FARMINGTON — The Mt. Blue boys and girls Nordic ski teams opened the Class A state championships with a strong showing Thursday in the classical races.
On Friday at their home Titcomb Mountain course, both Cougar squads finished the job by sweeping the skate races to take home the state crowns.
“At the beginning of the season both the boys and girls set the goal of winning states,” Mt. Blue coach Claire Polfus said. “We worked really hard to achieve it. It’s pretty exciting. The girls had some tough breaks along the way and they really pulled through at the end.”
The Mt. Blue girls finished with a two-day combined score of 66 points. Falmouth finished second with 110 while Deering followed in third with 116. The Mt. Blue boys also finished with 66 points to beat out Leavitt (105) and Falmouth (106).
The Yarmouth girls won the Class B state Nordic title with 41 points, just edging out Maranacook (65). Freeport won the B Nordic boys title with 43 points. Caribou (82) and Maranacook (91) finished second and third, respectively.
Maine Coast Waldorf, of Freeport, swept the Class C state titles at Black Mountain in Rumford. The boys finished with 89 points to beat out Fort Kent (93). The Maine Coast girls won with a two-day combined score of 54 points. Kents Hill (102) finished tied for second with Madawaska.
Maranacook senior Luca DeAngelis won both races. After winning the classical race Thursday (13:19.5), he took the individual freestyle title Friday by finishing the 5-kilometer course with a time of 11:49.
Both Mt. Blue teams held comfortable leads after Day 1 of the competition and they didn’t let up Friday.
Tucker Barber, who won the classic race Thursday, finished second in the freestyle race Friday in 12:14. He led a group of five Cougars who finished in the top 13. Liam Welch finished tied for seventh in 13:10. Thomas Wing (13:22), Nolan Rogers (13:26) and Samuel Smith (13:28) finished 11th, 12th and 13th, respectively.
“It’s really great to win the state title,” Wing said. “We knew we had a good chance, but we knew we had to step up. We worked hard.”
“The boys lived up to their potential,” Polfus added. “They skied very, very well.”
Brad Ravenelle, of Portland, won the freestyle race Friday in 12:05.
On the girls side, Meghan Charles finished fourth in the freestyle Friday in 15:04.2. Miriam Cohen (15:28.8) finished eighth while Mt. Blue teammates Grace Andrews (15:35.4) and Kayla White (15:40.6) followed in ninth and 10th, respectively. River Lisius finished 15th (16:28.1).
“We haven’t won it since 2011 so this is pretty exciting,” Cohen said. “It was such a team effort. It’s fun to know that the teammates around you are pushing you. Our times were incredibly close.”
Polfus added that there was some pressure heading into Day 2 but that her teams handled it well, like they’ve done all season.
“There was some, yeah,” she said, “but this whole season we’ve just been stressing skiing hard to reduce the pressure as much as possible The kids worked hard. They all pulled through.”
Added Wing: “People expect a lot out of Mt. Blue.”
CLASS B
The Class B Nordic meet, originally scheduled for Sugarloaf, was moved to Farmington to run concurrently with the Class A meet because of icy conditions caused by rain earlier in the week.
Yarmouth High senior Lydia Sullivan, a morning replacement for an ill teammate, finished ninth in the freestyle ski race at Titcomb to cap a dominant performance by the Clippers.
Senior Lucy Alexander, sophomore Sophie Laukli and junior Grace Cowles placed third, fourth and fifth as Yarmouth ran away with the two-day Nordic state title.
Kaelyn Woods, a senior at Gray-New Gloucester, won the Class B individual freestyle title for the third year in a row, with a time of 13:01 over the 5-kilometer course. Freeport senior Lily Johnston was second in 13:46.
Woods won her third straight Class B classical title Thursday over this same course.
Falmouth junior Gabby Farrell won the Class A individual title with a time of 14:27. Falmouth finished second in the overall Nordic competition to Mt. Blue.
For boys, DeAngelis turned in the fastest time (11:49) to win the individual B title. Yarmouth junior John Lane was second in at 12:00.
Juniors Bennett High (third), Yacob Olins (fourth), Kyle Dorsey (sixth) and senior Nathan Smail (eighth) led Freeport to a decisive team title in Class B over Caribou.
CLASS C
Anne McKee, of Kents Hill, finished third Friday in the freestyle with a time of 21:15.7. Teammate Aimee Sala was sixth in 21:40.7. Maine Coast’s Fiona Ahearne won the race in 19:21.8.
On the boys side, Maine Coast’s Tucker Pierce won the 5-kilometer race 16:39.5.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
