Ski season kicks off with pair of meets
The competitive ski season opened for varsity teams in Aroostook County this past week, as a Nordic meet took place in Madawaska last Wednesday and an alpine meet was held in Fort Kent Saturday.
Max Bartley and Izzy Jackson were standouts for Presque Isle in the Nordic skate-style meet held on a four-kilometer course at Four Seasons Trail. Bartley finished first out of 32 competitors in the boys’ meet. His time was 10 minutes and 29.5 seconds. Jackson, coming in at 12:59.2, was second out of 26 who took part in the girls’ event.
In the team results, Presque Isle was third for boys behind Caribou and Fort Kent and ahead of Madawaska and Ashland. For girls, the Vikings came out on top, followed by Madawaska, Fort Kent, Fort Fairfield, Ashland and PI.
Tristan Pelletier of Ashland came in 10th in the boys’ meet and Garrett Morneault of PI was 14th.
Kassandra Nelson paced the Hornet girls by placing 10th. Jessica Halsey of Fort Fairfield led her team, placing 15th overall.
In the alpine meet, local skiers with the top placements for boys included Nick Bartlett of Presque Isle, second in the afternoon run in 1:33.12; Lane Grass of Central Aroostook, fourth in the afternoon run in 1:35.1; Bryant Grass of Central Aroostook, eighth in the afternoon run in 1:37.98; John Saucier of Presque Isle, eighth in the morning run in 1:41.73 and 11th in the afternoon run in 1:43.06.
For girls, the Wildcats’ Eleanor St. Peter came in ninth to lead the way in the afternoon as she clocked the course in 2:06.05. Natalie Bates of PI had the top placement in the morning by placing 14th in 2:18.4, while she was 15th in the afternoon in 2:17.91.
As a team, the Presque Isle boys placed tied for second in the morning and had sole possession of second in the afternoon. The Wildcat girls were third in both.
A Nordic meet is planned for this afternoon at 3 p.m. at Nordic Heritage Center, while the next alpine meet is Friday at 2 p.m. at Bigrock.
