NEWRY – The lead Freeport built Monday over Livermore Falls and Madawaska wasn’t enormous – just eight points separated the Falcons from the Andies, and the Owls were just 12 back – but it was enough.

Anne-Sophie Massy followed up her win in the giant slalom with a second place in the slalom event Tuesday, and Maggie Smith finished third in the slalom as Freeport held off hard-charging Madawaska for the Class C alpine championship at Sunday River.

“You spend a lot of time working on technique all year,” Freeport coach Marc Bourgoin said. “When it comes time for race day, the focus shifts to on-course preparation and tactics. We spent some extra time this year on course inspection and choosing lines to be more aggressive.”

The aggressive line paid off Monday as the Falcons placed three skiers (Massy, Smith and Morgan Weimar) in the top 10. On Tuesday, Madawaska placed all four of its skiers in the top 10 and won the slalom event with 24 points to Freeport’s 31.

“We just gave up too much ground yesterday,” Madawaska coach Rick Pelletier said. “Maybe we were a bit intimidated, I don’t know. We just hadn’t trained in that situation. Still, in the overall, we are in great shape.”

Looking at the overall picture, Madawaska has a hefty lead (126-177) heading into Wednesday final event, the 5-kilometer classical race at Black Mountain.

For Livermore Falls, the loss was bittersweet.

“We made a run for it, and we lost,” Livermore coach Jeff Marceau said. “That’s OK, though. The upside of it is that we have eight skiers on the girls’ team, seven of which ski all four events, and all of which will return to the team next year, plus we get two top-five middle school racers as freshmen.”

For Freeport, the win was especially sweet for Massy, a foreign exchange student from Switzerland whose passion for skiing was apparent all day.

“You always have to try and win the race,” Massy said. “If you hold back, if you are not working hard, it is easy to fall asleep on your skis, maybe miss a gate. You always have to ski hard.”

This despite being edged out on Tuesday’s run by Danielle Daigle of Madawaska by just less than one second. Still, Massy is far from disappointed.

“You can’t win all the time, even when you ski hard,” Massy said. “She is a good skier, and she skied well today.”

Maggie Smith also placed well for Freeport. The senior captain, who missed all of last season with a torn ACL, finished third in the slalom and seventh in the GS.

Following Freeport, Madawaska and Livermore Falls in the alpine standings were Fort Kent and Central Aroostook. Rachel Gagnon of Jay, a top contender in the skimeister competition in the last few years, finished sixth in the slalom, while Tricia Richard and Cassandra Purrington were the Andies’ top skiers. Ashley Falcone was Winthrop’s top finisher in 16th place.

Fort Kent edges Rangeley

Fort Kent lost two points from Monday’s giant slalom run, and Rangeley had the opportunity to climb closer to its goal of an alpine championship.

Unfortunately for Rangeley, and several other teams in contention, the conditions on the mountain were just a bit too perfect.

Despite losing two of its top four skiers to falls, the Warriors of Fort Kent out-lasted the Lakers of Rangeley 96-112 to claim the Class C boys state alpine title at Sunday River.

“Everyone seemed to have problems today,” Fort Kent coach Carl Theriault said. “The win was good, but this isn’t the way we wanted to do it. I had one guy go down on the first run, and another fall on the second, but our fifth and sixth skiers came up big to plug the holes. I’ve always said it takes six guys to make four work, and it proved true today.”

The Rangeley loss came despite stellar runs by Dustin Duchesne, who for the second day in a row grabbed a downhill title. Duchesne claimed the giant slalom title Monday by less than two-tenths of a second, and on Tuesday he bested Matt Brochu of Livermore Falls by nearly three seconds to win the slalom.

Ross Thompson of Rangeley finished third to give the Lakers an early edge, but Fort Kent’s third and fourth skiers across the line finished in 11th and 27th respectively, while Rangeley next two were 24th and 28th. It is Fort Kent’s first season in Class C after one in Class B and several prior to that in Class A.

“We had moved to A about 10 years ago, to get better competition,” Theriault said. “Now, there are several teams in Class C, and most of the schools around us up in the County are Class C. We have a good relationship with them, and the move made sense.”

The move also seems to have paid off, at least on the slopes.

In the overall race for the boys’ state title, the Warriors sit in first place. Following Fort Kent to the line on Tuesday in the alpine title chase were Freeport, MCI and Central Aroostook.

In addition to Brochu, Ross Thompson finished in the top 10 in the slalom, as did Jon Dennett of Winthrop.

jpelletier@sunjournal.com

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