Local high school skiers continue to be busy as they prepare for the championship portion of the schedule, which commences in early February with the Aroostook League title meets.
Last Tuesday at Madawaska, a Nordic freestyle meet took place with the Caribou boys and Madawaska girls earning the team wins and Riley McDuffie of Caribou and Jordan Tanguay of Fort Kent rolling to individual victories.
The Viking boys had six skiers among the top 10 to prevail, while the Owl girls packed four among the top 10 to post the winning score.
McDuffie and Tanguay both took first in the 5K in 17:14 and 21:28, respectively.
The remainder of the boys’ top-10 included Max Bartley of PI (17:42), Malcolm Milligan of Ashland (18:16), Dan Randolph (18:24), Lukas Lagasse (18:24), Alec Cyr (18:28), Bryce Coffin (18:52), Caleb Willett (19:06), all of Caribou; and David Roy (19:32) and Matthew Kelly (19:42), both of Fort Kent.
Thomas Krause of Fort Fairfield was 13th in 20:02 and Tommy Pinette of MSSM was 39th in 28:20.
Following Tanguay on the girls’ side were Isabel Jackson of PI (22:01), Isabelle Jandreau (22:47) and Chelsea Daigle (23:22), both of Madawaska; Tori Koch of PI (23:47), Kasie Blanchette of Madawaska (23:54), Madeline Gudde (23:55) and Kendra Furber (24:09), both of Caribou; Gabby Cyr of Madawaska (24:18) and Kassandra Nelson of Ashland (24:53).
Kaley Norsworthy of Fort Fairfield took 24th in 33:48 and Sam Zwecker of MSSM was 31st in 38:18 to lead their respective squads.
It was Caribou’s turn to host Thursday and the discipline was classic-style racing.
The Presque Isle girls managed to triumph for the first time this season as they placed five skiers among the top 10. Koch was fourth in 23:27, Jackson fifth in 23:37, Mandy Graham eighth in 24:15, Emily Colligan ninth in 24:15 and Kerrigan LeBlanc 10th in 24:38.
Tanguay again was victorious in 21:51. Jandreau (22:34), Gudde (22:35), Furber (23:59) and Daigle (24:09) turned in top-10 performances. Nelson was 15th in 26:02, Sarah Watt of Fort Fairfield 23rd in 30:37 and Zwecker 26th in 32:27.
Caribou dominated the boys’ event by scoring a meet-low 19 points. The team bunched seven in the top 10, let by McDuffie in 17:00. Following was Bartley in 17:16, Roy in 18:33 and Krause in 18:40, but then it was six Vikings in consecutive order — Randolph (18:40), Cyr (18:55), Coffin (19:09), Willett (19:20), Lagasse (19:24) and Elijah Verhoff (19:24).
Milligan took 11th in 19:28 and James Cyr of MSSM was 24th in 22:14 to pace their teams.
It was the alpine teams taking center stage Saturday with a meet at Lonesome Pine Trails in Fort Kent.
As they have all winter, the host Warriors dominated in the team results by winning both girls’ and both boys’ competitions. Fort Kent’s Olivia Martin was first in the girls’ morning race in 1:34.53 and teammate Alisha Guimond took top honors in the afternoon in 1:30.25.
Turning in top-10 efforts from the region were Allysa Sweeney of PI, third in the morning race (1:48.41) and eighth in the afternoon (1:46.24); Ciarra Richards of Caribou, sixth in the morning race (1:58.97) and 10th in the afternoon (2:00.34); Eleanor St. Peter of PI, seventh in the morning race (1:59.04) and ninth in the afternoon (1:54.7); Nicole Gebhart of Central Aroostook, eighth in the morning race (2:00.09) and fifth in the afternoon (1:40.38); and Maria Espinosa of Caribou, 10th in the morning race (2:03.71).
The Presque Isle boys placed second in both but featured the top individuals. Nick Bartlett won in the morning in 1:28.94 and Bryce Smith led the way in the afternoon in 1:22.67.
Other top efforts were turned in by Bryant Grass of CA, sixth in the morning race (1:36.04) and Lane Grass of CA, ninth in the morning race (1:38.05). Smith was second in the morning race in 1:29.09 and Bartlett second in the afternoon in 1:24.95.
Another Nordic race was held Monday in Fort Kent, with others set for Thursday at the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle and Tuesday, Jan. 26, again at NHC.
The alpine skiers resume their competition schedule Saturday at Bigrock Ski Area in Mars Hill.
