NEWRY – James Jackson wasn’t kidding.

All week leading up to the Class A state alpine skiing championships, Jackson, who goes by “J.J.,” touted how much better EL can be in the slalom than in the giant slalom, despite what the season’s numbers might suggest.

He and his Edward Little teammates proved that and then some Tuesday, fighting through a disqualification and some bad skis in the process.

Jackson led the team with a third-place finish in the trickier, more technical discipline, and three EL skiers placed in the top 10 to lead the school to its third Class A alpine title in four years.

“We went in with a 20-point lead, so that was nice, but it was still kind of a hectic day,” Edward Little coach Tara Eretzian said.

Mitch Snowe, who completed two runs in fifth place, was disqualified for straddling two different gates during his second run.

“I felt so bad for him today, being a senior and everything,” Eretzian said.

Meanwhile, Clark Chamberlin couldn’t find his skis at the top of the mountain, and by the time he realized the skis on his feet weren’t his, he was already in the gate.

“I didn’t know what to do,” Chamberlin said. “I thought maybe I’d just run, do fine and it’d be very poetic, or I could wait and have a really bad course to take after everyone else went. I didn’t know what to do, so I just went for it.”

The skis he used were backups for a Greely skier, and weren’t quite tuned properly for racing. Chamberlin still managed to complete his second run, and after Snowe’s disqualification and that of Leavitt skier Sam Ricker, finished in ninth anyway.

“The skis were in awful condition, but I finished anyway,” Chamberlin said.

Branden Lever grabbed 10th for EL. Tom Lynch, who was EL’s fifth-best skier after the first run, found himself thrust into the spotlight after Snowe’s disqualification. But at least he knew what was on the line.

“That was the most dramatic ski race I’ve ever been in,” Lynch said. “I was just going as fast as I could go, and I hip-checked, and I had to pop up quickly so I didn’t miss a gate, and then I turned it on at the bottom.”

Snowe’s DQ enabled Mt. Blue to edge EL, 43-46, in the slalom event, but the Eddies had a 24-point lead after Monday’s giant slalom, and won the alpine title by 21 points.

“The fact that we were able to muster up the heart to do this was amazing in itself,” Chamberlin said.

Mt. Blue, which had a bit of trouble in the GS, leading to a higher score, lost another skier early Tuesday when Shane Smith, the Cougars’ third skier down the hill, failed to finish. Still, the squad placed four skiers in top 20 to keep things tight

“I didn’t even realize until afterwards that we beat them today,” Mt. Blue coach Mark Cyr said. “I didn’t know about the DQ. Had we gotten four kids down the hill cleanly, this could have been a different story. Still, that’s not the way you want to win.”

Leavitt, which is trying to stay close to the Cougars in the race for the overall Class A title, also had trouble standing Tuesday. Windham passed Leavitt and Marshwood to earn third overall in the alpine competition.

The Class A skiing championships wrap up Wednesday with the Nordic classical race at Black Mountain in Rumford.