CAHS skiers
claim Class C Alpine state crown
By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
The Central Aroostook boys Alpine team and the Caribou boys Nordic team captured state ski championships last week.
Contributed photo/Dennis Larrabee
SKI CHAMPS – The Central Aroostook High School Alpine ski team captured the Class C state title Thursday. Members of the championship team are, from left, Taylor Garrison, Logan Brewer, Spencer Stetson, Josh Cook and Kaine Kingsbury.
The Panthers claimed their Class C Alpine title at Saddleback Mountain in Rangeley, tallying 112 points to edge Fort Kent (115) by three and third-place Freeport (135) by 23. Six other schools registered team scores.
Central Aroostook’s accomplishments are extra special due to the fact that the school was almost unable to field a team at the start of the season, and even as the season moved along, injuries began to take their toll.
“Our senior, Logan Brewer, stepped up and recruited a couple boys that had never raced before in Spencer Stetson and Kaine Kingsbury,” said Panther coach Dennis Larrabee. “Then, one of our other skiers, Josh Cook, had an emergency appendectomy and was out until the County meet, which was the state qualifier. Another, Taylor Garrison, bruised his ribs and missed 2-1/2 weeks of racing.
“So it was pretty incredible to do what we did.”
The Vikings, competing at Black Mountain in Rumford, won the Class B championship for the first time since 2005 by scoring 58 points and defeating a pair of Western Maine powers, Yarmouth (63) and Falmouth (97), and seven other schools for the top spot.
The state championship meets were held Feb. 22-24.
Central Aroostook’s Alpine victory in Class C was keyed by having four skiers place among the top 17 in the slalom and four in the top 22 in the giant slalom.
“I told the guys that they had to ski perfect, and in the two runs they were pretty near flawless,” said Larrabee, a fifth-year coach whose teams also won Alpine titles both in 2007 and 2008, “so it was well earned.”
In last Wednesday’s slalom runs, Logan Brewer came in ninth place in 1:21.87, with Taylor Garrison taking 12th in 1:23.8, Spencer Stetson 15th in 1:25.35 and Josh Cook 17th in 1:25.79.
Kaine Kingsbury, the Panthers’ other skier, took 44th in 2:03.15.
The Panthers scored 52 points to tie with Fort Kent. Jay was four points back.
Last Tuesday, in the GS, Central Aroostook had 60 points and was second in the team standings by a mere point to Freeport.
In that event, Brewer was once again the ninth-fastest competitor. His time was 1:29.57. Stetson was 14th in 1:30.97 and Garrison one position behind in 1:31.07. Cook took 22nd place in 1:33.34. Kingsbury again placed 44th in 1:42.49.
In Class B, the boys’ Nordic classical competition wrapped up the meet Thursday. For Caribou, Caleb Chapman turned in a second-place performance out of the 60 finishers, clocking the five-kilometer course in 14 minutes, 31.7 seconds. He was just one second behind winner Tyler DeAngelis of Maranacook.
Presque Isle’s Jesse Rochester placed in a tie for 18th in 15:57 and Jonathan Rochester was 26th in 16:36.7.
Last Tuesday, the freestyle state meet was held, with DeAngelis again taking individual honors in 12:41.7. Jesse Rochester made the top 10, placing eighth in 13:23.9. Jonathan Rochester was 20th in 14:08.3.
In girls’ Nordic racing in Class B, Bonnie Corey was tops for Presque Isle in the race, coming in 44th in 20:10.
Two days later in the classic race, Kendra Stephens and Ashley Richards were ninth and 10th, respectively, for Caribou. Stephens had a time of 18:18.1 and Richards crossed the line in 18:29.8.
Corey (24:29.5) was 52nd and Lauren Schiff (25:13.4) 54th to lead the Wildcat contingent.
The Vikings again placed third, this time with 54 points. Yarmouth won with 24 and Maranacook was the runner-up with 50. Presque Isle was the last-place team in both the freestyle and classical meets.
Caribou, last year’s Nordic team champion, placed third this time around with 106 points. Yarmouth rolled to the team title with 48 and Falmouth was next with 100.
The Vikings were also fourth overall (combined Nordic and Alpine placement). They had 334 points and were behind champion Yarmouth (119), Falmouth (194) and Mt. Abram (283).
Caribou’s Laura Collins did place second in the skimeister competition, which takes into account a skier’s finish in all four disciplines of racing. Her total of 57 points trailed only Yarmouth’s Rebecca Bell, who had 25. Presque Isle’s Schiff was ninth with 201 points.
In Class B Alpine girls’ skiing, Collins placed ninth in last Wednesday’s slalom race held at Mt. Abram. Her time was 1:30.76. Teammate Lydia Kieffer was 15th in 1:34.89.
Emma Bartlett had Presque Isle’s fastest time in 1:48.79, putting her in 27th overall on the day. Shannon Sweeney of PI was 34th in 2:01.27.
In the GS a day earlier, Bartlett was 13th in 1:51.39 to lead the way for Aroostook County skiers.
Also for the Wildcats, Chelsea Carroll came in 25th in 1:56.48 and Shea Brown was 31st in 2:01.96.
In boys’ Alpine, Jacob Towle of PI was 35th in 1:55.5, followed by Thomas Freeman of the Wildcats placing 40th in 1:59.8.
For slalom racing, Presque Isle’s Kyle MacCallum came in 23rd to lead the Aroostook contingent. His time was 1:36.66. Towle placed 29th in 1:46.33.
Towle and Freeman figured into the skimeister standings, with Towle taking fourth with 142 points and Freeman eighth with 180. The skimeister champion was Mountain Valley’s Nicholas Woods with 75 points.
In Class C Nordic racing, which took place at the Rangeley Trails Center, Fort Fairfield’s Nathan McLaughlin was 31st in the boys’ classic race in 19:36.
Melissa McKenney of the Tiger girls team placed 13th in 22:24.9 to lead her team. Teammate Kylie Plourde was 22nd in 23:54.1 and Victoria Plourde one position back in 24:18.7. Veronica Plourde was 33rd in 25:19.1. Fort posted 91 points in the meet, which was sixth in the team rankings.
In freestyle, McLaughlin turned in a 36th-place effort with a time of 17:47.4.
On the girls’ side, McKenney was 15th in 21:28.1, followed by Kylie Plourde (22:39.8) in 28th and Victoria Plourde (22:46.1) in 30th. Veronica Plourde took 36th in 23:35.7.
McLaughlin came in third place in the skimeister competition. His 108 points trailed only Fort Kent’s Logan Doak (36) and Ted Martin (78).
