Annabelle Brooks of Cheverus was the fastest girl among skiers in all three classes Thursday in the 5-kilometer pursuit at the Nordic state championships in Fort Kent. Brooks had a pursuit time of 17:24.1 as she swept the Class A classic and freestyle races. Patrick Horne photo
Cheverus senior Annabelle Brooks posted the fastest pursuit time of any girl in all classes, and the Freeport boys and girls each squeezed out narrow victories in the Class B team competition Thursday as the two-day Nordic state championships concluded at the Fort Kent Outdoor Center.
Skiing freestyle, Brooks covered the 5-kilometer course in 17 minutes, 24.1 seconds, a day after she won the Class A classical race. Her combined time from both races was 36:05, resulting in a cushion of more than 16 seconds over Orono junior Ruth White, the Class C pursuit champion.
Henri McCourt of Mt. Blue won the Class A pursuit title with a combined time of 30:36.3, which was eight seconds faster than that of Class B champion Logan Ouellette of Leavitt. Ouellette turned in Thursday’s fastest freestyle time (14:28.6) but was 12 seconds slower than McCourt, a sophomore, in Wednesday’s classical race.
McCourt helped Mt. Blue sweep the Class A boys’ and girls’ team titles. The boys defended their state championship with a 21-point margin over Greely, with Deering and Portland finishing third and fourth.
The Mt. Blue girls won a third straight Nordic title by claiming five of the top nine spots and eight of the first 14. Bridget Reusch, Nora McCourt, Moriah Reusch and Maya Kellett finished 2-3-5-8 for the Cougars, who ran away from the 11-team field by 46 points.
Greely, led by Sylvia Harvey’s sixth-place showing in pursuit, edged Portland by one point for runner-up honors. Falmouth was fourth.
Because of expected cold weather, Maine Principals’ Association officials altered the race schedule. Instead of a normal pursuit format, skiers on Thursday departed the starting area at 15-second intervals, with classes jumbled together. The times of freestyle and classical races were then added to determine pursuit standings and team scores.
Teo Steverlynck-Horne’s second-place finish in Thursday’s Class B freestyle pursuit helped Freeport beat defending champion Yarmouth for the Nordic boys’ team title. Freeport also won Class B girls. Patrick Horne photo
Class B produced the closest team competition. The Freeport boys edged defending champ Yarmouth by three points, and Freeport’s girls beat Leavitt by seven. Teo Steverlynck-Horne, a Freeport junior, was runner-up to Ouellette, and senior Henry Horne moved up three spots from classical to place fifth in pursuit. Seniors Will Morris (10th) and Al Dawson (12th) completed the scoring for the Falcons.
Yarmouth’s Aksel Yeo (fourth), Owen Redfield (sixth), Cornelius Welsh (ninth) and Stuart Baybutt (13th) all placed among the top 15 in a field of 42 skiers. Leavitt was third and Maranacook fourth.
For girls, Caribou senior Kayley Bell won individual honors by more than two minutes over Reed Proscia, one of three Freeport freshmen who scored for the Falcons. Laurel Wight (fourth) and Lucy Huggett (16th) joined senior Jillian Wight (ninth) to give Freeport the first Class B Nordic girls’ title won by a school other than Yarmouth or Maranacook since Caribou won in 2010.
In Class C, host Fort Kent won the boys’ title in dominant fashion – grabbing four of the top five places – and edged Orono’s girls by three points. Freshman Alden Reardon posted the fastest freestyle and classical times in Class C and finished in a combined 32:23.0, more than 40 seconds ahead of teammate Fletcher Marquis, the runner-up. Will Barmby (eighth) and Oliver Eames (10th) helped Waynflete place second overall.
Ruth White and her sister, Clara, went 1-2 in the Class C girls’ pursuit for Orono, but Fort Kent squeezed four skiers – Rowan Tanguay, Mira Kelly, Annabelle Reardon and Emma Bois – among the next nine places to win a third consecutive state championship.
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