FARMINGTON — Mt. Blue’s Nora McCourt and Freeport’s Teo Steverlynck-Horne were individual winners at the 2024 Roy Varney Hornet Classic Nordic ski race on Monday at Titcomb Mountain.

“I felt really good,” Nora McCourt said about her first-place finish in the girls race. “The course was really good and I had phenomenal kick and good glide. It was really cool.”

McCourt’s twin brother, Henri McCourt, took second place to Steverlynck-Horne in the boys race.

Nora McCourt finished the 5-kilometer classical race in 18 minutes 15 seconds, which was 42 seconds ahead of the second-place girls finisher, Clara White of Orono.

“Times honestly don’t really matter that much, just because conditions can be so variable,” Nora McCourt said. “Honestly, I like to focus on how my technique feels and that type of thing.”

One technique that Nora McCourt said she’s been working on has been her classic striding, which she is “feeling a lot stronger and more confident in” compared to last year.

The Roy Varney Hornet Classic was originally scheduled for Saturday at the Maine Outdoors Wellness Center in Turner, but the day and location changed due to weather.

The event was previously known as the Leavitt Hornet Classic, but was renamed in 2020 in honor of Roy Varney, who died in a farming accident shortly after graduating from Leavitt Area High School in 2019.

“Roy was a standout Nordic skier from Leavitt who was a multiple state champion,” Leavitt coach Dustin Williamson said via email.

Mt. Blue coach Emmy Held said Varney’s senior season at Leavitt was the year before she started coaching, so she never shared racing space with him, but she knows the Varney family.

“In past years, many of my athletes did know and ski with Roy, but I think we’re at the point now where most of them have graduated that knew him well,” Held said. “It’s just a really special thing to see all the teams coming together to celebrate the love of winter and love of winter sports, and being out here is pretty special.”

Titcomb Mountain is Mt. Blue’s home course, so Monday’s race was very familiar for the Cougars, who won the girls team division with 787 points.

“I’ve always loved this course,” Nora McCourt said. “It’s the perfect amount of uphill, and then you get to finish a really long downhill, which feels great. I’ve practiced it a lot. The hills are tough, but they also can be very rewarding.”

Despite the home-hill advantage, Held said that the Cougars haven’t been able to practice at Titcomb for several days because all of the recent rain.

“We’re just as pleasantly surprised as everybody else, I’m loving it,” Held said. “They’re (Mt. Blue) having a blast out there; I’m hearing only great things. They’re just so excited to be out here.”

Mt. Blue had three other top-10 finishers, besides Nora McCourt: Maya Kellett (19:27.7) placed fourth, Natalie McCarthy (19:49.9) was fifth and Lucinda Carroll came in seventh.

“Our girls team, as usual, they’re just so positive,” Held said. “They’re so excited to be out here every day, they’re very kind, they’re organized and they motivate each other in a really positive way. There’s some competition within the team, of course, with a really strong team, but it’s in a really positive way. So I love to see that that they use each other to push themselves but never while tearing each other down.”

Two Edward Little skiers placed in the top 10, Kat Garcia, who took eighth, and Nora Condit, was was ninth.

Ruth White, a multi-time cross country running state champion and last winter’s Class C Nordic champ, came in third.

Yarmouth was the girls team runner-up, tallying 724 points. Leavitt (723) was third, while Freeport (723) and Greely (682) rounded up the top five.

Held coaches both Henri and Nora McCourt, who are twin siblings. She said they are both easygoing, fantastic kids who are also powerful competitors on the course.

“They were helping me with wax testing today and they’re very analytical about the course,” Held said.

Held also said the team has been focusing on resting, fueling, hydrating and eating as Monday’s race kickstarted a busy week for the Cougars, who will race again on Wednesday and next Saturday. Going into the busy week, Henri McCourt felt strong about his preparation and result.

“It was nice day, nice grooming, nice course conditions,” Henri McCourt said. “I was feeling pretty good, especially considering it’s the first classic race of the year.”

His time of 15:57 was only six seconds slower than Steverlynck-Horne, who finished in first at 15:51.

“I had a couple of sicknesses late fall, and also over Christmas break, and that kind of knocked me out for a while,” Henri McCourt said. “I missed a lot of training time, but I’m feeling strong and returning well. That was a super fun race, I really liked racing our home course.”

The McCourt twins have been skiing since they were 3 years old, and Henri McCourt said it’s always been something they both really enjoy and they’ve been successful at.

“It’s really cool to have a sibling that does the same thing as you, while you’re kind of competing alongside (them),” Henri McCourt said. “We started scooting around in the backyard when we were maybe like 2 or 3, just in the skis that you strap on over your snow boots.”

Held said Henri and Nora McCourt are both easygoing but also powerful competitors.

“They were helping me with wax testing today, and they’re very analytical about the course,” Held said.

Steverlynck-Horne agreed with the McCourt twins about the conditions at Titcomb, and said the tracks were “nice and icy, super fast, and the kick was good.”

“It felt good to be on real snow,” Steverlynck-Horne said. “We’ve been sort of unlucky down south with all the rain, so it was good to be on some snow.”

The senior has been skiing since sixth grade and is attending Dartmouth College after graduation. At Freeport, in addition to Nordic season in the winter, he also runs cross country and plays tennis.

“I’m hoping we’ll get some more snow,” Steverlynck-Horne said about the rest of this season. “It’s always fun to be out racing.”

The Leavitt boys, led by 10th and 11th place finishes by Gabe Durazo and Jacob Dening, respectively, were the highest scoring team with 733 points. Yarmouth (718) was second, followed by Portland (704), Brunswick (700) and Deering (699). The Mt. Blue boys took ninth.

Spruce Mountain’s Sam Gessinger was the area’s fourth-fastest boys skier Monday, finishing 20th with a time of 19,36.6. He said the hardest part of the race was getting passed by other skiers.

“It’s hard to keep high esteem when you’re getting passed by people,” Gessinger said. “But you can still have a fast race, even when you don’t feel great and you’re getting passed by people.”

Titcomb Mountain is also Gessinger’s home mountain, which he said helped him Monday because he knows the course so well.

“But other than that, I feel like I can ski fast on any course, it just depends on the day,” Gessinger said. “I feel like I’ve made good progress from last season.”

Other area teams’ top finishes were Cameron Sherbinski of Oxford Hills (24th place), Carter Butterfield (Mt. Abram, 47th), Owen Winslow (Edward Little, 63rd), Sam St. Germain (Winthrop, 67th), Kaiden Swan (Dirigo, 71st), Kayan Degruttola (Telstar, 79th), Aidan Granados (Mountain Valley, 105th).

Area girls teams’ top finishers were Jade Haylock (Leavitt, 15th place), Meredith Harthorne (Oxford Hills, 38th), Ella Akers (Telstar (50th), Hannah Perkins (Spruce Mountain, 63rd), Megan Spaulding (Dirigo, 93rd), and Deanna Phillips (Mt. Abram, 105th.

Roy Varney Hornet Classic
5-kilometer classical races
Monday
at Titcomb Mountain
Girls
TEAM RESULTS
1. Mt. Blue 787, 2. Yarmouth 724, 3. Leavitt 723, 4. Freeport 717, 5. Greely 682, 6. Orono 669, 7. Camden Hills 653, 8. Maranacook 650, 9. Falmouth 609, 10. Oxford Hills 578.
11. Edward Little 534, 12. Waynflete 534, 13. York 489, 14. Bangor 483, 15. Portland 475, 16. Deering 297, 17. Cheverus 291, 18. Telstar 289, 19. Spruce Mountain 276, 20. Dirigo 237.
21. Maine Coast Waldorf 171, 22. Quarry Road Ski Club 167, 23. Calvary Christian 133, 24. Mt. Abram 115.
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
1. Nora McCourt (MB) 18:15.1, 2. Clara White (ORO) 18:57.0, 3. Ruth White (ORO) 19:04.7, 4. Maya Kellett (MB) 19:27.7, 5. Natalie McCarthy (MB) 19:49.9, 6. Sylvia Harvey (GRE) 20:09.8, 7. Lucinda Carroll (MB) 20:26.3, 8. Kat Garcia (EL) 20:45.5, 9. Nora Condit (EL) 21:19.9, 10. Reed Proscia (FREE) 21:43.3, 11. Sonja Bell (YAR) 21:52.9, 12. Lucy Fullerton (YORK) 22:18.7, 13. Elsa Bergdahl (MAR) 22:21.7, 14. Olympia Farrell (MAR) 22:27.9, 15. Jade Haylock (LEAV) 22:40.5, 16. Abby Marston (LEAV) 22:42.6, 17. Addie Colello (MB) 22:54.9, 18. Paige Brewer (YAR) 22:56.0, 19. Leah Muentener (YAR) 22:57.6, 20. Madelyn Herman (YORK) 23:36.9.
21. Brenna Mackey (CH) 23:44.0, 22. Laurel Wight (FREE) 24:19.5, 23. Heather Mousseau (LEAV) 24:22.3, 24. Lucy Huggett (FREE) 24:23.6, 25. Zora Desilva (FAL) 24:27.2, 26. Rowan Barry (GRE) 24:46.0, 27. Haley Marston (LEAV) 24:49.7, 28. Elizabet Strickland (MB) 24:51.0, 29. Ashley Roy (LEAV) 24:51.1, 30. Lydia Sharp (MCW) 24:55.0, 31. Amelia Prince (FREE) 25:07.2, 32. Maya Faulspch (YAR) 25:12.7, 33. Molly Patterson (MB) 25:15.1, 34. Emma Price (PORT) 25:15.5, 35. Zaya Irving (QRSC) 25:18.9, 36. Abby Dorr (MB) 25:27.2, 37. Alina Schueman (GRE) 25:31.6, 38. Meredith Harthorne (OX) 25:33.7, 39. Cara Rothwell (CH) 25:44.3, 40. Anica Hickey (CHEV) 25:57.7.
41. Nora Eames (FREE) 26:08.9, 42. Laila Brewer (YAR) 26:24.4, 43. Bela Bukaty (FREE) 26:25.3, 44. Sophie Wentzell (YAR) 26:32.0, 45. Charlotte Pelletier (DEER) 26:42.1, 46. Elise Tardiff (FAL) 26:50.4, 47. Natalie Gill (CH) 26:57.5, 48. Ella Sobol (PORT) 27:02.1, 49. Iris Leonard (FREE) 27:06.9, 50. Ella Akers (TEL) 27:22.7, 51. Norah Mills (YAR) 27:35.5, 52. Clio Eames (FREE) 27:49.3, 53. Lucinda O’Brien (CH) 27:51.8, 54. Gracie Ross (MB) 27:53.7, 55. Heloise Bampton (PORT) 28:06.3, 56. Liz Buckley (LEAV) 28:17.9, 57. Maisy Clement (FAL) 28:34.3, 58. Katie Morgan (EL) 29:03.0, 59. Anwen Kane (MAR) 29:11.2, 60. Liana Talty (CH) 29:31.6.
61. Ella Leding (GRE) 29:35.4, 62. Eva Levin (GRE) 29:56.0, 63. Hannah Perkins (SM) 30:00.4, 64. Nola Meek (WAYN) 30:27.9, 65. Eleanor Weyenberg (YAR) 30:37.2, 66. Jaidyn Stultz (FREE) 30:57.7, 67. Mackenzie Van Nest (OX) 31:02.6, 68. Maureen Tyne (ORO) 31:06.0, 69. Cecliy Niese (WAYN) 31:10.3, 70. Maribel Creek (DEER) 31:22.3, 71. Elsie Pinchbeck (CH) 31:24.3, 72. Acadia Cloutier (LEAV) 31:50.2, 73. Stella Edson (OX) 31:53.8, 74. Ava Jackson (GRE) 32:10.2, 75. Daniela Cundick (MB) 32:14.4, 76. Gabrielle Thompson (TEL) 32:17.2, 77. Lidia Melanson (OX) 32:47.0, 78. Charlotte Brooke (LEAV) 33:11.5, 79. Cade Dow (CALVARY CHRISTIAN) 33:27.1, 80. Skylar Condin (SM) 33:27.7, 81. Kelsey McCrum (ORO) 33:40.4.
81. Fern Carter-Hill (OX) 33:40.4, 83. Sarah Zucker (WAYN) 33:40.5, 84. Roxie Van Oosterum (CHEV) 34:36.9, 85. Annabelle Chabot (LEAV) 34:49.1, 86. Harper Olmstead (MAR) 35:08.6, 87. Lily Young (FAL) 35:32.3, 88. Natalie Bolduc (CH) 36:21.7, 89. Addie Harthorne (OX) 36:27.1, 90. Kiera Bean (LEAV) 36:43.7, 91. Abby Bergmark (BANG) 36:58.5, 92. Addy Turmel (LEAV) 37:03.6, 93. Megan Spaulding (DIR) 37:44.0, 94. Tilsley Kelley (WAYN) 38:58.1, 95. Evelyn Marasco (BANG) 39:23.2, 96. Willow Adler (OX) 39:32.4, 97. Gracie Olson (YAR) 39:37.2, 98. Emma Albert (LEAV) 45:08.6, 99. Clara Herman (YAR) 49:17.7, 100. Sadie D’Alessio (BANG) 50:19.6.
101. Madeline Leblanc (YORK) 50:29.1, 102. Grace O’Brien (BANG) 50:34.0, 103. Linnea Kazimierczak (FAL) 55:47.9, 104. Gemma Roberts (FAL) 57:09.8, 105. Deanna Phillips (MT. AB) 59:49.9, 106. Marley Berry (DIR) 34:20.2.

Boys
TEAM RESULTS
1. Leavitt 733, 2. Yarmouth 718, 3. Portland 704, 4. Brunswick 700, 5. Deering 699, 6. Freeport 682, 7. Oxford Hills 680, 8. Maranacook 670, 9. Mt. Blue 651, 10. Orono 637.
11. Waynflete 604, 12. Greely 549, 13. Winthrop 531, 14. Dirigo 475, 15. Telstar 376, 16. Quarry Road Ski Club 329, 17. Camden Hills 319, 18. Thorton Academy 283, 19. Mt. Abram 265, 20. Mountain Valley 233.
21. York 232, 22. Spruce Mountain 181, 23. Maine Coast Waldorf 157, 24. Cheverus 150, 25. Edward Little 145, 26. Falmouth 125, 27. Bangor 109.
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
1. Teo Steverlynck-Horne (FREE) 15:51.9, 2. Henri McCourt (MB) 15:57.7, 3. Ben Wall (GRE) 16:55.3, 4. Silas Bartol (MAR) 17:05.6, 5. Wyatt Stevenson (MAR) 17:12.4, 6. Tait Harvey (GRE) 17:30.4, 7. Henry Morrison (PORT) 17:48.9, 8. Zeke Zelonish (DEER) 17:49.9, 9. Damian Wynn (MB) 17:54.7, 10. Gabe Durazo (LEAV) 18:00.7, 11. Jacob Dening (LEAV) 18:10.5, 12. Asa Tussing (DEER) 18:13.9, 13. George Ayer (PORT) 18:23.4, 14. Porter Towne (FREE) 18:41.3, 15. Sam Cashman (BRUN) 18:42.1, 16. Ben Flowerdew (YAR) 18:44.4, 17. Ben Arsenault (ORO) 19:20.8, 18. Aksel Moon (YAR) 19:26.9, 19. Jonathan Koehler (BRUN) 19:27.0, 20. Samuel Geissinger (SM) 19:36.6.
21. Jack Borland (DEER) 19:37.9, 22. Dominick Toscano (LEAV) 19:39.0, 23. Owen Beal Tate (QRSC) 19:45.2, 24. Cameron Sherbinski (OX) 19:47.7, 25. Graham Baybuo (YAR) 19:47.9, 26. Will Barnby (WAYN) 20:08.5, 27. John Nicholas (YAR) 20:09.8, 28. Damon Rucci (LEAV) 20:21.5, 29. Alexander Gordon (YAR) 20:28.1, 30. Brendan Ledwick (BRUN) 20:33.2, 31. Cameron Pinchbeck (CH) 20:39.0, 32. Dean Rudman (OX) 20:41.5, 33. Cody Roy (OX) 20:41.8, 34. Liam Waring (ORO) 21:07.8, 35. Asher Roy (OX) 21:10.1, 36. Levi Herr (YAR) 21:16.3, 37. Serhii Bezhenar (LEAV) 21:32.2, 38. Wyatt Williams (TA) 21:45.5, 39. Ben Medd (PORT) 21:45.7, 40. Daire Woodruff (BRUN) 21:47.4.
41. Graecen Jepson (PORT) 21:49.7, 42. Reid Sibley (LEAV) 22:01.8, 43. Gabe Dos Reis (OX) 22:01.9, 44. Leif Hellstedt (YAR) 22:02.2, 45. Leighton Doyle (MCW) 22:08.4, 46. Kennan Barry (GRE) 22:08.6, 47. Carter Butterfield (MT. AB) 22:19.1, 48. Noah Damon-Travers (OX) 22:19.8, 49. Vanya Bezhenar (LEAV) 22:27.7, 50. Elliott Werner (WAYN) 22:30.8, 51. Hunter Lemieux (LEAV) 22:32.2, 52. Walter Nadeau (FREE) 22:39.0, 53. Jett Worcester (LEAV) 22:42.7, 54. Rowan Angelini (QRSC) 22:47.8, 55. Owen Advani (YAR) 22:53.2, 56. Logan Whitmarsh (CHEV) 22:58.7, 57. Iain Larsen-Leavins (CH) 23:05.9, 58. Alex Corey (LEAV) 23:07.2, 59. Joe Maynard (YAR) 23:29.2, 60. Nicholas Bell (MB) 23:36.7.
61. Everett Dietlin (PORT) 23:39.4, 62. Owen Beane (ORO) 23:42.1, 63. Owen Winslow (EL) 23:51.1, 64. Lincoln Clark (WAYN) 23:54.0, 65. Mungu Tussing (FREE) 24:39.1, 66. Jeffrey Lemieux (MAR) 24:45.4, 67. Sam St. Germain (WIN) 24:52.2, 68. Evan Gerbi (ORO) 25:11.1, 69. Samual Morrison (PORT) 25:14.8, 70. Ronan Brown (OX) 25:17.4, 71. Kaiden Swan (DIR) 25:21.1, 72. Tristan Hardel (YAR) 25:30.3, 73. Finn Marianski (YAR) 25:33.8, 74. Angelo Toscano (LEAV) 25:34.1, 75. Brennen Moquin (DEER) 25:52.8, 76. Will Stoner (ORO) 26:00.9, 77. Oliver Moore (YAR) 26:14.8, 78. Cooper Tarbuck (MAR) 26:45.4, 79. Kayan Degruttola (TEL) 26:46.4, 80. Jospeh Szakas (WIN) 26:47.3.
81. Carson Holme (OX) 27:04.0, 82. Wyatt Matseka (WAYN) 27:26.6, 83. Gianni Haefele (WIN) 27:45.7, 84. James Wheeler (ORO) 27:48.9, 85. Hunter Milliken (LEAV) 27:51.2, 86. Carter Bennett (MAR) 27:58.2, 87. Jack Cashman (BRUN) 27:59.8, 88. Tommy Marston (WAYN) 28:07.6, 89. Nathan Culina (ORO) 28:11.8, 90. Reece Dubreuil (WIN) 28:14.7, 91. Liam McKee (LEAV) 28:19.0, 92. Ryan Zamer (FAL) 28:29.0, 93. Fisher Fernald (PORT) 28:31.1, 94. Reece Pierce (TEL) 28:31.7, 95. Ollie West (FREE) 29:08.3, 96. Quinn Martin (FREE) 29:44.8, 97. Jacobi Sutton (LEAV) 29:45.7, 98. Tyler Welch (LEAV) 30:05.7, 99. Calum Bryant (ORO) 30:06.6, 100. Aldo Jakubek (YORK) 30:10.8.
101. Oliver Williams (TA) 30:11.2, 102. Soren Southall (WAYN) 30:33.5, 103. Trent Sibley (LEAV) 30:34.2, 104. Davon Degruttola (TEL) 31:05.8, 105. Aidan Granados (MV) 31:24.5, 106. Whyatt Perham (MV) 33:10.9, 107. John Lane (DIR) 34:05.6, 108. Daryl Curtis (DIR) 34:40.9, 109. Gabe McIntosh (ORO) 35:38.3, 110. Luke Mosher (LEAV) 35:59.1, 111. Nick Morouse (BRUN) 36:44.1, 112. Ben Daku (MB) 36:48.7, 113. Jameson Moore (YORK) 36:49.2, 114. Evan Bilodeau (MT. AB) 37:58.7, 115. Zachary Libby (LEAV) 41:07.3, 116. Seamus Bowdish (BRUN) 42:47.3, 117. Johnathan Tilton (OX) 44:02.9, 118. Tyler Boone (BANG) 44:12.9, 119. Legal Madhu (YAR) 44:51.2, 120. Tom Suttles (DIR) 57:56.6.

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