RUMFORD — Make it a four-peat for the Mt. Blue boys and girls Nordic ski teams.
The Cougars swept the Class A titles Wednesday at Black Mountain. Mt. Blue had three of the first four finishers in the boys freestyle pursuit Wednesday, and the girls placed five skiers in the top 12, led by individual winner Nora McCourt.
Ben Geissinger, who coaches both Mt. Blue and Spruce Mountain, said the Cougars focused on Tuesday’s classical race, knowing that a good result there would put Mt. Blue in position to successfully defend both titles. Team scores are based on skiers’ combined times from the classical and freestyle races.
“I mean, I think it mostly came down to the fact that they just put in a lot of time through the season,” Geissinger said. “We did a little bit more focused classic work over the last week or so when we ended up with better snow, and I think the kids definitely felt a little more confident on their race skis. I think that was probably what it came down to, really, the dedication all the way through the season.”
In Class B, the Yarmouth boys and Freeport girls earned team titles. Fort Kent swept Class C for a third straight year.
The Mt. Blue boys scored 783 points, well ahead of Brunswick (748), Messalonskee (747), Deering (747) and Portland (724).
Messalonskee’s Beckett Cote posted the fastest boys time for the second straight day, taking the overall victory in 27 minutes, 25.5 seconds. But Mt. Blue took the next three places with Henri McCourt (28:05), Grayson Hoeft (30:28.7) and Elias Bartlett (30:28.8). Deering’s Asa Tussing (30:55.9) was fifth.
In the girls race, McCourt (31:32) beat teammate Maya Kellett (33:28.9). Nora Condit (37:52.7) of Edward Little was third, followed by Eli Tardiff (37:53.6) of Falmouth and Emma Price (38:08.2) of Portland.
Cassidy Hardy (10th) and Abby Dorr (11th) also scored for Mt. Blue, which finished with 780 points, ahead of Portland (766), Falmouth (756), Camden Hills (724) and Oxford Hills (721).
“I think, yeah, everyone felt pretty solid about yesterday, and we try to emphasize having fun as much as possible,” Nora McCourt said. “Then going into states, (we just try) to leave it all out there, knowing that it’s the last races of the season, and I think, yeah, people feel good about how it went.”
Freeport girls earn second straight title
Freeport (774) took the Class B girls championship ahead of Greely (758) and Leavitt (758), which tied for second. Yarmouth (738) and Presque Isle (705) were fourth and fifth.
Rowan Barry (33:30.2) of Greely captured the individual pursuit championship. Freeport’s Lucy Huggett (36:05.0) and Reed Proscia (36:26.2) were second and third, followed by Ida Waterman (36:34.1) of Gray-New Gloucester and Evelyn Lacasse (37:04.4) of Greely.
“It was good to have people behind pushing me to try to help me keep my pace,” Barry said. “I think if there (weren’t) as many really fast girls here, I wouldn’t have been able to go as fast as I did.”
Greely’s Tait Harvey (23:57.0) won the boys’ pursuit, followed by Alexander Gordon (30:53.9) of Yarmouth. Leavitt’s Jacob Dening (30:59) and Freeport’s Owen Dawson (31:06.7) were third and fourth, and then came the Yarmouth trio of Aksel Moon (32:00.3), Leif Hellstedt (32:03.0) and Eli Chalmers (32:36.8). The Clippers finished with 784 points to easily beat out Leavitt (757), Greely (742), Maranacook (715) and Caribou (708).
‘I think we’ve known it for a while,” Yarmouth junior John Nicholas said of the team’s rise to a state champion. “We’ve been building a strong team for a couple of years now, so we’ve been looking forward (to) our opportunity.”
After winning Tuesday’s classical race by more than a minute, Harvey also had the fastest Class B freestyle time.
“I didn’t really do well until the end of the season, that’s what really matters,” Harvey said. “So I’m happy with my season because of that.”
Fort Kent sweeps
The Fort Kent boys came close to a perfect score with four skiers in the top five for a total of 788 points. Orono (760), Waynflete (738), Madawaska (725) and Winthrop (725) followed.
The girls team finished with 773 points, claiming their fourth consecutive title. Waynflete (759) was the only other school with at least four racers.
“You’re expecting to contend, yes, but you never know because we don’t ski against these other teams all year long, so it’s always a surprise, and they don’t ski against us either,” Fort Kent coach Carl Theriault said. “I knew we had good athletes, they’ve done well up in Aroostook County all year long, so we said, ‘Well, if everyone’s healthy, and not everyone was, we should do OK.’”
Fort Kent’s Alden Reardon (29:12.7) and Fletcher Marquis (31:04.9) were 1-2 in the overall standings. Sam Geissinger (31:47) of Spruce Mountain came in third, followed by Fort Kent teammates Ben Chartier (32:34.2) and Quinn Michaud (33:51.6).
Clara White of Orono took the Class C girls title with a combined time of 31:12.6. Rowan Tanguay (35:22.4) of Fort Kent, Maine Coast Waldorf’s Soren Stark-Chessa (36:20.9), Waynflete’s Leah Kramer (36:43.7) and Telstar’s Ella Akers (40:36) rounded out the top five.
White beat Nora McCourt as the top finisher, regardless of class, in Wednesday’s freestyle race. Skiers from all three classes race head-to-head.
“Yeah, it was really fun to start so close to her yesterday and today,” White said of going up against McCourt. “She’s really fun to race with, all these girls are, and it just makes a really fun environment.”
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