RUMFORD — Maranacook Alpine coach Ron Gifford knew it all came down to who was left standing after each slalom run to collect a girls and boys MPA Class B Alpine crown.
The Black Bears stayed on their feet, played it cool and both teams delivered individual stellar performances to cop a pair of state crowns at frozen Black Mountain on Thursday afternoon.
This was the girls team’s second straight Class B Alpine state title. Telstar’s Abigail Landry won Thursday’s slalom event with a combined time of 1:31.92.
“Both days, we used all six skiers and both days we got to the point where we had to have those four stand,” Gifford said, “and they not only stood, yesterday, they moved up, and today they stood and skied solid and clean, and that’s what needed to do.”
The Black Bears won the boys’ slalom with 717 points and finished with 1,475 points after two days of skiing. Rounding out the top 10 of two days of competition were: Lake Region (1450), Yarmouth (1,445), Fort Kent (1,443), Gray-New Gloucester (1,422), John Bapst (1,411), Caribou (1,381), Mountain Valley (1,310), Cape Elizabeth (1,240) and Mt. Abram (1.229).
“They really supported each other,” Gifford said. “The captains did a great job; the seniors did a great job. Nice blend of seniors and sophomores and just really came together and made it happen.”
Brothers Robbie (combined time of 1:25.95) and Samuel McKee (1:27.54) finished fourth and ninth, respectively, in slalom competition for the Bears. The Maranacook boys were 36 points behind after Wednesday’s third-place finish.
“Big comeback (for the boys). Fort Kent had a bad day,” Gifford said. “My boys going into this, I said, ‘Hey, we ski the way we can ski and don’t try to be a hero and just ski sound and solid and yesterday, they had some hiccups.
“But I knew how my guys could ski if they all stood and skied clean, and they had a great day.”
Maranacook also got a boost from Dylan McGarr (1:34.49) and Corbin Howe (1:35.51), who finished 15th and 18th, respectively. Howe said his first run was smoother than the second.
“First run, I felt a little more calm, a little more relaxed” Howe said. “I felt like I put it together better. Second one was still great, I think a little bit slower, but they were both great runs.”
The Lathrop brothers of Cape Elizabeth pulled off another 1-2 finish, but this time Tiernen Lathrop came out on top at 1:22.92, with brother Killian taking second fiddle at 1:23.33.
“I liked the first run; it was fast,” Tiernen said.
For Tiernen, racing in giant slalom or slalom really doesn’t matter to him.
“I am a ‘whatever day it is’ guy,” he said. “The course was good, solid snow, pretty basic course.”
Other top local boys finishers include: Keegan Brooks (Gray-NG, 19th, 1:36.36), Aaron Labrash (Mountain Valley, 20th, 1:37.17), Jack Gilbert (Spruce Mountain, 29th, 1:42.84), Edward Pease (Mt. Abram, 36th, 1:49.41), Austin Gates (Leavitt, 49th, 2:01.67), Jaxen Call (Telstar, 64th, 3:25.80) and Nathanial Bliss (Rangeley, 62nd, 2:24.10).
“I think we are a better slalom team,” first-year Leavitt ski coach Matt Michaud said. “We have access to a really good slalom mill and I think we practice that a lot more. Yeah, slalom has really been our strong discipline for us this year.
“Their resilience has been great. They are really working hard to improve.”
TAKE TWO
The Maranacook girls team collected back-to-back Class B Alpine titles on Thursday. The Black Bears won Wednesday’s giant slalom with 768 points and added another 741 points with a slalom win for team total of 1,506 points.
Rounding out the top 10 were: Fort Kent (1,498), Yarmouth (1,473), Cape Elizabeth (1,467), Spruce Mountain (1,438), Rangeley (1,428), Mountain Valley (1,362), Caribou (1,297), Mt. Abram (1,267) and Lake Region (1,252).
Individually, Landry was followed by Eleanor Donahue (Yarmouth, 1:33.05), Anya Monson (Cape Elizabeth, 1:33.55), Bailey Coates (Spruce Mountain, 1:33.96) and Bristol Quimby (Rangeley, 1:34.57).
“This season, at least, I have been better at GS,” Donahue said. “In the past, I’ve been good at slalom so I kind of wanted to step it up today.
“My first run, I almost skied into the boys course. It is right next to each other. I almost entered there.”
Coates found both runs turned out different for her.
“The first run had a harder course,” she said, “but I felt good in it, and in the second run, you could just let it go.”
Maranacook’s only top 10 girls finisher was Katie Ide, who finished seventh at 1:35.61. Her teammate Vita Scott came in 17th at 1:43.04.
“I was really solid,” Scott said. “A couple of slip-ups, but overall it went pretty well. I am more of a slalom person. I just prefer it more. I think it is a lot more satisfying.”
And so was winning back-to-back titles on a cold winter’s day.
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