Caribou XC team nips Yarmouth by 5
By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
The Caribou boys Nordic team and the Central Aroostook boys Alpine team captured state ski championships last week.
The Caribou boys’ varsity Nordic ski team captured the Class B state championship Thursday at Black Mountain in Rumford. Members of the team are, in front from left, Josh Kovach, Caleb Chapman, DJ Flynn, Ezra Duplissie-Cyr and Kjetil Rossignol. Back, coach PJ Gorneault, Christian Sleeper, Jesse Sandstrom, Matt Coty, Ryan Washington, assistant coach Evan Graves and assistant coach Bob Sprague.
The Vikings, competing at Black Mountain in Rumford, won the Class B championship for the first time since 2005 by scoring 58 points and defeating a pair of Western Maine powers, Yarmouth (63) and Falmouth (97), and seven other schools for the top spot.
Coach P.J. Gorneault said the team had competed last month in the annual Sassi Memorial Race in Rumford, the largest ski race in the state, and placed third among Class B schools there. He knew there would be improvement during last week’s event.
Contributed photo/Laurie Sheehan
Ryan Washington of the Vikings was a solid competitor at the state meet. The freshman placed 11th in the freestyle race and 15th in the classical event at Black Mountain in Rumford last week.
“I didn’t know what to expect, but I didn’t take too much stock in [the Sassi race] because leading up to it we had only classical skied three times before,” he said. “I knew we were in better shape than most of the teams, but just needed to get some more time on our skis.
“I told the boys that we had no pressure on us. We just had to go down and ski our race and things would take care of themselves.”
The Panthers claimed their Class C Alpine title at Saddleback Mountain in Rangeley, tallying 112 points to edge Fort Kent (115) by three and third-place Freeport (135) by 23. Six other schools registered team scores.
Central Aroostook’s accomplishments are extra special due to the fact that the school was almost unable to field a team at the start of the season, and even as the season moved along, injuries began to take their toll.
“Our senior, Logan Brewer, stepped up and recruited a couple boys that had never raced before in Spencer Stetson and Kaine Kingsbury,” said Panther coach Dennis Larrabee. “Then, one of our other skiers, Josh Cook, had an emergency appendectomy and was out until the County meet, which was the state qualifier. Another, Taylor Garrison, bruised his ribs and missed 2-1/2 weeks of racing.
“So it was pretty incredible to do what we did.”
The state championship meets were held Feb. 22-24.
Contributed photo/Laurie Sheehan
Senior Caleb Chapman starred in last week’s Nordic state championship meet. The Caribou senior placed second in the classical race and third in the freestyle race to help the Vikes to the title.
In Class B, the boys’ Nordic classical competition wrapped up the meet Thursday. For Caribou, Caleb Chapman turned in a second-place performance out of the 60 finishers, clocking the five-kilometer course in 14 minutes, 31.7 seconds. He was just one second behind winner Tyler DeAngelis of Maranacook.
Also for the Vikes, Christian Sleeper place fourth in 14:48, D.J. Flynn sixth in 15:04.6 and Ryan Washington 15th in 15:45.3 to account for their team score of 27, which was one point better than Yarmouth. It also clinched the state title.
“We knew we would be in for a battle because this was the third time in four years that the boys had the lead going into the final day and we came up short the two previous times,” Gorneault said. “Like they have done all year, they rose to the occasion and left it all on the course.”
Presque Isle’s Jesse Rochester placed in a tie for 18th in 15:57 and Jonathan Rochester was 26th in 16:36.7. Josh Kovach (16:19.3) and Jesse Sandstrom (16:20.9), both of the Vikings, were 23rd and 24th, respectively.
Last Tuesday, the freestyle state meet was held, with DeAngelis again taking individual honors in 12:41.7. Chapman placed third in 12:56.5, while Flynn was fifth in 13:03.2, Washington 11th in 13:37.3 and Sleeper 12th in 13:44.1. Those efforts gave the Vikings 31 points on the day, which was good enough to finish four points ahead of Yarmouth and seven ahead of Falmouth.
Contributed photo/Laurie Sheehan
Viking senior Christian Sleeper makes his way under the bridge during a Nordic competition last week in Rumford.
Jesse Rochester made the top 10, placing eighth in 13:23.9. Jonathan Rochester was 20th in 14:08.3.
Also for Caribou, Sandstrom was 15th in 13:54.8 and Ezra Duplissie-Cyr 31st in 14:56.4.
The victory by Caribou marked the second team championship this school year by the Vikings. The other was this past fall in boys’ cross country running, with many of those same team members also competing in skiing.
“I was a little nervous going into the season with how they would focus knowing they were already state champs,” Gorneault said. “ It can be very easy for athletes to settle once you experience success. This group of boys was very motivated throughout the season and showed the character they have to refocus on the job at hand.
“A big component is that these boys are all friends. I always say that it is easy to quit on yourself during a race, but it is a lot harder to quit on your team. They were not just skiing for themselves but for their teammates, school and families,” he added.
Central Aroostook’s Alpine victory in Class C was keyed by having four skiers place among the top 17 in the slalom and four in the top 22 in the giant slalom.
“I told the guys that they had to ski perfect, and in the two runs they were pretty near flawless,” said Larrabee, a fifth-year coach whose teams also won Alpine titles both in 2007 and 2008, “so it was well earned.”
In last Wednesday’s slalom runs, Logan Brewer came in ninth place in 1:21.87, with Taylor Garrison taking 12th in 1:23.8, Spencer Stetson 15th in 1:25.35 and Josh Cook 17th in 1:25.79.
Contributed photo/Laurie Sheehan
Caribou’s Laura Collins, skiing in an Alpine race last week, was second in the Class B skimeister competition at the state meet. Collins helped the Vikings to third place in the team competition.
Kaine Kingsbury, the Panthers’ other skier, took 44th in 2:03.15.
The Panthers scored 52 points to tie with Fort Kent. Jay was four points back.
Last Tuesday, in the GS, Central Aroostook had 60 points and was second in the team standings by a mere point to Freeport.
In that event, Brewer was once again the ninth-fastest competitor. His time was 1:29.57. Stetson was 14th in 1:30.97 and Garrison one position behind in 1:31.07. Cook took 22nd place in 1:33.34. Kingsbury again placed 44th in 1:42.49.
In girls’ Nordic racing in Class B, Laura Collins of Caribou fashioned a seventh-place finish in the freestyle event last Tuesday. Her time was 16:08.6. The Vikes had five other skiers among the fastest 23 on the course. Ashley Richards was 12th in 16:40.6, Kendra Stephens 15th in 16:45, Katelynn Plourde 18th in 16:59.2, Chelsea Bard 20th in 17:16.2 and Emily Soderberg 23rd in 17:26.7.
Bonnie Corey was tops for Presque Isle in the race, coming in 44th in 20:10.
For the team results, Caribou had 52 to finish third behind Yarmouth (24) and Falmouth (44).
Two days later in the classic race, Stephens and Richards were ninth and 10th, respectively. Stephens had a time of 18:18.1 and Richards crossed the line in 18:29.8. Soderberg (19:11.7), Collins (19:12.8) and Bard (19:16.1) were 17th, 18th and 19th, respectively, while teammate Olivia Sleeper was 27th in 20:09.5.
Contributed photo/Laurie Sheehan
Katelyn Plourde of the Caribou Nordic ski team tucks her skis on a downhill during a race at last week’s state meet in Rumford.
Corey (24:29.5) was 52nd and Lauren Schiff (25:13.4) 54th to lead the Wildcat contingent.
The Vikings again placed third, this time with 54 points. Yarmouth won with 24 and Maranacook was the runner-up with 50. Presque Isle was the last-place team in both the freestyle and classical meets.
Caribou, last year’s Nordic team champion, placed third this time around with 106 points. Yarmouth rolled to the team title with 48 and Falmouth was next with 100.
The Vikings were also fourth overall (combined Nordic and Alpine placement). They had 334 points and were behind champion Yarmouth (119), Falmouth (194) and Mt. Abram (283).
Collins did place second in the skimeister competition, which takes into account a skier’s finish in all four disciplines of racing. Her total of 57 points trailed only Yarmouth’s Rebecca Bell, who had 25. Presque Isle’s Schiff was ninth with 201 points.
In Class B Alpine girls’ skiing, Collins placed ninth in last Wednesday’s slalom race held at Mt. Abram. Her time was 1:30.76. Teammate Lydia Kieffer was 15th in 1:34.89.
Emma Bartlett had Presque Isle’s fastest time in 1:48.79, putting her in 27th overall on the day. Shannon Sweeney of PI was 34th in 2:01.27.
In the GS a day earlier, Bartlett was 13th in 1:51.39 to lead the way for Aroostook County skiers. Kieffer placed 21st in 1:54.7 and Collins was 23rd in 1:55.87. Jessica Zbylut was 32nd in 2:03.29.
Also for the Wildcats, Chelsea Carroll came in 25th in 1:56.48 and Shea Brown was 31st in 2:01.96.
In boys’ Alpine, Caribou’s Nolan McDuffie placed 32nd in the GS in 1:51. Jacob Towle of PI was 35th in 1:55.5, followed by Caribou’s Sean Barbosa in 36th in 1:55.8. Thomas Freeman of the Wildcats placed 40th in 1:59.8.
For slalom racing, Presque Isle’s Kyle MacCallum came in 23rd to lead the Aroostook contingent. His time was 1:36.66. Towle placed 29th in 1:46.33.
For Caribou, Kevin Strid came in 30th in 1:47.57 and Barbosa was 36th in 2:00.14.
Towle and Freeman figured into the skimeister standings, with Towle taking fourth with 142 points and Freeman eighth with 180. The skimeister champion was Mountain Valley’s Nicholas Woods with 75 points.
Contributed photo/Laurie Sheehan
Nolan McDuffie of the Caribou Vikings had a solid performance in the GS at last Tuesday’s Class B state meet. McDuffie was first for the Vikings and 32nd overall with a time of 1 minute and 51 seconds for his two runs. The state championship meet was held at Mt. Abram Feb. 22-24.
In Class C Nordic racing, which took place at the Rangeley Trails Center, Fort Fairfield’s Nathan McLaughlin was 31st in the boys’ classic race in 19:36.
Melissa McKenney of the Tiger girls team placed 13th in 22:24.9 to lead her team. Teammate Kylie Plourde was 22nd in 23:54.1 and Victoria Plourde one position back in 24:18.7. Veronica Plourde was 33rd in 25:19.1. Fort posted 91 points in the meet, which was sixth in the team rankings.
In freestyle, McLaughlin turned in a 36th-place effort with a time of 17:47.4.
On the girls’ side, McKenney was 15th in 21:28.1, followed by Kylie Plourde (22:39.8) in 28th and Victoria Plourde (22:46.1) in 30th. Veronica Plourde took 36th in 23:35.7.
McLaughlin came in third place in the skimeister competition. His 108 points trailed only Fort Kent’s Logan Doak (36) and Ted Martin (78). There were seven other athletes in the running for the individual title.
