RUMFORD — Sadie James may miss a lot about being a J2- level skier, but one thing that never gets old is winning.

The Mt. Abram junior skied her way around the pair of loops at Black Mountain of Maine on Saturday in 16:24.6, more than 30 seconds better than the next-best finisher, to capture the overall girls’ crown at the Sassi Memorial classical race.

“I love racing here, this is my favorite place to ski,” James said. “I love hills, and I love High School Hill. I don’t know why, but it’s great here.”

With the wacky hinter weather so far this ski season, most of the major races have relocated to Black Mountain, including the Hornet Invitational and the Maranacook Wave races, giving skiers an extra chance to become familiar with the Rumford track.

Particularly difficult Saturday was the snow. Temperatures soared past the freezing mark, and the snow was already saturated from the mixed precipitation earlier this week, making for sticky conditions on the trails.

“It was great to be out there watching,” Edward Little coach Dan Campbell said, “but it was tough to hit the wax. We had to make some last-minute changes, but that worked out O.K.”

“The uphills were hard,” James said, agreeing completely with most of the more than 500 athletes and coaches on site. “On some of the hills, I had to actually run. I had chunks of snow on top of my skis that I was trying to kick off. It might have slowed me down a little, but it was better than being slow on the downhills.”

A rematch, of sorts, between James and Maranacook star Abby Mace never materialized as expected Saturday, as Mace, who beat James by 15 seconds at the Maranacook Wave, was a scratch. Still, the Mt. Abram skier raced, as usual, against the course and against herself in one of the best-attended events of the season.

“I love the Sassi,” James said. “It’s like a pre-state race, so get to compete against everybody I’ll see at states. It’s great to see where you are.”

One piece of the race that James missed this year was the qualifying for the J2 Maine state team, because she is now too old for that age bracket. The Sassi is the race officials use to select then J2 squad that will represent Maine at regional events. The top 20 finishers at the Sassi qualify for inclusion on the team.

Sarah Wade of Mt. Blue, following up her strong, third-place finish at Maranacook Wave, place third among all J2 candidates Saturday to earn a place on the squad.

“She’s a much better skater,” Mt. Blue coach David Nordstrom said. “She had a great day out there. She’s one of the skiers that got out there early, before the temperature fluctuated enough to affect the wax too much.”

A new wrinkle this year, which allowed for more level competition in J2 qualifying, sent all of the J2-eligible skiers onto the course first. The J2 girls preceded the rest of the girls in the race, and likewise for the start of the boys’ race.

“I thought it was very nice, it was a way to, it was just them, so they know who they’re competing against,” Leavitt coach Dustin Williamson said. “It was a great format, and the kids really seemed to appreciate it.”

In the boys’ race, Fryeburg’s Silas Eastman turned in the run of the day, posting a time of 13:45.5 as one of the later skiers out on the course, upending Josh Espy of Waynflete by 15 seconds. Espy posted his time of 14:00.6 as one of the first non-J2 skiers out on the course for the boys’ race.

“When we first got here, I tested on my regular skis, and they were slow,” Eastman said. “They were icing up. My coach let me use him skis, and that helped so much. I was kicking well up High School Hill, up the first half, but after that it was slipping a bit.”

Eastman had the added benefit of watching more than 200 skiers start ahead of him, giving him a good sense of the course and the conditions.

“Everyone seemed to be going pretty quickly,” Eastman said. “It seemed quicker than when I was racing, actually. When I was out there, it seemed slower. I’m used to going out in the first few, so seeing other people, seeing where it was hard helped a lot.”

The race to make the boys’ J2 team was largely dominated by southern corridor squads. Aiden Clark of Gould, Thomas Farraday of Mt. Abram, Marcello Deluca of Gould, Rylee Knox of Leavitt and Silas Rogers of Mt. Blue were among the top 20 J2 finishers.

In the girls’ J2 race, Emma Houston of Mt. Abram, India Lucas of Oxford Hills, Audrey Garcia of Gray-New Gloucester and Rachel Ingram of Winthrop joined Wade in the top 20.

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