FARMINGTON — Spruce Mountain’s Abrahm Geissinger didn’t know how he’d fair against Alex Hemingway. Geissinger hadn’t faced the Mt. Abram skier this winter and wasn’t sure if he could hold him off.
Geissinger found a way to win the MVC Nordic pursuit title with a combined classic and freestyle time of 31 minutes, 56.9 seconds. Hemingway was second at 32:32.1.
“I wanted to win,” Geissinger said. “I wasn’t sure if I could. I hadn’t competed with Alex Hemingway at all yet, so I wasn’t sure how I would stack up. I wanted to do well, but if I was to lose to anyone I was fine if it was him.
Spruce Mountain’s Abrahm Geissinger speeds through the Titcomb Mountain course in Farmington on his way to the MVC Nordic ski individual boys championship on Saturday. Adam Robinson/Sun Journal
Halfway through Saturday’s race at the KVAC/MVC championships, Geissinger realized he had a real chance at victory.
“I guess when I got to the top of the course up there and I had a bit of a gap on him, I realized, ‘I can beat him,’” Geissinger said.
The MVC girls title was won by Orono’s Ruth White, who had a combined time of 38:28.9.
“My plan was just to give it all I got and do the best I could, see if I could hold my position,” White said.
White blew away the MVC competition in Saturday’s freestyle race with a time of 17:51.9. Orono’s Ella Allan-Rahill finished second with a 20:19.9.
White had talked to people before the race about the conditions of the course and was prepared.
“It definitely did get a little soft, so probably not the fastest day, but kids still skied really fast, so I don’t think it slowed us down much,” White said. “It feels good (to win). It was fun and my team had a lot of fun.”
The runner-up in the pursuit was Mt. Abram’s Emily Kidd (44:32), followed by Megan Gerbi of Orono (45:12). Allan-Rahill finished the pursuit in fifth.
Emma Charles of Mt. Blue dominated the KVAC pursuit, finishing with a combined time of 34.51.1.
Charles finished Saturday’s freestyle race in 15:59.
“Honestly, my goal was to win because I felt that was pretty realistic,” Charles said. “It’s a hard course and slow conditions, so I wanted to know that I pushed the whole time and never gave up, and I think I did that.”
The Mt. Blue senior, who will ski for the University of New Hampshire next year, has also been racing 10K races with Quarry Road Ski Club. Because of that, Saturday’s 5K felt fast.
“I’ve been doing a bunch of races in the rest of New England, which are basically all 10Ks, so when I do a 5K it feels super easy,” Charles said. “I was just getting started by the time I got in.”
Brynne Robbins of Mt. Blue finished second in the pursuit with a time of 38 minutes.
On the boys side, Mt. Blue’s Henri McCourt earned the pursuit victory in 32:54.9. McCourt’s teammate Carson Zundel finished second (33:24.3) in Saturday’s freestyle 5K.
“I knew I had a pretty strong chance of winning the KVAC,” McCourt said. “Carson, my teammate, is a really strong skier and he’s a little stronger in classic, so I thought I could make up that gap. My plan was to work hard out of the gate, hopefully be able to work with Carson and ski hard for the whole race.”
In third place was Leavitt’s Logan Ouellette, who had a pursuit time of 33:30.7.
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