By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
The first leg of the Aroostook League Championship in skiing took place last Tuesday in Caribou, with the host Viking teams coming away with victories in the classical cross country meet held on the five-kilometer course at the high school.
Staff Photo/Joseph Cyr
Caribou’s Chelsea Bard stays focused on the course during a meet earlier this season in Presque Isle. Bard placed sixth in last Tuesday’s Aroostook League Classical Championships with a time of 22 minutes and 31 seconds on the five-kilometer course in Caribou.
The second portion, the freestyle XC meet, was scheduled for Tuesday at the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle. The final meet features the Alpine giant slalom and slalom competitions, to be held Saturday at Bigrock Ski Area in Mars Hill.
The state meets begin next Tuesday, Feb. 22 and will be held through Thursday, Feb. 24. Class B teams Caribou and Presque Isle will compete at Mt. Abram and Black Mountain and Class C teams will compete at Saddleback Mountain and the Rangeley Trails Center.
Big Rock and the Nordic Heritage Center will host the Class A meet those same days.
Last Tuesday, the Caribou boys and girls posted the low scores on the day.
In the girls’ meet, Caribou won with 14 points, followed by Fort Kent with 29, Fort Fairfield with 51 and Presque Isle with 64.
Vicky Bernard of Fort Kent was the individual champion with a time of 21:33, but the Vikes showed their domination by taking the next six positions.
Kendra Stephens (21:45), Laura Collins (22:14), Ashley Richards (22:17), Katie Plourde (22:30), Chelsea Bard (22:31) and Emily Soderberg (22:56) nailed down the second through seventh slots for the defending Class B state champions.
Veronica Plourde and Melissa McKenney were 12nd and 13th, respectively, for the Tigers. Plourde’s finishing time was 27:09 and McKenney was just one second back.
The boys’ race saw Caribou lead the way with 16 points. Presque Isle posted 34 and Fort Kent 37.
Caleb Chapman of the Vikings earned the individual title by finishing in 17:42, which was 24 seconds faster than teammate and runner-up Christian Sleeper (18:06).
Caribou skiers Josh Kovach (19:13), D.J. Flynn (19:16) and Ezra Duplisse-Cyr (19:28) finished in consecutive order in sixth, seventh and eighth place.
Jesse Sandstrom of the Vikings also cracked the top 10 with his time of 20:53.
Thirty three boys and 29 girls JV and varsity skiers representing the four communities participated in the meet
On Saturday, a regular season slalom meet was held at Bigrock. Only Central Aroostook, Caribou and Presque Isle participated.
In the boys’ giant slalom, Nolan McDuffie of Caribou was fifth in 1:46.71. In sixth place out of 23 competitors was Sean Barbosa of Caribou in 1:47.33.
Barbosa of the Vikings was fourth in the G.S. in 1:42.2 and McDuffie (1:48.91) was sixth.
The girls’ meet saw Laura Collins of Caribou coming out on top in both the giant slalom and slalom. She won the G.S. in 1:46.36, with Caribou’s Jessica Zbylut fourth in 1:53.6.
Collins’ time in the slalom was 1:38.86, exactly three seconds faster than runner-up and teammate Lydia Kieffer. Zbylut was fourth in 1:46.91. Fifteen female skiers participated.
