The local racers were one-two in both races at the 2014 Class C state meet, with each claiming an individual title.

Activities held true to form Wednesday in the MVC/KVAC Otterslide Challenge at Titcomb Mountain, where reigning slalom champion Guerette won another showdown with Klein in that discipline by a margin of less than a second.

Guerette blazed from fourth to first in her encore run of the evening, with her combined time of 1:19.15 edging Klein’s clip of 1:19.97.

“My first run was a little rough. I kind of bobbled after the first hairpin, so I was able to set up for this one,” Guerrette said. “It’s good. I like the course. I skied it better the second run, definitely.”

Erin Guilmet of Maranacook and Brooke Lever of Edward Little held a tenuous grip on first and second place after the twilight run, but Klein leapfrogged both on her way to runner-up honors.

Not bad for someone who feels like the season is merely getting started.

“I definitely need to get more practice and more time in gates. Last night was our first time in slalom gates,” Klein said. “We took all of last week off because of how cold it was. (Coach Mark Thibodeau) didn’t want us getting sick.”

There was a come-from-behind victory in the boys’ race, as well, where Mike Miller of Skowhegan used a blistering second run to shake off provisional leader Kyle Farrington of Mt. Blue.

Titcomb is the home hill for both Miller (1:10.57) and Farrington (1:10.87).

“I just kind of knew I had to step it up, because I was only out of first by three-tenths of a second. It was either hammer down or nothing,” Miller said. “You just go all out. You have to be willing to risk it all, really. Lean forward and sharpen the skis.”

The Edward Little girls, led by fourth-place Lever, and Mountain Valley boys, with fifth-place Nick Newman showing the way, won close battles for the team triumphs.

Lever was within two-hundredths of Guilmet after the initial run.

It persuaded her to throw caution to the wind and shoot for the win, a decision that cost her some footing and precious time near the halfway point of the course.

“I think I tried to widen my stance a little mid-turn, so it screwed me up a little bit for the next turn. And the run felt so good, too. Too good to be true,” Lever said. “Usually (being one of the leaders) would freak me out, but I don’t know, I’m in this sort of mood tonight where I’ve got to go for this. I held nothing back and tried to go as fast as I could.”

Guerette got her near-disaster out of the way early, and she acknowledged that it may have helped her mental approach.

In a previous race at Black Mountain in Rumford, Guerette led after the first run and played it too conservatively in round two.

“I got bumped to fourth,” she said. “I like starting back and then going for it.”

Klein was the star of a team that won a state championship a year ago. Now she’s one of only two girls’ skiers for the Falcons.

“We’ve had one (giant slalom) race, and I won that,” Klein said. “Pretty much what I’m looking for are individual titles because we can’t qualify as a team.”

EL packed Victoria Beliveau, Samantha Herrick and Ashley Nguyen 16th through 18th out of 42 finishers to claim the team victory with 55 points.

Topped by freshman Allison Acritelli (sixth, 1:22.15), Spruce Mountain was second with 64, one marker ahead of Oxford Hills. Miranda Murphy was seventh and Annika Kahkonen ninth to lead the Vikings.

“Setting gates at Lost Valley is difficult because is what limited snow we have,” Lever said of the Red Eddies’ quest for team success. “We do what we can with what we have.”

Mountain Valley (46) won a razor-close contest with Mt. Blue (48) and Maranacook (54) in the boys’ team sweepstakes. Nate Leger, Andrew Arsenault and Curtis Gauvin were the Falcons’ additional scorers.

Nate Delmar of Maranacook was third with a time of 1:12.11, just ahead of EL’s Maxx Bell (1:13.90) and Newman (1:14.50).

Devan Pomeroy of Spruce Mountain and Jed Stevens of Mt. Abram tied for sixth.

Miller makes a round trip of more than an hour every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, when not competing, to practice on this terrain.

“It’s nice to have that home hill comfort,” Miller said. “And it’s fun to race with people. It’s fun to have that friendly competition instead of a USSA meet where it’s, ‘I like you, I don’t like you,’ but here we’re all friends.”

koakes@sunjournal.com

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