RUMFORD – Consistency and depth in the slalom and freestyle Nordic events gave Mountain Valley a slight leg up Thursday over Telstar and Mt. Abram in what promises to be a wild, three-team scramble for the Mountain Valley Conference boys’ skiing team championship.

Mt. Abram went one-two-three to win the cross-country race at Black Mountain, while Telstar swept the top two spots in taking the alpine win.

The Falcons finished second in both the morning and afternoon, however, to finish with 75 total points and establish a two-point advantage over Telstar (77). Mt. Abram is another point back at 78.

Livermore Falls won the freestyle and placed second in the giant slalom to snag a 66-80 advantage over Mountain Valley in the girls’ championship.

Saturday’s second and final day of competition includes giant slalom and a 5-kilometer classical race.

Telstar’s Jake Largess and Travis Brooks led the boys’ slalom. Largess’ two-run total time of 1:07.52 topped Brooks by slightly more than a second. Mike Sweeney of Mt. Abram, Aaron Crocker of Carrabec and Matt Papsadora of Mountain Valley rounded out the top five.

Joe Arsenault of Mountain Valley finished sixth to strengthen the Falcons.

The Roadrunners’ Jeff Beal dominated the boys’ cross-country encounter, completing the 5K course in 13:25.2. That was more than a minute ahead of runner-up and Mt. Abram teammate Taylor Talmage (14:31.2), who edged Sweeney by less than a second.

Mountain Valley took four of the next nine spots, placing Tyler Jasud and Joshua Burke in fourth and fifth. Dylan Cayer was ninth and Jon Gamble 12th.

Peter Poor led Telstar in sixth.

Livermore Falls used an individual win by Tricia Richard (1:15.83) in the slalom to finish second in the event behind Mountain Valley. The Andies put a pack of four skiers in the 8th through 11th spots to win the Nordic round and grab the overall lead.

Lindsey Timberlake, Richard, Danielle Therrien and Amy Damon led the Livermore charge in freestyle.

Rachel Gagnon of Jay, who placed third behind Richard and Telstar’s Justine Carver in the slalom, took the lead in the girls’ skimeister competition with a win in freestyle. Her time of 17:39 easily topped Maddy O’Brien of Winthrop and Danna Wilson of Telstar.

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