GREENWOOD — One ski or two, Allarie Lever is still the best giant slalom skier in Class A.
The Edward Little skier blazed out to a half-second lead after her first run and needed every bit of that advantage to hang on to first place after catching an edge and nearly wiping out near the bottom of the course on her second run. She pulled herself together enough to finish strong, edging Greely’s Elyse Dinan by seven-hundredths of a second to earn the Class A GS crown at Mt. Abram Ski Resort on Tuesday.
“I was so scared, I thought I was going down,” Lever said. “I was so happy I was able to save it.”
Lever skied relaxed on her first run, and it showed. Prior to breaking the gate, Lever was singing to herself, to her coach and to whomever else would listen.
After her first run, she tried to maintain that level of composure.
“I was trying to stay in the same mood,” Lever said. “I was singing, singing to my coach, laughing, trying to stay warm.”
Things were fine until she reached the lower part of the course, where things flattened out.
“The first run, I was really early,” Lever said. “Then I got late on that red gate, and I tried to pressure, and I think I popped up and I switched over to the other ski. I was just thinking, ‘Oh no, don’t lose it.’ I was freaking out; I had to stay on my feet.”
In the team alpine race, the Greely Rangers suffered one fallen skier and still placed four skiers in the top 18 to grab a commanding 33-61 lead over EL in the alpine competition.
“They’re just so deep,” EL coach Tara Eretzian said. “They have a lot of skiers who race on a regular basis, and even with a fall they can recover well.”
With Lever’s first-place finish, EL jest edged Oxford Hills for second place in the giant slalom event Tuesday, getting sold finishes from Hannah Johnston (11th) and Sophie Harris (19th), as well as Brooke Lever (30th).
Perennial contender Mt. Blue’s lack of depth reared its head. The Cougars had just three skiers place Tuesday, and with a ghost skier rounding out the top four, they came in near the back of the pack.
Falmouth in command — again
With a full calendar year to stew over what could have been in 2012, the Falmouth boys’ alpine team began Tuesday’s Class A giant slalom with two things in mind: Keep your speed, and keep your feet.
So far, so good for the Yachtsmen.
Joseph Lesniak finished third overall, two other Falmouth skiers placed in the top 10 and five of the Yachtsmen’s top six finished in the top 20 as they seized control of the boys’ alpine competition Tuesday at Mt. Abram Ski Resort.
“The first set (of gates) was pretty extreme,” Falmouth coach Tip Kimball said. “They had to make some adjustments to ski it properly. It was kind of a crash waiting to happen if they didn’t ski it properly. So yeah, it was, get down the hill, don’t take any unnecessary risks and some nice solid finishes.”
Lesniak, Thomas Devereux and Alexander Gowen all bettered their first runs on the giant slalom course with blistering second runs while maintaining a measure of control. One year ago, the favored Yachtsmen had trouble as a team staying on their feet — as did several teams — and they made sure Tuesday that they, at the very least, would not have a repeat performance.
“We only lost one skier to a fall today. The rest skied well,” Kimball said.
Sam Perimutter of Greely, one of the top skiers in the Western Maine Conference all season, blazed the way for the rest of the field, completing his two runs in 1:50.54, more than two seconds faster than Curtis Paradis of Biddeford.
Reilly Bolduc of Lewiston, who skis with the Edward Little team but competes as an independent, continued his strong season with a fourth-place finish Tuesday.
“I made sure I had a high and early line up top, made sure I was gaining speed because they straightened it out on the second run,” Bolduc said. “I really wanted to hit the headwall with speed.
“It’s pretty cool I’m able to ski with EL,” Bolduc added. “It has its advantages and disadvantages, because my points don’t count for anyone. But it’s fun to be able to get out here with them.”
In the boys’ team competition, Falmouth has 32 points, 44 better than second-place Oxford Hills (76). Edward Little, plagued by a couple of bobbles, is in third with 81 points.
“Don’t forget, we were in kind of the same position last year,” Kimball said. “So I’m not saying a word.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
