There’s always something about top athletes coaches point to that they say is unteachable.

Adam Mahar of Telstar most certainly has that x-factor, according to coach Gary Wight.

“His work ethic, his drive and his desire, that’s something you can’t put in a kid, it’s something he’s got to have,” Wight said. “You can have him ski and everything, but he’s got to want it to excel.”

After a modestly successful sophomore ski season, Mahar refocused over the summer. He spent some time training specifically for the ski season, and in the fall, he ran cross country.

“That helps a lot in the fall,” Mahar said of running the trails.

When the snow started to fly, there was perhaps one thing and one thing holding Mahar back: Himself.

“The thing with Adam, he doesn’t feel he’s in the same class as a Tyler DeAngelis (of Maranacook) or those guys,” Wight said. “If he had a good race or he was close, he feels like they must have had a bad race. It’s not that he had a good race. His self-confidence is what, sometimes, holds him back a little. But it’s getting better, and it’ll get better as he goes along.”

But as he raced this season, Mahar started to see his times improve. When the big races came around — MVCs, states and Eastern High School qualifying — Mahar was just about as strong as he’d ever been.

And it showed.

“I think MVCs was definitely a turning point, I had a really good performance there,” Mahar said. “I was really happy with that.”

And why not? He swept the classical and freestyle nordic events at this year’s MVC championships, winning the classical by 51 seconds, and the freestyle by 28. But even Mahar said that while those races produced his best results, his best race overall came a couple of weeks later.

“My best race of the season was probably the Eastern High School qualifier,” he said.

There, he placed sixth in the 5k classical and 12th in the freestyle pursuit and earned a spot on the team representing Maine at the TD Bank Eastern High School Championships.

“He’s got a good attitude, his work ethic is real good,” Telstar coach Gary Wight said. “Everything he does, he wants to do well, what can I say?”

Wight, and everyone else, can now also say that Mahar has added another accolade to his growing list. The Telstar junior is the 2010-11 Sun Journal Boys’ Nordic Skier of the Year.

Next up for Mahar? Back to training.

“I’m planning to put in a lot more time on roller skis this summer, and a lot more bicycle,” Mahar said. “I’ve got to get in the long, slow distance.”

 

First team

Brody Hines Mt. Blue

Jonah Jones Mt. Blue

Adam Mahar Telstar

Jessie Newcomb Oxford Hills

Jeremy Read Oxford Hills

Dustin Staples Mt. Blue

Forrest Todd Oxford Hills

Second team

Tim Andrews Mt. Blue

Keith Lemelin Leavitt

Ben Lewis Telstar

Zach Tannenbaum Edward Little

Dylan Thombs Monmouth

Zach Veayo Mt. Blue

Nick Woods Mtn. Valley