Nordic skiing: Nora McCourt and Beckett Cote win Sassi Memorial at Black Mountain

RUMFORD — Mt. Blue’s Nora McCourt dominated Saturday’s Sassi Memorial Nordic ski race, finishing first with a time of 17:34.5 and leaving an eight-second gap between her and runner-up Nyla Scott from Gould Academy.

“Conditions were a little bit challenging,” McCourt said. “I had some icing on my skis at one point, and then they were slipping at first, but I feel like we did a really good job narrowing down the wax choices, and I felt good overall.”

McCourt said races at Black Mountain usually allow racers to pick up speed, because of how the course is designed. For her, that is ideal as downhills are her favorite part of Nordic skiing.

Saturday’s race was one of the warmer races on the calendar, sitting at 35 degrees with only 2 mph winds. Chisholm Ski Club announcer Craig Zurhorst joked on the mic that the racers survived the women’s race before the notorious Black Mountain winds were able to roll in.

McCourt said that the Sassi Memorial, a 5-kilometer race, is good chance to compete with and meet racers from throughout the state.

“There’s a lot of people here. It’s really a fun environment to see people from like southern Maine, northern Maine, like everywhere,” McCourt said. “It’s really fun to get to see and chat with people.”

The keys to McCourt’s first-place finish, she said, was her race preparation, warm-ups and “amazing skis.” She is also no stranger to winning, as she also took the top spot at the Roy Varney Hornet Classic earlier this season at Titcomb Mountain in Farmington.

McCourt said she also kept a positive mindset for Black Mountain’s notorious High School Hill.

“I would say High School Hill is always a challenge, it’s super steep, and it’s late in the race so you’re already super tired,” McCourt said. “But, honestly, the thing that motivated me was, like, just thinking at the top of the hill, basically, you’re done, it’s all downhill.”

Beckett Cote, a junior who races for the Quarry Road Ski Club, came in first at 15:19.7 for the boys 5K race, which was 13 seconds ahead of second-place Ellis Slover, a former Edward Little skier who is now at Gould Academy.

“I think I just really pushed the back sections hard, and just tried to keep in my mind to go fast the whole time and not let up anywhere, so just run as hard as possible,” Cote said. “I think the hardest part to keep discipline on is, like, the back section where it’s just like those long grindy gradual hills, but you definitely feel it on High School Hill at the end.”

Cote said the conditions being rough and icy, but he felt like he was able to “make the most of it” and execute his kicks and runs.

Another skier who experienced rough conditions was girls runner-up Nyla Scott, a senior at Gould, who broke one of her poles on an uphill climb.

Scott said that the pole snapped after she tripped on it going up a hill, forcing her to leave it and keep competing. She said she was happy with her second-place finish because she has been “pretty tired lately” and it felt good to pull out a strong result, despite the equipment snafu and fatigue.

Slover, a senior at Gould Academy, was second in the boys race with a time of 15:32.2. Slover claimed second-place by beating Freeport’s Teo Steverlynck-Horne (15:32.2) by sixth-tenths of a second.

“It was deceiving, you got the first 2K mostly downhill, and then all of it hits at once,” Slover said. “But it was a fight the whole way. We got a bunch of snow, which is great, but it definitely makes it hard out there.”

Slover also said the course required more stability, specifically on downhills, as racers had to “sit in the tracks and breathe,” while “fighting to stay up a little bit.” He said that did not allow for much recovery time during the race, and likely explained the increased fatigue seen from the boys racers as they crossed the finish line and laid in the snow.

Next year, Slover will be attending and skiing at Colby College in Waterville. He said he is excited to have four more years of skiing at the collegiate level.

Henri McCourt, a junior at Mt. Blue and Nora McCourt’s twin brother, placed fourth in the boys race, with a time of 15:38. Despite the high placement, he said it was not his best racing, and he felt he should have tweaked some technical and core strategies for the race.

“There were some places where I wasn’t sure if I was on the fastest snow across the course,” McCourt said. “Conditions can vary in the speed category, and there were some places where I was not taking great lines, stuff like that.”

McCourt said the first 2 kilometers being straight downhill made the race interesting, because it allowed racers to start fast, but also forced them to maintain that speed and endurance in the grueling uphill during the latter half.

When standing at the start line waiting to be counted down, McCourt said all that he was thinking about was what he needed to do to ski the course as fast as he can and how he needs to pace. Talia Olins, a junior at Portland, said she was thinking about how to make the race season as fun as possible for her younger teammates.

Olins garnered attention on the course for the hot pink tutu she wore over her racing uniform, something she said she has done a couple of times this season.

“We have a lot of new freshmen on our team this year, so I’m trying to make it fun for them,” Olins said. “I’m like, ‘You wear a tutu, let’s do fun hair, let’s do sparkles.’ Racing can be really intimidating — especially when it’s cold and it’s your first time, it’s not easy.”

Olins came in 70th place with a time of 25:01.2. She also said Saturday’s race was good but tough, as High School Hill is always challenging. Her goal this season is to make the racing season fun for everyone, and she loves how her outfits and energy bring other people joy when she rolls up to the start line.

Orono’s Ruth White (17:55.5), the defending Class C freestyle and classical champion, placed third in the girls race, while Mt. Blue’s Maya Kellett (17:59.7) and Lucinda Carroll (18:12.6) took fourth and fifth, respectively.

Rounding out the top 10 were Sylvia Harvey (18:20.8) from Greeley, who placed sixth, Mt. Blue’s Natalie McCarthy (18:22.4) finished seventh, Gould’s Hannah Grohman (18:22.4) took eighth, Clara White (18:31.8) of Orono came in ninth, and Maranacook’s Olympia Farrell (18:41.7) was 10th.

The other boys top 10 finishers behind Cote, Ellis Slover, Steverlynk-Horne and Henri McCourt were Fort Kent’s Alden Rearden (15:44.8), who was fifth; Gould’s Lucas Barsow (15:51.9) took sixth; Greely’s Tait Harvey (16:02.5) came in seventh; Orrin Slover (16:16.7), who attends Edward Little High School but competes for Quarry Road, was eighth; Portland’s Henry Morrison (16:20.9) was ninth and Gould’s James Crowley (16:23.2) took 10th.