Winthrop’s Maguire Anuszewski exits the flush at the top of the headwall during his second run at the KVAC/MCA Championships at Ticomb Mountain in Farmington yesterday.Mountain Valley’s Alecia Bolduc prepares to take her second run at the KVAC/MCA Championships at Ticomb Mountain in Farmington yesterday.Oxford Hills Caroline Burns enters the delay at the top of the headwall during her first run Acritelli. Burns finished fourth in the KVAC.Oxford Hills’ Tommy Bancroft cross blocks a gate mid-way down the headwall at the KVAC/MCA Championships at Ticomb Mountain in Farmington yesterday. Bancroft finished 5th in the KXAC.Oxford Hills Ryland Vem Decker exits the flussha at the top of the headwall at the KVAC/MCA Championships at Ticomb Mountain in Farmington yesterday.Spruce Mountain’s Lucas Alley gets in the back seat after a left-footed turn at the KVAC/MCA Championships at Ticomb Mountain in Farmington yesterday. Alley made the save and landed in 4th.Eventual overall and MVC winner Nick Newman carves a turn at the top of the headwall at the KVAC/MCA Championships at Ticomb Mountain in Farmington yesterday.
FARMINGTON — Thanks to a slow moving clipper that delivered moderate snow Saturday, frigid Titcomb Mountain became a winter wonderland that gave skiers something to talk about other than their times in Day 1 of the Kennebec Valley Athletic and Mountain Valley Conference championships.
The second day of skiing competition will be held Tuesday at Black Mountain in Rumford.
But when it was all said and done, Maranacook (42 points) and Mt. Blue (43 points) finished first and second, respectively, in KVAC boys’ slalom racing and Mountain Valley stood atop the heap in the MVCs.
Miles Pelletier (combined time of 1:21.01) of Mt. Blue and Rachel Tooth (1:24.36 ) of Maranacook are the 2017 KVAC slalom champions. Mountain Valley senior Nick Newman (1:20.06) took the MVC crown with the best overall time in the boys’ competition.
Teams rounding out the KVAC boys’ scoring were Oxford Hills (44), Edward Little (58), Camden (81), Hampden (100), Spruce Mountain (105), Skowhegan (129), Brunswick (182).
The top five in the boys’ KVAC competition included Nathan Delmar (Maranacook, 1:21.93), Hunter Bolduc (Mt. Blue, 1:22.70), Lucas Alley (Spruce Mountain, 124.57) and Tommy Bancroft (Oxford Hills, 1:25.07).
“The boys looked good,” Mt. Blue coach Mark Cyr said. “Unfortunately, one of my top four skiers, my No. 1 skier, Sam Smith, had a major bobble on the first run and then blew out again on the second run, and it turned out he was disqualified.
“We don’t have the depth we used to have in years past,” he added. “So if one of my top four skiers falls, the fifth skier we have to rely on and so it is not always a number we want to turn in. So having Sam fall today didn’t help us. I think we are still in pretty good shape.”
For the most part, the skiers reveled in the powdery snow that blanketed Titcomb. But visibility was poor, and mind-numbing cold also put a strain on the skiers.
“First run was iffy,” said Oxford Hills’ Ryland Vandecker, who finished sixth with a time 125.14. “Second run was a lot better. Still wasn’t as fast as I would like. Snow is kind of slow, but it is still a fun course.”
“I didn’t do too bad,” said Telstar’s Kellen True, who finished fifth (1:26.55) in the MVC. “I was expecting the course to be a little slow today because of all the fresh snow. But we collected the second, and after it was all scraped off, I was able to get a better run.”
“Snow is slow, We usually run three or four seconds faster,” Pelletier said.
For Edward Little, Kyle Mooney (1:25.66) finished eighth and Connor Jackson (1:25.95 ) took 10th.
“Connor Jackson put together two nice runs for us today,” Edward Little coach Jodd Bowles said. “They are battling. Farmington — we are in their kitchen and they are not going to give us nothing. We are going to have to take it.”
In the MVC boys’ championships, Mountain Valley ruled the roost thanks to a solid performance by Newman and the Falcons taking the top three slots — Jon Adley (1:21.95), Curtis Gauvin (1:22.66) and Andrew Arsenault (1:22.66).
“The MVCs, and combined we won he KVACs as well. Overall, we won the whole thing today,” Mountain Valley coach Mark Thibodeau said. “That’s why we go into these events. The MVCs ski-wise is so small. We look at the big picture.
“Newman won overall. Nick has been skiing well all season long,” he added. “He’s the catalyst for these boys — Andrew Arsenault, Jon Adley, Jake Beauchesene, Curtis Gauvin…all those boys are seniors except for Gauvin.”
In girls’ KVAC championships, Tooth’s first-place performance put the Black Bears over the top with 51 points. Maranacook was followed by Spruce Mountain (60 points), Hampden (66), Edward Little (72), Mt. Blue (98) and Oxford Hills (143).
Oxford Hills’ Caroline Burns (1:29.57) took fourth, Spruce Mountain’s Allison Acritelli (1:31.23) took fifth and Lewiston’s Alesha Gregoire (1:32.09) finished sixth. Edward Little’s Samantha Herrick ( 1:32.76) raced to an eighth-place finish.
“It was crazy out there, but you couldn’t ask for better conditions,” Herrick said. “Absolutely flawless. It was awesome. I don’t remember the last time we skied on this good of snow so it was a confidence booster.”
“It went pretty good,” Gregoire said. “Better than I expected.”
“It was absolutely amazing. But it was fun and the gates kept hitting me. It was OK. It was awesome,” Edward Little’s Evelyn Bilodeau, who finished 16th with a time of 1:37.70, said.
In the girls’ MVCs, Telstar finished first with 19 points followed by Mt. Abram with 25.
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