BETHEL – The Mt. Blue boys and girls knew they could essentially call their shot at Saturday’s Telstar Relays. But their leadoff hitters didn’t see any point in working the count.

Shelby Aseltine and Derek Rowe made sure their teammates never had to look over their shoulders, setting blistering paces in their respective first legs as the Cougars dominated two of the three events under deep blue skies at Telstar High School.

Bursting off the starting line with two dozen other competitors, Aseltine took command in the first 150 yards. She skied the opening five kilometers in 16:30 to open up a two-minute cushion for Caitlin Douglass.

“If you get caught up in the middle, you’re going to get caught up in a traffic jam for who knows how long,” said Aseltine, a sophomore. “It definitely helped trying to get myself into that mindset, thinking you have to go forward. You have to get ahead.”

By the time Douglass, Meredith Allen and Hannah Allen finished navigating the hills and woods, Mt. Blue had opened another six seconds on their cushion, crossing the line in 1:10:18, 2:06 ahead of Natasha Varney, Allison Fereshetian, Melissa Kelson and Samantha Varney of Leavitt. Yarmouth finished third.

Rowe also broke out early in the boys’ event, building a 53-second cushion on Leavitt’s Derek Drouin for teammate Kelton Cullenberg.

“I really didn’t expect to ski the whole race by myself,” Cullenberg said.

Aside from a couple of choppy hills, the course was in near-perfect condition, a marked contrast to last year, when over a kilometer had to be shaved off the course due to warm temperatures and heavy rains in the week leading up to the race.

Cullenberg battled fatigue and still doubled the lead Rowe had established for Adam Fissette on the third run..

“I got really tired, but I had to remember that there were two more legs left and I had to gain time for them,” he said.

Welly Ramsey, Mt. Blue’s anchor, beat Rowe’s opening time by two seconds to complete the race for the Cougars in 57:01, 2:14 ahead of Gould. Leavitt’s Lauren Turner turned in the fastest leg of the day (13:25) to rally the Hornets past Maranacook for third place.

Leavitt made it a troika of top-three finishes in the mixed race, tying for third with Maranacook, behind Greely and Mt. Abram.

“The thing about relays is that it’s when Nordic skiing really becomes a team sport, more than any other day,” Leavitt coach Dustin Williamson said. “Every person is important. Every leg is important. We stress technique, having fun, and if you’re behind someone, staying with them as much as you can.”

Jake Carlton, Maria Parrett, Devin Littlefield and Emma James finished in 1:08:04 for Mt. Abram, 2:32 behind Greely in the boy-girl-boy-girl format. Leavitt’s team of Travis Adams, Laura Dacyczyn, Elliott Wiegman and Taren McGray tied Maranacook at 1:09:35 when McGray stayed stride for stride with the Black Bears’ Emily Perkins through the finish line.