The Caribou boys and the Presque Isle girls claimed Aroostook League championships in classical skiing Friday afternoon at Caribou, while the PI boys came up with a big win in the giant slalom the following day in Mars Hill.
The Vikings boys continued their season-long dominance in Nordic skiing by tucking six skiers into the overall top-10 and scoring a meet-low 15 points — 26 less than runner-up Fort Kent, which had 41. Ashland came in third place with 76 points, followed by Presque Isle (87), MSSM (88), Madawaska (89) and Fort Fairfield (94).
The girls’ team from Presque Isle squeaked past Madawaska by a single point to come out on top. The Wildcats tallied 30 points and the Owls had 31. Caribou was close behind with 38, while Fort Kent had 47 to take fourth. MSSM (104), Ashland (111) and Fort Fairfield (114) were the other teams participating.
In the boys’ meet, Caribou was an easy winner as Riley McDuffie had the fastest time of 14:39, while Dan Randolph (15:03) and Alec Cyr (15:13) were third and fourth, respectively. Lukas Lagasse (seventh, 15:40), Bryce Coffin (eighth, 15:42) and Caleb Willett (ninth, 15:44) were other Vikes in the top-10.
Caribou coach Evan Graves said the team was prepared to race three days earlier, but that meet was scratched due to poor weather. The coach said it then became a mental game and the athletes responded.
“They’ve been working hard all season and really responding well to the training,” Graves said. “We have great leaders on the team who have stepped up at the right time and some young kids who’ve really stepped it up when it matters and are having such a positive impact on the team.”
“We had four kids within eight seconds of each other, which shows the kids are coming together at the right time,” he added.
The meet runner-up behind McDuffie was PI’s Max Bartley, who came in at 15:01, just 22 seconds back. Malcolm Milligan of Ashland was fifth in 15:19 and Thomas Krause of FF 10th in 16:31.
MSSM’s Paddy Keith-Hardy had his team’s best effort. He was 14th in 17:20.
The girls’ race saw Isabelle Jandreau of Madawaska take first place in 18:06, with Jordan Tanguay of Fort Kent second in 18:20.
Victorious Presque Isle took the next two spots, featuring Isabelle Jackson in third in 18:39 and Tori Koch in fourth in 19:48, and then showed off its depth by having the 11th-, 12th- and 13th-place finishers. The senior trio of Kerrigan LeBlanc, Emily Colligan and Mandy Graham held those spots.
“The girls have been putting a lot of time in this winter,” said PI coach Von Perry. “They are very competitive with the other teams and among themselves. They push each other during practice and it helps each of them to get stronger on skis.”
Caribou made a run at a title by placing three in the top-10. Madeline Gudde was fifth in 19:54, Kendra Furber ninth in 20:21 and Ciara Richards 10th in 20:26.
Ashland’s fastest skier was Kassandra Nelson, who was 18th in 21:33. Cecilia Howard of MSSM paced her team by ending up 22nd in 24:11, while Sarah Watt of Fort Fairfield was 25th in 24:52.
The County meet for alpine took place Saturday at Bigrock Ski Area in Mars Hill and the Presque Isle boys came through with a huge victory in the G.S. Led by senior Bryce Smith and juniors Nick Bartlett and John Saucier, the Wildcats recorded 22 points to beat Fort Kent, Central Aroostook and Caribou.
Smith’s time of 1:29.19 for the two runs put him in first place by a margin of 1.5 seconds over teammate Bartlett (1:30.63). Saucier was a solid sixth in 1:36.07, while Sam Gray was the team’s other point scorer by placing 13th.
Third-place CA was spearheaded by Lane Grass, who was third in 1:32.91. Andy Russell led Caribou with his time of 1:49.06, good for 24th overall.
Despite Bartlett’s first-place performance, the Warriors came back to take the slalom by outscoring PI, 20-40. CA again was third and the Vikings fourth.
Four Fort Kent skiers reached the top-10, led by Bryce Madore, who was second in 1:27.29. Bartlett came in at 1:23.86 with two brilliant runs. Smith had a tough second run but still was 10th in 1:35.91.
Lane Grass was seventh (1:32.11) and Bryant Grass eighth (1:32.32) for the Panthers, while Russell had a time of 1:55.64 to grab the 21st position and lead the Vikings.
The Warrior girls were unchallenged in both disciplines to take County titles. PI, Caribou and CAHS followed in that order in both G.S. and slalom.
In the G.S., Alyssa Sweeney was seventh in 1:46.38 to pace PI, while teammate Eleanor St. Peter took 10th in 1:48.47 and Lydia Patterson was just out of the top-10 in 1:54.96. Central Aroostook’s Nicole Gebhart was eighth in 1:47.65. Leading Caribou was Maria Espinosa, who was 12th in 1:57.27. Camryn Langille of the Vikes was a slot back in 13th in 1:58.68.
Espinosa had a great slalom competition as she was seventh in 1:56.06. Sweeney (1:56.45) and St. Peter (2:03.54) were eighth and ninth, respectively, for the Wildcats.
Gebhart came in 11th in 2:04.62.
The Nordic championships in freestyle were held Monday, with overall champions and skimeisters (individual champions for those competing in all four disciplines of skiing) determined following the races at the Fort Kent Outdoor Center. Those results and the overall results for the league championships will be posted in next week’s edition.
The state championships are coming quickly. The Class B alpine meet will take place Feb. 16 and 17 at Black Mountain in Rumford, with the Nordic championships in the division being held Feb. 18 and 19 at Sugarloaf. The Class C Nordic meet is also set for Feb. 18 and 19, with the location being Black Mountain in Rumford.
