Maine news, sports, weather | Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine

February 25, 2012

CLASS A SKIING STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS: Mt. Blue girls win 8th straight overall title

BY DAVE MCLAUGHLIN Correspondent

Editor's note: This story has been edited to correct the number of consecutive state championships the Mt. Blue girls team has won.

RUMFORD -- The Mt. Blue girls wrapped up their eighth straight overall Class A skiing championship Friday at Black Mountain, while the Mt. Blue boys just missed winning their sixth straight title.

The Mt. Blue girls Alpine team trailed Greely by 14 points heading into the final day of racing, but placed four skiers in the top 12 of the slalom competition to secure the title. The Cougars won the Alpine title 88-93 over Greely and edge Falmouth 214-263 to win the overall title.

The Mt. Blue boys finished second in the overall competition to Falmouth, which won with 177 points. Mt. Blue had 181 points.

The Cougars rallied to win the Alpine title, rallying from 21 points down to win 99-108.

"Today was awesome," Mt. Blue Alpine coach Mark Cyr said. "Our kids stepped up to the plate and really performed. To win an Alpine title you need two solid days, anything can happen."

Heather Farrington finished second in the Alpine competition for the Mt. Blue girls, finishign with a two-run time of 1 minutes, 37.30 seconds. Leika Scott of Falmouth won with a time of 1:36.65.

"When we ski in championship races, we know it is team first, individual second, so the team comes back with a shiny new plaque," Farrington said. "When I looked at the course, I knew it would be tough, but slalom is our race and we knew we would be there."

Also for Mt. Blue, Mallory Parker finished ninth, Marina West 11th and Abbey West 12th.

Lucas Bonnevie finished fifth with a time of 1:35.83 for the Mt. Blue boys, who had three skiers in the top 10. Also for Mt. Blue, North Kay was eighth and Max Kay 10th.

Biddeford freshman Curtis Paradis won the boys slalom race wih a time of 1:28.39.

Bonnevie had the fastest run of the day, finishing in 39.90 in his first run. He slipped and nearly crashed off the course on his second run, but recovered and finished in 55.93.

"Lucas has skied great for us this season and I think he was skiing a little cautious to try to help the team," Cyr said. "He did a great job recovering and finished the race."

Mt. Blue's North Kay won the boys Skimeister championship 48-70 over Jakob Chandler of Deering. Kay's best finish was eighth in slalom. Elyse Dinan of Greely won the girls Skimeister title. Her top finish was a third in the giant slalom. Dinan edged Fryeburg's Kelsey Liljedahl, 134-146.

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