CARRABASSETT VALLEY – You know it was good race when the moment you’ve finished, you just want to do it all over again.

That’s how Sam Sweetser felt Monday afternoon after his downhill run on the Narrow Gauge trail at Sugarloaf.

“That’s how downhill is,” said the Cumberland Center native. “You’re a little nervous at the start. You’ve got butterflies. Then you get to the bottom and you’re like ‘Yeah, I want to do that again, for sure.'”

Sweetser was roaring down the mountain at more than 75 miles per hour at one point and finished fifth in Monday’s downhill.

“I didn’t ski the best up top,” said Sweetser. “I made a couple of mistakes. I’ve got some really good skies, and I skied really well on the bottom. I would have like to put a whole run together, but that’s ski racing.”

Sweetser was third on the splits during his run but made up significant time at the bottom to take first place temporarily. He finished in 1:10.60. T.J. Lanning won the race in 1:09.04.

“I skied pretty well on the headwell section, the one section where you need to carry your speed,” Sweetser said.

After missing last year’s Nationals in Alaska because of a broken leg, the Carrabassett Valley graduate was thrilled to return to Sugarloaf and have this kind of success.

“I finally feel like I’m back where I was at before I broke my leg last year,” Sweetser said. “I’ve finally found that intensity. It takes a while to get that back.”

Sweetser was eighth in the downhill training run in the morning, finishing in 1:20.85. He was also eighth Sunday in the super-G, finishing in 1:20.85.

Sweetser broke his leg in the middle of last season. Working his way back, he is in the process of making his sixth appearance in Nationals his best.

“I’m psyched,” Sweetser said. “(Sunday) I had a great day. I skied really well, as well as I’ve skied in a really long time. It’s awesome.”

Tuesday will feature the men’s giant slalom, another event that Sweetser has high hopes for.

“I’m excited about the GS,” he said. “A top-10 would be awesome. We’ll see what happens.”