RUMFORD – The Livermore Falls girls’ ski team wasn’t expected to win the Class C Nordic title this season. Waynflete and Freeport are much too strong.
The Andies weren’t expected to overtake powerhouse Madawaska in the Alpine events, either, and the Owls proved that in grand style Thursday.
Still, with a consistent effort, Livermore Falls had a shot at the overall title, and in reality still may, but the hill the Andies need to climb to get there got steeper than an Alpine slope when one of their best downhillers Danielle Therrien crumbled on her second run.
“That will hurt us a lot,” said Livermore coach Jeff Marceau. “We all feel so badly for her. I think she blew out her knee. In any event she can’t ski (today) for us. She was in fourth place and instead we had to take a 22 and dropped from second to third.”
On the trails at Black Mountain, specialist teams from Waynflete, John Bapst and Freeport claimed the top three places in the freestyle cross country race, pushing Livermore into sixth position. After two events, the Freeport girls have 86 points, which is 57 points better than second-place Madawaska. The Owls’ Jessica Ayotte claimed first place in the giant slalom event at Sunday River in the morning to lead the team to a 20-point day.
“To win states, you need to be strong in more than one place,” said Madawaska Nordic coach Yvon Levesque. “At the counties, we were right with Caribou and we saw what they did here this week in the Class B race.”
Madawaska Alpine coach Rick Pelletier was still cautious after his team’s run Thursday.
“It’s still slalom (today),” Pelletier said. “We still have to stand up.”
Waynflete took an early lead in the team Nordic competition in the afternoon session at Black Mountain, edging a strong John Bapst team 42-48. Freeport was third with 55 points, while Fort Kent hung around with 77. Fort Fairfield, backed by first-place finisher Hilary McNamee’s 15:22.2, took fifth place at 86 points, and Livermore finished sixth with an even 100.
In the boys’ race, Madawaska edged Freeport by a single point in the freestyle race. The Owls had skiers place fourth, fifth, sixth and 11th to offset Freeport’s Nick Martin in second and Dan Sandberg and Rusty Milholland in seventh and eighth.
Fort Kent’s Newt Rogers finished 39 seconds better than Martin and 43 second better than teammate Minal Caron in third. Fort Kent had a strong 1-2, but tailed off at the third and fourth position to take third in the Nordic standings with 66 points, 39 back of second-place Freeport.
John Bapst at 75 and Waynflete at 85 rounded out the top five.
On the hill, Madawaska ruled the girls’ race, while Livermore finished 27 points back in third. Fort Kent took fourth and John Bapst came in at No. 5.
On the boys’ side, Fort Kent edged Freeport 47-48, with Madawaska still lurking with 69 points. MCI came in at No. 4 in the giant slalom with 89 points, tied with John Bapst.
In the boys’ overall race, Freeport holds a commanding edge, posting 75 points through two events compared to Madawaska’s 95.
The slalom competition concludes at Sunday River this morning, while the Nordic championships will finish at Black Mountain on Saturday morning.
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