The abundance of snow made for ideal conditions for Aroostook County’s varsity ski teams as two Nordic and two alpine meets were held over the past couple weeks.
The latest meet was held at Bigrock in Mars Hill Saturday and featured giant slalom races in both the morning and afternoon.
For the boys, Bryce Smith of the Presque Isle Wildcats came in first out of 30 total skiers in 1:42.77 for his two runs.
Kyle MacCallum of PI was the runner-up in 1:43.78. Zach Grass of the Central Aroostook Panthers was seventh in 1:47.25 and Nick Bartlett of the Wildcats was 10th in 1:50.01.
PI managed a first-place finish with 19 points, just ahead of Fort Kent, which posted 20. CA was third with 71.
Caribou’s lone skier, Tyler Strid, was 15th in 1:57.88.
The afternoon session saw Smith place second in 1:44.86, with MacCallum taking fourth in 1:45.98, Chris Carroll of PI seventh in 1:48.78, Grass ninth in 1:50.93 and Bartlett 10th in 1:51.35.
Strid placed 17th in 2:05.22.
The Warriors tallied 15 points to finish eight ahead of Presque Isle for first place. The Panthers were third with 68.
In the girls’ morning race, Samantha Kearney of Central Aroostook was second overall in 1:47.41 for her two runs. Nicole Gebhart, also of the Panthers, was seventh in 1:57.59.
Cameo Madore of Presque Isle managed to slip into the top-10, placing 10th in 1:58.73.
The Wildcats scored 53 points as a team, good for third behind Fort Kent (12) and Hampden (46).
In the afternoon, Kearney came in second in 1:52.27 and Gehbart fifth in 1:56.45. Shannon Sweeney of PI was 10th in 2:03.77.
PI’s 58 points were good enough for third place behind FK and Hampden.
John Bapst of Bangor, Lee Academy and Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln were the other schools competing.
The previous weekend (Dec. 21) at Lonesome Pine Trails in Fort Kent, the host Warriors pulled off a sweep in the team results and also had the top individual for each of the four runs on the giant slalom course.
Highlights among local skiers included Kearney placing fourth and sixth in the girls’ race and Madore registering an eighth- and a ninth-place effort. The Wildcats’ Alyssa Sweeney was 10th in the morning competition.
For boys, MacCallum was third in the morning and seventh in the afternoon, while Smith was seventh and sixth, respectively. Central Aroostook’s Cody Clayton came in fifth in the morning run and followed that up by moving up to third in the afternoon. Bartlett came in ninth and eighth in the two events and Carroll was 10th in his second race of the day.
On Dec. 17, Caribou hosted a three-kilometer Nordic skate race.
The girls’ top five consisted of Katahdin’s Hannah Streinz (10:20), Caribou’s Sarah Doak (11:54), Fort Fairfield’s Sarah Beaulieu (12:36), Fort Kent’s Rudy Martin (12:50) and Fort Kent’s Kelsey Pelletier.
Fort Kent nipped Caribou for first place in the team results, 22-23. Fort Fairfield, Presque Isle and Madawaska followed.
On the boys’ side, the top five was made up of Daniel Streinz of Katahdin (8:37), Fort Kent’s Matt Toussaint (10:17), Presque Isle’s Gannon Therrien (10:25), Madawaska’s Cole Jandreau (10:55) and Caribou’s Riley McDuffie (10:57).
Fort Kent was the team winner with 24 points. Madawaska was next with 34 and Caribou a point back with 35. PI took fourth with 56.
Results of the Dec. 26 Nordic races in Fort Kent were unavailable at presstime.
