NEWRY – With two skiers firmly entrenched at No. 1 and No. 2, Fort Kent looked on its way to an easy win in the boys’ slalom race, and in the overall Class C Alpine.
Freeport, meanwhile, didn’t have a single skier in a tight top 10, and the Falcons’ title hopes were bleak.
The points, though, have a funny way of working out sometimes.
With four skiers in places 11 through 20, Freeport gathered 62 points in Friday’s slalom event at Sunday River, four better than John Bapst’s 66 and 13 better that Fort Kent’s 75. Trailing the Warriors by a single point after Thursday’s slalom, the 13-point gap Friday was more than enough to vault the Falcons to the Class C Alpine state title.
“All things considered, we were behind the eight-ball to start today and this week,” said Freeport coach and Auburn native Marc Bourgoin. “Three weeks ago we lost our No. 1 skier when he banged up his knee, and coming in we also knew how powerful Fort Kent has been in the past, especially last year. And then yesterday, we didn’t have a very good showing.”
Despite that “less than good” showing, the Falcons stood just one point out of first when Fort Kent also slipped up.
Freeport changed its training schedule at Sunday River in the weeks leading up to Friday’s race, focusing more on slalom than in years past.
“That extra help paid off,” said Bourgoin.
The course the team saw Friday was eerily similar to the setup on which they trained in the weeks leading up to the meet, making the skiers’ eyes open wide.
“The first run was a little faster than we’re used to, a little straighter,” said Freeport alpine skier Dan Sandberg. “The second one, though, was just like what we trained on. It was more about standing up and being a little conservative. That’s what went through my mind, anyway.”
When Fort Kent’s Paul Thibodeau and Alex Mitchell finished 1-2, radios crackled at the top to let remaining skiers know their competitors’ times.
“That’s all part of the mental part of this,” said Sandberg, who finished 13th overall Friday after a ninth-place finish in the giant slalom Thursday. “We knew they were a little weaker with their fourth scorer, though. There a some teams with some really fast kids out there, but I don’t know how many are as consistent as ours.”
John Bapst, meanwhile, paced by No. 1 skier Marc Curtis (eight in the slalom), leapfrogged both MCI and Madawaska to claim third place in the Alpine competition. Madawaska limped into fourth, while MCI held steady in fifth.
Individually, several local skiers had a good day. Winthrop’s Jon Dennett placed fourth in the slalom following a 24th place finish in the giant slalom after a fall. Winthrop took sixth in the team competition behind Mattanawcook. Jay did not have enough skiers to complete a team, but Justin Jacques placed 14th overall and Griffin Couture took 17th. Joe Gagnon, competing as a skimeister for Jay, tumbled on his first run but had the ninth-best second run of the day. he finished in 65th position.
In the overall team competition, through three events, Freeport has a commanding 137-186 lead over Madawaska, while Fort Kent has 188. John Bapst has 230 points and sits in fourth overall through the three events.
The Class C state championships conclude today at Black Mountain’s Broomhall Stadium with the classical cross country competition.
In the overall Nordic race, Madawaska leads Freeport by a single point.
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