State ski results
By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
The state championships in skiing took place recently, with the Class C meet held in Presque Isle and Mars Hill and the Class B meet taking place at Black Mountain in Rumford.
Fort Fairfield’s Lance McKenney was able to claim an individual state title in the Class C boys’ classic race, held at the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle Feb. 18. McKenney completed the five-kilometer course in 15 minutes and 48.2 seconds to defeat a County rival, Katahdin’s Daniel Streinz, by 10.8 seconds. A field of 81 skiers competed in the race.
In the girls’ classic race that same day, Veronica Plourde of the Tigers placed 38th out of 70 racers with her time of 25:27.2. Lydia Streinz of Katahdin was the fastest skier in 18:55.6, followed by her sister, Hannah, in 19:19.3.
McKenney also placed fourth in the freestyle event last Tuesday in 14:08.5. Streinz gained the victory in 13:07.9. Ashland’s Malcolm Milligan was 29th in 16:52.5.
Hannah Streinz of Katahdin was the girls’ freestyle champion by clocking the course in 16:02.6. She beat her sister by 14.3 seconds. Plourde was 41st in 23:05.6 and led the way for the Tigers.
For downhill at Bigrock in Mars Hill, the top placement for local skiers among girls belonged to Central Aroostook’s Samantha Kearney, who was seventh in last Tuesday’s giant slalom with a time of 1:37.48 for her two runs. Teammate Paige Garrison was 15th in 1:39.29.
Garrison led the way in the Feb. 20 slalom by placing 16th in 1:54.09.
In the boys’ G.S., CA’s Zack Grass was ninth in the G.S. in 1:32.67. His teammate, Cody Clayton, claimed the 11th position in 1:33.03.
Grass was 10th in the slalom in 1:42.91 and fellow Panther Austin Caverhill earned the 16th position in 1:48.36.
At the Class B meet, the boys’ and girls’ classic cross country race kicked off the competition Feb. 20. On the boys’ side, Presque Isle’s Noah Rossignol and Jason Bartley were 20th and 21st, respectively. Their times were 16:49.1 and 16:58.5.
In the boys’ skate (freestyle) race the following day, Bartley was 28th in 15:28.7 and Gannon Therrien was 29th in 15:29.9 to pace the Wildcats.
The Wildcats’ top performance in the giant slalom, held Feb. 21, came courtesy Thomas Freeman, who was 29th in 1:47.34 .
The Feb. 22 slalom race saw Bryce Smith of PI take 19th in 1:26.98 to lead the way for County skiers. Wildcat Chris Carroll was 26th in 1:31.69.
Freeman took sixth place in the skimeister final results with 140 points.
In the girls’ classic XC competition, Presque Isle, Bonnie Corey was 27th overall in 21:20.3. She also paced PI by ending up 33rd in freestyle in 19:26.
The Wildcats’ Emma Bartlett was fourth in the G.S. Feb. 21. Her time for the two runs was 1:41.87. 1:54.93.
In the slalom, Shannon Sweeney was 26th in 1:57.25, while teammate Alyssa Sweeney was one place back in 1:57.9.
