Bell slithered down the giant slalom course in a time of 34.41 his first time down the hill. He wasn’t as fast his second time down, and Spruce Mountain’s Lucas Alley came close in his second run with a time of 34.48, but Bell’s combined time of 1:09.03 topped the field.
“He skied really solid,” EL head coach Jodd Bowles said. “Maxx is valuable because he’s got really good technique and a sense of tactics. He also gets the rest of the team — lights a fire under them — to try to catch him.”
Some of Bell’s Red Eddies teammates also showed well. Brooke Lever won the girls’ race — and was the fourth-fastest skier overall — in a combined time of 1:13.69. That was just ahead of boys’ teammate Steven Sinclair (fourth-fastest boy) and Victoria Beliveau (girls’ runner-up).
“They had a good night,” Bowles said. “Some of them a little frustrated because it didn’t go as well as they thought, but they all took from it what they needed to to get better.”
The Phoenix from Spruce Mountain were just behind the Red Eddies in getting off to a good start to the alpine season. Besides Alley, Stephen Sylvester was the fifth-fastest boy and Chad Richards seventh-fastest. Allison Acritelli was third in the girls’ race and ninth-fastest overall.
The Leavitt Hornets were led by a senior in his first alpine race. Julian Kirouac placed sixth in the boys’ race, with a combined time of 1:16.66.
“He did well today,” Leavitt head coach Jacob Johnston said. “First time in gates in probably six years for him. I’m looking forward to seeing how he skis the rest of the year.”
Skiers from other local teams found their names near the top of the results. Telstar’s Kellen True and Joe Dillon were eighth and ninth, respectively in the boys’ race, and Oxford Hills had the 10th-fastest boy (McKinley Murphy) and eighth-fastest girl (Caroline Burns). Alesha Gregorie represented Lewiston with a 10th-place finish in the girls’ race.
Johnston said he saw plenty of positives in the season’s opening race — a sentiment Bowles echoed.
“This is a hard hill to race, so if they do well on this first day, it’s always a promising outlook for the rest of the season,” Johnston said.
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
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