WATERVILLE — Maine Coast Waldorf of New Gloucester and Mt. Blue jumped to big leads on Day 1 of the two-day Nordic skiing state championships.
Mt. Blue seniors Tucker Barber and Julia Ramsey took top honors in Class A, with the fastest times over the two-loop, 5-kilometer course, regardless of class.
Ramsey finished in 22:53.3 seconds — less than two seconds ahead of Deering senior Ewa Varney. Mt. Blue skiers filled out the rest of the top five places.
Barber won by more than half a minute over runner-up Caleb Niles, also of Deering, in 17:56.2. Mt. Blue skiers also placed third, sixth and seven in the boys’ meet.
Maranacook had an excellent day in Class B, leading in both girls (18 team points) and boys (17 team points) after the classical race. Laura Parent won the classical title for the Maranacook girls, winning with a time of 19:31.0. Three Maranacook teammates rounded out the top 10, as Abigail Despres (20:24.7) finished third, Madison Taylor (21:04.2) finished sixth and Maura Taylor (21:14.5) finished eighth. Rounding out squad was Ashley Cray (22:07.6), who finished 14th and Camille Kavanah (23:49.7), who finished 21st.
Three skiers from the Mt. Abram girls Nordic team finished 24th-26th — Destiny Thorndike (24:37.5), Risa Marble (24:46.7) and Alice Cockerham (24:51.7).
Trailing the Maranacook girls in team points are Yarmouth (30) and Freeport (52).
Maranacook’s Zach Holman took the boys classical title with a time of 16:45.2. Three fellow Black Bear skiers rounded out the top 10, as Luke Bartol (17:36.4) was third, Mark McLaughlin (17:46.7) was fourth and Carter McPhedran (18:20.9) was ninth.
Rounding out the Maranacook boys team was Ruslan Reiter (18:50.0) in 13th place and Tate Mendall (19:06.4) in 17th.
Mt. Abram’s Vernon Romanoski (18:30.0) finished 10th, while teammate Harrison Walters (19:15.5) was 18th.
Trailing the Maranacook boys in points is Freeport (31 points) and Caribou (65 points).
Led by junior Olivia Skillings, Maine Coast swept the top four places in the Class C girls’ classical race Thursday afternoon at Quarry Road Trails. The concluding freestyle race is scheduled for Friday morning.
Maine Coast also put four boys among the top eight, led by Nick Neveau’s second-place finish to Waynflete senior Willson Moore.
Temperatures above 50 degrees and abundant sunshine made for a slow track but happy spectators.
This story will be updated.
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