Fort Kent teams win both Nordic and Alpine ski titles

Aldon Reardon of Fort Kent High School was the team's fastest male skier during a recent state ski meet. He placed first overall in all Class C events, and third overall in the state as a 15-year-old sophomore. (Matt Michaud | Contributed Photo)

FARMINGTON, Maine — The boys and girls teams from Fort Kent Community High School secured victories at the MPA Nordic Ski Championships, held on Titcomb Mountain in Farmington on Feb. 19 and 20. The victory comes shortly after the Fort Kent boys and girls both won the 2024 Class B Alpine Title this year, something that ski coach Carl Theriault said he has never seen throughout his 25-year career.

“A lot of our kids here in the valley compete in both Alpine and cross country, because we’re such a small school,” he said. “It’s the only way we could really make up a team for both of them.”

He said it was a fantastic year with great skiers, and that this year’s success may be due to most team members being second-generation skiers.

“They have super supportive families,” Theriault said, “which makes a huge difference.”

The Fort Kent boys competed against 12 other schools in the Class C category, and came out on top with 794 points, securing a decisive victory. Orono High School and Waynflete School boys placed second and third, with a respective 755 and 733 points. 

And the Fort Kent girls went up against 10 other Class C schools. The girls secured a close victory with a score of 772. Waynflete School girls were close behind with 763 points and Orono High School came in third with 580.

The top five pursuit times in the Class C boys category were all held by Fort Kent athletes. Alden Rearden had the top time of 12:44.0 and a pursuit time of 27:56.0, while Fletcher Marquis, Quinn Michaud, Rafael Sanclemente, and Mitchell Harvey each had 12:57.7, 00:13:34.6, 00:13:55.0, and 14:18.9, respectively. Their pursuit times, in the same order, were 28:40.7, 29:39.6, 30:47.0, and 30:49.9.

Clara White of Orono High School won the Class C Girls race with a time of 14:41.3 and a pursuit time of 32:43.3. Rowan Tanguay of Fort Kent Community High School and Soren Stark-Chessa of Maine Coast Waldorf High School had the second and third-best times, with 15:14.5 and 15:41.3. Their pursuit times were 34:40.5 and 34:58.3, respectively.

“We just have some fantastic kids that love to ski,” Theriault said. “They’re really hard workers.”
The complete results are available online at bullitttiming.com/events/MPA-2024.