The Caribou boys’ Nordic ski team was the runner-up at the Class B state championships, held Feb. 18 and 19, 2016 at Titcomb Mountain in Farmington.
The Vikings totaled 82 points, with Freeport taking first with 43. Caribou finished ahead of Maranacook, Yarmouth, Mt. Abram and three other schools.
“The kids worked hard all season,” said Caribou coach Evan Graves. “They were fit and their technique improved throughout. We focused on teamwork and pack time as the championship season came around and they rose to the challenge and came together as a team.”
The Vikes had six skiers within the top-16 in the classic race and five in the top-16 in the freestyle race. Riley McDuffie was sixth in 14:54.9, Dan Randolph seventh in 14:58.7 and Alec Cyr ninth in 15:10.6 in the classic event.
Emerson Duplissie-Cyr was 11th in 15:21.6, Bryce Coffin 14th at 15:32.5 and Lukas Lagasse 16th at 15:44 to complete the list of the fastest Caribou skiers on the day.
Graves said Sugarloaf was the original venue for the races but the switch to Titcomb Mountain was made the day before the race, offering an extra challenge.
“The kids were mentally prepared, which really made it an easy transition,” he said.
The individual winner was Lucas DeAngelis of Maranacook, whose time was 13:19.5.
The freestyle saw DeAngelis triumph again in 11:49. For Caribou, Lagasse was 10th (13:36), Cyr 11th (13:38), McDuffie 13th (13:41), Caleb Willett 15th (13:46) and Randolph 16th (13:48).
On the girls’ side, Kendra Furber (20:09.5), Madeline Gudde (20:15.3) and Erin Kashian (20:41.4) were 20th, 21st and 22nd, respectively, to lead the way for Caribou in the classic meet. Teammates JoJo Fields and Ciara Richards also secured top-30 efforts.
The Viking girls had 150 points and took fourth behind Yarmouth, Maranacook and Freeport. Furber was 11th in freestyle in 15:51.9, while Gudde (16:31.7), Richards (16:45.6) and Kashian (16:49.8) finished in consecutive order in the 16th through 18th positions. Fields was 21st in 16:58.5 and Anya O’Meara claimed the 27th spot.
“They’re a young team that skied well the first day but you could tell they were hungry for more,” Graves said. “The girls also came together and had some motivation to move up the ranks in the standings. They fought hard and finished as high as any girls team has finished in the past few years.
The coach said both the boys’ and girls’ teams benefit from plenty of support which come from numerous sources.
“The Nordic community is so strong here in Caribou and these kids are so fortunate their efforts are supported with the trail system, groomers, parents and the school,” he added.
In the alpine championships held at Black Mountain in Rumford Feb. 16 and 17, Maria Espinosa took 33rd in the giant slalom with a time of 2:41.09 and Maura Freme was 38th in 2:44.8.
In the slalom, Freme placed 26th in 2:25.03 and Espinosa was 29th in 2:31.91.
For boys, Scott Bray was 38th in the slalom in 2:40.49 and Lane Moir came in 40th in 2:53.51. In the G.S., Bray took 53rd in 2:44.69.
Caribou also picked up three Maine Principals’ Association sportsmanship banners, winning for both girls’ and boys’ Nordic and boys’ alpine.
Fort Fairfield and MSSM had skiers competing in the Class C Nordic meet, held at Black Mountain. Thomas Krause was seventh in classical skiing with a time of 19:32.7 and Paddy Keith-Hardy was 25th in 21:35.3. On the freestyle side, Keith-Hardy was 12th in 18:18.4 and Krause 24th in 19:36.6. James Cyr of MSSM was 26th in the skate race.
Sarah Watt posted the fastest times for FF, taking 49th in classical (30:43) and 39th in freestyle (25:55.9).
