Oxford Hills’ Mandy Ivey prevails in the 5K freestyle event.
LOCKE MILLS – After one day of the Class A state skiing championships, one team is trying to retain the title it has held for four years, and another is attempting to get it back after a long drought.
After the giant slalom and 5K freestyle cross-country events, defending champ Mt. Blue leads Oxford Hills easily, 45-121, in boys’ competition, while Edward Little, looking for its first title since 1990, leads Oxford Hills 70-91 for the girls.
All the action took place Tuesday at Mt. Abram (alpine) in Locke Mills and Black Mountain (Nordic) in Rumford.
The Edward Little girls moved in front in the Nordic event, which was won by Oxford Hills’ Mandy Ivey. The Viking sophomore simply blew away the competition with a time of 17:19, a full 1:15 ahead of second-place finisher Sarah Gardner of EL.
“I’m excited; I definitely did the best that I could,” said Ivey. “It felt good starting in warm-ups. I did all the right stuff before the race. I felt really good the whole way. I didn’t really have any mess-ups or anything.
“My main competitor is Sarah Gardiner from EL and when I got to the middle of the course, my coach said I was exactly even with her for time and that I just needed to pick it up a little bit and I did.”
Despite Ivey’s strong showing, three Edward Little skiers in the Top 10 put the Eddies in front. Laura Gardiner was third, and Kate Woodward was fifth.
Mt. Blue placed a pair in the Top 10. Rebecca Schoen was fourth and Lisa Hartung was eighth.
Emily Jacobs and Lauren Fereshetian finished sixth and seventh respectively for Leavitt.
Skiers had nothing but praise for the course and the conditions. Ivey has had a lot of experience on the Rumford course.
“It’s hard out there. It’s not the same course (as the Chevrolet Nationals),” she said. “Parts of it are the same, but there wasn’t High School Hill. Because I am a distance runner, there is so much conditioning so the more hills the better for me.
“I think I did pretty good. I’m not really good at hills and I could have done a little better so I might have gone faster. High School Hill really tires me out. The wax was really good today, too. It’s not windy and it’s not that cold. It’s really nice.”
Mt. Blue took top honors in GS by swiping the top two spots. Tory Gray and Keelin Cyr led the Cougar parade. Heidi Judkins was 10th.
The Red Eddies also had three skiers in the Top 10, with Kelly Constantine and Heidi Dorris finishing second and third, respectively. Catherine Comeau was eighth.
Samantha Brown of Oxford Hills was sixth and Nicole Bussiere of Lewiston was seventh.
On the boys’ side, Mt Blue took command from the start, claiming three of the top four GS slots.
Edward Little’s Tyler Dorris set the pace with the fastest run of the day (43.52) and tied with Mt. Blue’s Nick Gray in the second run with 44.51.
Dorris was the only thing in the way of the Cougars, making it a clean sweep at the top.
Gray, Buzzy Cyr, and Jordan Stevens followed Dorris.
Eric Ouellette of Oxford Hills was the only other local skier in the Top 10. He finished fifth.
Mt. Blue only strengthened its position in the Nordic race, taking three of the top five positions.
The race was won by Ben Koons of Messalonskee while his brother Nils was third.
Other than that is was all Cougars.
Wes Hines led the parade in second while teammates Matt Dunlap and Ian McPherran were fourth and fifth.
Leavitt placed a pair in the Top 10 as Mike and Scott Lessard finished seventh and eighth.
Lief Melhus of Oxford Hills and Dinesh Costlow of EL were ninth and 10th. Tom Esponnette of EL thought it was a perfect day to race.
“It was awesome. Perfect weather, good conditions, the snow was wicked fast, and the perfect wax,” he said. “It was great. I would have to say that it would be one of my fastest runs of the year.”
Day 2 of the three-day meet resumes this morning at Mt. Abram with the slalom, and will conclude on Thursday at Black Mountain with the 5K classical Nordic event.
pmullen@sunjournal.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.