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| Contributed photo/Laurie Sheehan Katelyn Plourde of the Caribou Nordic ski team tucks her skis on a downhill during a race at last year’s state meet in Rumford. Plourde is back for her senior season. |
By Jon Gulliver
Staff writer
CARIBOU — The Nordic ski team at Caribou High School is again looking for a successful season, but it will be hard to top last year when the boys won the state Class B title and the girls finished third.
Coach PJ Gorneault is again shooting for an Aroostook County title and to be contenders in the state meet, which will be held at the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle.
The boys team has 15 members, eleven returning from last year. Five skiers have state meet experience.
“The team will be led by Caleb Chapman (senior) who was third in the skate last year and second, by one second, in the classical meet,” said Gorneault. “Ryan Washington (sophomore) has two top 15 places in the state as a freshman.”
The coach added the team will benefit from a good mix of seniors down to freshmen.
“Seniors Jesse Sandstrom, Kjetil Rossignol and Josh Kovach should help out the team greatly with contributions along with incoming freshmen Brenden Cyr and Michael Marquis,” he said. “Ron Lund (junior) had a great cross country season and should show great improvement over last year.”
Rounding out the boys roster are: senior Marc Sturzl; junior Graham Freme; sophomores Keith Draper, Alex Murchison and Tyler Strid; and freshmen Dustin and Dylan Coty.
The Caribou girls have 20 skiers, of which seven are new, but they also have nine returning members with state meet experience.
“Katie Plourde (senior), Ashley Richards (junior), Kendra Stephens (junior) and Chelsea Bard (junior) are all state meet returnees who are looking sharp this early in the season,” said Gorneault. “With the addition of freshman Sarah Doak they will be a tough group of five to ski against.”
The coach also said Mackenzie Belyea (junior), Meredith Sleeper (junior), Ginger Kieffer (junior) and Olivia Sleeper (junior) look to have a breakthrough this year and be at the state meet level.
Also on the roster this year are: seniors Rene Dube, Angelita Hernandez, Kelly Kashian and Samantha Murchison; sophomore Sirena Cyr; and freshmen Lauren Chapman, Mackenzie Deveau, Elise Gudde, Nerissa and Robyn Larrabee and Kaitlyn Ring.
The preseason for skiing focuses heavily on building up the athletes’ aerobic base, mixing in strength and speed workouts, but Gorneault said there is also another important aspect of training.
“Just as important as the physical building up is stressing to the kids that we are one team which succeeds through individual performances,” said Gorneault. “One athlete can not win the state meet alone, they need their teammates to encourage and push them during those difficult workouts.”
Gorneault says the Nordic teams at Caribou High School have some of the biggest participation numbers at the school.
“We are fortunate to have a supportive community that embraces Nordic skiing through programs by the middle school, recreation department and Maine Winter Sports Center,” he said. “We also have businesses and individuals who volunteer their time to our program.”
Evan Graves is the assistant coach and Brian Powers and Bob Sprague are volunteer assistant coaches.
