FORT KENT, Maine — High school skiers from throughout Maine will travel to the St. John Valley for two state championships.
Fort Kent Community High School will host both the Nordic and Alpine state contests next week at the Fort Kent Outdoor Center.
It isn’t often Fort Kent hosts a state-level athletic event, but with the most reliable snow in Maine it makes sense for the event to be held in the St. John Valley town, according to Fort Kent Nordic ski coach Carl Theriault.
“It is very hard to get the state meet to come north. We have been working for many years to get it back, the last time it was here for Nordic was 2018, and for Alpine it was 2010,” Theriault said. “Once the teams come here to ski on our great snow and trails it is much easier to convince them to come back again.”
The Fort Kent boys and girls teams both took first place at the Aroostook County Nordic ski championship on Feb. 9.
The Fort Kent Warrior boys took first place with 787 points.
The remaining team results in the boys’ division were: Caribou, 769; Ashland, 744; Maine School of Science and Mathematics, 722; Madawaska, 373; Southern Aroostook, 200; and Presque Isle, 190.
The Fort Kent girls skied to first place with 789 points followed by Caribou, 774; Presque Isle, 761; Maine School of Science and Mathematics, 543; Madawaska, 374; and Ashland, 360.
As for individual pursuit race results, Luke Streinz of Southern Aroostook topped a field of 24 racers in the male division with a time of 29:00.8.
The remaining results were: Alden Reardon, Fort Kent, 31:21.0; George Ferland, Caribou, 32:00.5; Fletcher Marquis, Fort Kent, 32:27.0; Mitchell Harvey, Fort Kent, 34:02.4; Rafael Sanclemente, Fort Kent, 34:03.0; Quinn Michaud, Fort Kent, 36:16.0; Andrew Ring, Caribou, 36:20.3; Inyas Janoch, Ashland, 36:39.0; Wesley Hitchcock, Caribou, 37:27.9; Silas Baser, Presque Isle, 37:57.0; Ian Poiesz, Madawaska, 39:21.8; Max Bois, Fort Kent, 39:32.7; Harrison Landes, Caribou, 40:02.9; Micah Calhoun, Ashland, 44:42.4; Benny Davis, Ashland, 45:00.8; Marcus Spahr, Madawaska, 46:00.2; Peter Butera, Maine School of Science and Mathematics, 48:17.1; Henry Donahue, Maine School of Science and Mathematics, 49:01.9; Nahem Davis, Ashland, 51:36.1; Josh Smith, Maine School of Science and Mathematics, 52:23.7; Braxton McCrossin, Caribou, 55:17.0; Caiden Condon, Ashland, 59:25.8; and Alden Hughes, Maine School of Science and Mathematics, 1:01:49.3.
Kayley Bell of Caribou led the competition in the female pursuit with a time of 35:53.5.
The remaining results in that category were: Rowan Tanguay, Fort Kent, 38:59.0; Anabelle Reardon, Fort Kent, 40:29.0; Mira Kelly, Fort Kent, 41:08.2; Cassidy Carlisle, Presque Isle, 41:30.4; Emma Bois, Fort Kent, 44:00.2; Ainsley Migneault, Madawaska, 44:18.8; Maggie Bell, Caribou, 44:26.7; Madison Thibault, Caribou, 46:05.1; Addison Chasse, Fort Kent, 46:51.0; Aubrey Ellsworth, Presque Isle, 47:56.2; Caela Day, Caribou, 48:08.7; Hattie Cogswell, Presque Isle, 49:20.9; Julia Bartley, Presque Isle, 49:46.6; Kate Bechtel, Caribou, 50:19.4; Lauren Lister, Caribou, 50:20.7; Haidyn Saucier, Fort Kent, 57:48.2; Mia Shaw, Maine School of Science and Mathematics, 1:03:04.5; Ellie Calhoun, Ashland, 1:05:59.3; Quinn Daly, Maine School of Science and Mathematics, 1:06:44.4; Samatha Thomas, Madawaska, 1:10:47.3; Annabelle Wainman, Maine School of Science and Mathematics, 1:13:43.5; and Olivia Bolstridge, Ashland, 1:33:05.1.
Streinz and Bell also raced fastest in the freestyle pursuit races.
Individual freestyle pursuit race results in the male division were: Luke Streinz, Southern Aroostook, 13:50.7; Alden Reardon, Fort Kent, 14:47.1; George Ferland, Caribou, 15:33.3; Fletcher Marquis, Fort Kent, 15;35.7; Rafael Sanclemente, Fort Kent, 16:03.0; Mitchell Harvey, Fort Kent, 16:04.6; Quinn Michaud, Fort Kent, 17:06.0; Inyas Janoch, Ashland, 17:01.2; Silas Baser, Presque Isle, 17:41.9; Andrew Ring, Caribou, 17:53.8; Wesley Hitchcock, Caribou, 18:00.4; Ian Poiesz, Madawaska, 18:05.0; Max Bois, Fort Kent, 18:47.0; Harrison Landes, Caribou, 19:05.3; Benny Davis, Ashland, 21:08.1; Micah Calhoun, Ashland, 22:07.2; Marcus Spahr, Madawaska, 22:42.5; Nahem Davis, Ashland, 22:42.8; Peter Butera, Maine School of Science and Mathematics, 23:22.1; Henry Donahue, Maine School of Science and Mathematics, 23:42.9; Braxton McCrossin, Caribou, 55:17.0; Josh Smith, Maine School of Science and Mathematics, 26:28.8; Caiden Condon, Ashland, 29:44.5; and Alden Hughes, Maine School of Science and Mathematics, 30:33.6.
Individual freestyle pursuit race results in the female division were: Kayley Bell, Caribou, 17:16.3; Rowan Tanguay, Fort Kent, 18:05.0; Cassidy Carlisle, Presque Isle, 19:17.0; Anabelle Reardon, Fort Kent, 19:18.9; Mira Kelly, Fort Kent, 19:32.7; Ainsley Migneault, Madawaska, 20:32.2; Emma Bois, Fort Kent, 20:43.5; Maggie Bell, Caribou, 20:44.2; Hattie Cogswell, Presque Isle, 21;17.4; Madison Thibault, Caribou, 21:32.0; Aubrey Ellsworth, Presque Isle, 22:29.1; Lauren Lister, Caribou, 22:52.0; Caela Day, Caribou, 22:55.1; Addison Chasse, Fort Kent, 22:57.8; Julia Bartley, Presque Isle, 24:08.0; Kate Bechtel, Caribou, 24:14.1; Haidyn Saucier, Fort Kent, 27:02.7; Mia Shaw, Maine School of Science and Mathematics, 30:46.1; Ellie Calhoun, Ashland, 31:07.9; Quinn Daly, Maine School of Science and Mathematics, 34:04.9; Samatha Thomas, Madawaska, 35:36.9; and Olivia Bolstridge, Ashland, 46:34.9.
Fort Kent will host 294 athletes for nordic in Class A,B,C and 160 Alpine athletes in Class B from Feb. 20-23.
“The town will be full,” Theriault said. “Open your arms to them, Fort Kent, and give them a warm welcome.”
