RUMFORD — Mt. Blue’s Nordic ski team appears to be peaking at the right time.
On the first day of the 2018 Class A championships, the Mt. Blue boys placed four skiers among the top 11 and cruised to a 28-point lead after the classical race at Black Mountain.
Sam Smith led the Cougars with his sixth-place finish, in 16:42.0, followed by teammate Jesse Dalton in seventh, just 12 seconds back. Michael Gurney (ninth) and Dominic Giampietro rounded out the top four for Mt. Blue.
They all chased Leavitt Area High School’s Roy Varney to the line. Varney, a stalwart all season for the Hornets, blazed the course in 15:53.1 to edge Portland’s Liam Niles for first place by 1.4 seconds. Peter Jordan of Deernig was third, well back of the leaders, while Cameron Bancroft of Oxford Hills slid into fourth and Alfie Walker of Fryeburg was fifth.
In the team scoring, Leavitt was in second position after the classical race with 61 points to Mt. Blue’s 33. Falmouth was close behind in third with 63.
In the Class A girls’ race, Fryeburg is clinging to a three-point advantage over Deering for the team lead, 35-38. Mt. Blue sits in third position with 51.
Morse High School’s Jennifer Wilbraham won going away, turning the course in 18:46.4, nearly 30 seconds faster then second-place Grace Tumavicus of Deering. Meg Charles of Mt. Blue placed third in 19:37.8.
Irina Norkin and Emily Carty were Fryeburg’s top skiers in fourth and fifth positions, which helped the Raiders to their early team advantage.
Leavitt was in fourth position after the classical race, with Mt. Ararat in fifth.
The final event, the freestyle, takes place Friday morning at Black Mountain.
Class B
Maranacook’s dominant season continued in the Class B boys’ Nordic race in Fort Kent on Thursday.
The Black Bears placed four skiers among the top nine, including Luke Bartol in second position, on their way to a win in the classical race and a 12-point lead over Maine Coast Waldorf in the overall Nordic team competition.
Mark McLaughlin (fourth), Carter McPhedran (fifth) and Gabe fein (ninth) also scored for Maranacook.
Nick Neveau led the way for Maine Coast with a third-place finish. And everyone was chasing Max Bartley of Presque Isle, whose time of 15:30.0 was tops by 9.5 seconds.
In the girls’ Class B race, Yarmouth leads a crowded field after the first day with 30 points behind a dominatin performance from Sophia Laukli. Her time of 16:17 was 1:11 faster than Olivia Skillings of Maine Coast Waldorf, and her effort would have been good for sixth place in the boys’ race.
The Clippers hold a 13-point lead over MCW, who are in a pack of three teams — with Freeport and Maranacook — within three points of each other.
Lily Horne of Freeport led the Falcons in third position, while Maranacook’s Laura Parent was in fourth.
Class C
A pair of Northern Maine schools are in command after the first day of the Class C Nordic championships.
In the girls’ race, Orono placed four skiers among the top 14, including Liza Gallandt in second, as the Red Riots are in front of Waynflete by 29 points after the classical race.
Isabelle Jandreau of Madawaska outdistanced the field by more than a minute to take the individual classical crown. The Owls are four back of Waynflete in a tie with Fort Kent.
In the boys’ race, Gaelan Boyle-Wight of Telstar just edged Sam Holt of Orono for first place in the classical race, crossing the line in a time of 16:32.8, less than a second better than Holt.
Two Fort Kent skiers — Niko Naranja and Sam Johnson — placed third and fourth, and helped the Warriors to a commanding lead on the first day of competition. Fort Kent’s lead going into Friday’s freestyle is 39 over Madawaska. Telstar sits in fourth with 73, behind Waynflete (71).
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