Skiers compete in County meets
Sports Reporter
The Aroostook League championship portion of the ski schedule got under way Thursday with the Classical Cross Country meet at the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle and continued Saturday with the Giant Slalom and Slalom meets at Lonesome Pine Trails in Fort Kent.
In the Nordic meet, the Caribou boys and girls swept the titles. The Viking boys tallied a near-perfect 11 points to defeat Fort Kent (32) and Presque Isle (52).
Finn Bondeson of the Vikings continued his successful season by finishing the 5.02-kilometer course in 16 minutes, 1.5 seconds.
Teammate Caleb Chapman came in second in 16:32 and fellow Viking Christian Sleeper was third in 16:33.7.
After Fort Kent’s Sam Chasse took the fourth spot in 17:26.5, Caribou skiers D.J Flynn (17:31.7) and Jesse Sandstrom (17:37.7) grabbed the fifth and sixth positions.
Closing out the top-10 individually were Logan Doak of Fort Kent (18:17.6), Austin Bragdon of Madawaska (18:19.5), Ezra Duplissie-Cyr of Caribou (18:20.3) and Jonathan Rochester of Presque Isle (18:34.5).
Chris Cawley and Nathaniel Postell, both of Presque Isle, were 15th and 16th, respectively, in the overall standings.
Isaac Wortman was the lone Fort Fairfield participant, placing 20th in 24:56.6.
In the girls’ competition, Caribou scored 17 points to earn the title, with Fort Kent close behind with 24. Fort Fairfield had 44, good for third place, while Presque Isle took fourth with 62.
Caribou’s Laura Collins won the girls’ race in 19:41.5. She defeated runner-up Vicki Bernard of Fort Kent by 15.5 seconds. In third was Katelyn Plourde of the Vikings in 20:24, followed by Gabby Naranja of Fort Kent in fourth in 21:02 and Kendra Stephens of Caribou in fifth in 21:27.
Hallie Bartlett finished sixth. The Presque Isle skier clocked the course in 21:27. Roxy Pelletier of Fort Kent was seventh (21:42), Caribou’s Ashley Richards eighth (21:46) and the Fort Fairfield duo of Veronica Plourde (22:23) and Melissa McKenney (22:37) also made the top 10.
Julia Brown was 16th and Emma Bartlett 20th for the Wildcats.
In Saturday’s Alpine meet, the Caribou girls were first in the Giant Slalom with 18 points, three ahead of Fort Kent. Presque Isle came in third place with 62 points.
Roxy Pelletier of Fort Kent won with a combined time of 1:43.57 for her two runs. Caribou’s Lydia Kieffer and Collins were second and third, respectively. Kieffer’s time was 1:44.83 and Collins came in at 1:45.19.
Jessica Zbylut and Elizabeth Barbosa were also among the top 10 for Caribou. Zbylut’s time was 1:46.58, good for fifth place, and Barbosa’s was 1:50.13, which put her in eighth.
Hallie Bartlett of Presque Isle grabbed the sixth position in 1:48.47.
Fort Kent was the Slalom team champion with 17 points, ahead of the 22 posted by the Vikings.
Kieffer did take the individual title in 1:25.72. Collins was third in 1:30.08 and Zbylut seventh in 1:35.59 as the Vikes’ other top-10 finishers.
Bartlett came in 10th for PI in 1:39.02.
In the boys’ Giant Slalom, Central Aroostook placed second to Fort Kent. The Panthers scored 28 points, compared to 17 for the Warriors.
Shane Miller of CA was the individual champ in 1:34.78. Teammates Caleb Jewett (1:40.51) and Ethan Stiles (1:42.02) were sixth and eighth, respectively.
For Caribou, which scored 45 points, good for third place, Ethan McDuffie was fourth in 1:39.64. Timothy Freme of the Vikes was ninth in 1:42.71.
PIHS’s Adam Curtis was tops for fourth-place Presque Isle as he was 15th overall in 1:43.77.
The boys’ Slalom saw Central Aroostook finish on top with 15 points with five skiers among the top seven overall. Leading the Panthers were Jewett in second (1:17.78), Miller in third (1:18.21), Logan Brewer in fourth (1:20.15), Stiles in sixth (1:21.08) and Taylor Garrison in seventh (1:21.09).
McDuffie fashioned the Vikes’ best time of 1:25.13, good for 12th overall.
Curtis made the top 10 with a time of 1:23.61, which put him in ninth place.
The freestyle cross country championships were scheduled for yesterday afternoon at Fort Kent.
The Class B state meet is at Saddleback Mountain in Rangeley Feb. 16-18, while the Class C meet is Feb. 17-19 at Fort Kent.
Contributed photo/Dave Allen Graphics
PRESQUE ISLE STANDOUT SKIER Hallie Bartlett makes her way through the course during Thursday’s Aroostook League championship meet in classical cross country skiing. Bartlett placed sixth in the meet, held at NHC, with a time of 21 minutes, 27 seconds.
