flynn in 59th, 2:06.12.
In girls’ giant slalom, the Vikings were led by Laura Collins in 26th with a time of 1:40.65 followed by: Lydia Kieffer in 30th, 1:45.76; Elizabeth Barbosa in 34th, 1:48.61; Abby Small in 41st, 2:01.09; Mary Jo Sheehan in 42nd, 2:02.01; and Paige Small in 44th, 2:08.91. Caribou placed eighth as a team in GS while PIHS placed fifth. Yarmouth won the event.
The slalom races were held Tuesday at Big Rock with Caribou’s Collins posting a two-run total of 1:46.54, good enough for 18th place. PIHS’s Amber Griffin, 1:46.48 and 17th overall, was the top County slalom skier.
Other Caribou girls’ slalom times were: Kieffer in 27th, 1:49.40; Barbosa in 36th, 2:07.20; A. Small in 37th, 2:08.04; Sheehan in 39th, 2:09.73; and Jessica Zbylut in 42nd, 2:15.95.
In the boys’ slalom event, McDuffie skied to a 27th place finish as the top Caribou competitor with a time of 1:33.20. Other Viking results include: Freme in 33rd, 1:36.09; Rossignol in 42nd, 1:41.85; Ouellette in 48th, 1:49.81; Ethan Stetson in 56th, 1:58.47; and Flynn in 58th, 2:06.62.
Ryan Guerrette, operations manager at Big Rock, was relieved with how well the competitions went. “[Big Rock’s] priorities heading into this were making sure we had enough volunteers, but also people who had a good amount of knowledge about skiing and good training in their respective positions,” explained Guerrette. Like chief-of-course Bryce Waddell. “Waddell did an excellent job in his position and had an excellent course crew to work with. We also had a lot of parents from Presque Isle and Caribou come out and volunteer. Overall it was a great success and I’m encouraged by the amount of positive feedback,” Guerrette said.
Editor’s note: the cross-country races for both boys and girls will be held this morning with the skimeisters crowned at the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle at 12 p.m.
Photos courtesy/Brent Jepson
Ethan McDuffie, above, races down the trail in the boys’ giant slalom on Monday at Big Rock for Caribou. McDuffie finished in 25th with a total time of 1:33.14.
At the Nordic Heritage Center, Ezra Duplisse-Cyr finishes the last leg of the boys’ freestyle race. Duplisse-Cyr came in 29th.
