The Mountain Valley Conference and Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference have agreed to combine their ski championship races. which will be held Feb. 9 and 11 at Black Mountain in Rumford and Titcomb Mountain in Farmington.

“We voted on it at our last meeting,” Spruce Mountain athletic administrator Sally Boivin said. “There will be three sets of results for the ski championships but the races will be held together.”

It was Spruce Mountain ski coach Ken Jacques, whose team skis in the MVC, who originally made the proposal to several coaches in the KVAC. Coaches then queried their athletic administrators who passed the request on to their respective leagues.

“A combined meet will help the kids more,” Jacques said. “It increases the quality of the meet.”

Coaches in both leagues have shown tremendous support for the move, which will feature giant slalom and freestyle races at Black Mountain on opening day followed by slalom and classical competition on the second day.

An overall champion will be crowned, along with champions for the MVC and KVAC.

“The conference championships will really have some great competition,” Maranacook Nordic coach Steve DeAngelis said. “It was something we needed to do to give more meaning to the races.”

“The numbers were small when each conference held their own championships,” Mt. Abram Alpine coach Bob Luce said. “This way there will be a larger number of racers, which will help the kids reach a higher level of competition.”

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The Maranacook Wave Race, which features skiers competing against those in their own grade in school, proved to be a major success again this season, with the venue moving from the Readfield school to Black Mountain in Rumford.

“We had very little snow and I did not want the kids to have to deal with tree roots in the woods,” Maranacook coach Steve DeAngelis said. “We wanted to put on a quality race for the kids and the people at Black Mountain did just that.”

Saturday’s race attracted 178 boys and 141 girls to the 5k freestyle race, which comprised 26 girls teams and 28 boys. Maranacook senior Abby Mace won the girls overall title and Waynflete junior Josiah Espy claimed the title in the boys race.

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Mt. Blue’s Heather Farrington continued her excellent stretch of Alpine skiing for the Cougars, taking the win at the Maranacook Slalom, held at Kents Hill, Saturday. Farrington has a pair of firsts and a pair of seconds in the first four races this season.

Abby Bowie (Augusta), skiing for Kents Hill, was second in the girls race and Winthrop’s Abby Jansen finished fourth. Kents Hill’s Ben Spencer won the boys race with Alec Daigle of Maranacook taking second. Mt. Blue’s Lucas Bonnevie was third.

Maranacook boys and Mt. Blue girls continued a trend that has been emerging this winter, each winning the team event.

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Young Nordic skiers from Winthrop and Monmouth have been posting strong showings in recent meets. Monmouth’s Becki Bryant and Dylan Thombs, along with Winthrop’s Rachel Ingram and Aaron St. Pierre, skied exceptional races in the Maranacook Wave on Saturday.

“This is our fourth time on snow and three of them have been meets,” Winthrop Nordic coach Jay Lindsey said. “Once we can train, I think the kids will show a lot of improvement.”

Bryant, a freshmen, finished as the second best skier in her grade after posting a 29th overall. Thombs also grabbed a second place in the sophomore division with a sixth overall. St. Pierre was sixth for the junior boys and 25th overall, while Ingram nabbed a 12th for sophomores and a 45th overall.