Leavitt’s Nate Dumais wins the boys’ skimeister.
RUMFORD – The best thing that could have happened to the Edward Little girls’ ski team were the Leavitt Hornets.
Leavitt claimed three of the Top 10 spots to win the final event, the 5K classical race, to act as spoiler as the Edward Little girls were crowned both Nordic and overall Class A state champions at Black Mountain Thursday.
EL posted 150 points to Oxford Hills’ 160. Mt. Blue was third with 207 and Leavitt fourth at 268.
On the boys’ side, the Mt. Blue Cougars swept every event to post a win of avalanche proportions over Oxford Hills, 98-210. Leavitt was third with 287, EL fourth with 289, and Telstar fifth with 362.
The only suspense remaining entering the final day was on the girls’ side of the ledger. Just five points separated EL, Mt. Blue and Oxford Hills for the overall title, and EL held a slightly less tenuous lead over Oxford Hills and Leavitt.
“Leavitt has traditionally beat us in Nordic all year long,” said EL Nordic coach Dan Campbell. “Our problem was we skied our race on Tuesday and beat a lot of good teams. The girls were dead today. They had no arm action, and when I was out on the course, I was urging them on. Oxford Hills clearly had the ability to beat us.”
Oxford Hills’ Mandy Ivey led the charge again, winning the race with a time of 18:51.0, almost 45 seconds ahead of Leavitt’s Emily Jacobs.
Mt. Blue faded from the chase with only one skier in the Top 10. Cougar Rebecca Schoen was fifth.
The Vikings lost ground as well despite Ivey’s first-place finish. The next Viking to place was Cammy Ingram in eighth. Lauren Damon was ninth.
Between Sarah and Laura Gardner’s third- and seventh-place finishes, and Leavitt’s strong showing, the Eddies opened the gap slightly in bringing home the trophy.
The Hornets’ Lauren Fereshetian was fourth and Katelyn Beeckel was sixth.
“It was a hard race,” said Sarah Gardiner, the team’s lone senior. “I knew whoever won deserved it.”
With herself being the only loss to the team for next season, Gardiner thinks EL skiing is in good shape.
“We had a great season,” said the senior. “We worked really hard and everyone but me is coming back. I am looking forward to seeing more success from this team.”
Without discounting anyone else, Campbell says there is more than meets the eye with this title.
“I am so thrilled,” said the coach. “People need to know how hard they had to work for this. We aren’t in the snow belt so it meant traveling 5-6 days a week. We spent all our time on the road.
“That’s not to say other teams don’t work hard but I don’t think anyone worked harder than these girls. It proves that good things can happen to good people.”
Edward Little last won a state title in skiing in 1990
In the girls’ skimeister competition, it was a clean sweep for Hampden Academy. But there is a story there as well.
Hampden’s Paige Clifton’s start in the 5K Freestyle race on Tuesday was delayed because someone had taken her skis. She was allowed to start when she was ready, but the timing system added on the time spent looking, adding around 10 minutes to her time.
The error was not corrected until Thursday morning and when corrected, Clifton and teammate Alyssa Forrest tied for skimeister honors. Melany Morin was third.
Mt. Blue treated the final event of the three-day meet with the same dominance it had shown throughout. While Ben Koons of Messalonskee took top individual honors with a time of 14:26.5, he was chased through the woods by a pack of Cougars.
Mt. Blue seniors Ian McPherran, Wes Hines, and Matt Dunlap finished second through fourth on the windswept course.
“The kids really take it on and make it something important,” said Mt. Blue Nordic coach David Nordstrom. “Our three seniors, Ian, Wes, and Matt really took charge. In our group they pushed each other and made it each other better. Its really them. I also have to give credit to our parents and community because this takes a lot of commitment.”
It was Mt. Blues fifth consecutive boys’ skiing state championship.
“Ian was really strong today,” said the coach. “He deserves a lot of credit for coming in second.”
Oxford Hills placed a pair in the Top 10, with Lief and John Melhus scoring in seventh and 10th place respectively.
Leavitt also had two towards the front. Mike Lessard was sixth and Scott Lessard was eighth.
Dinesh Costlow was 10th for Edward Little.
Leavitt’s Nate Dumais was named skimeister for the boys. Alex Wilken of Hampden Academy and Tom Aseltine of Mt. Blue were tied for second.
pmullen@sunjournal.com
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