RUMFORD — The Orono boys and Maranacook girls proved on Monday, the second day of the Mountain Valley Conference Nordic skiing championships, that having a deep roster of fast skiers can be a bigger asset than a pair of dominant performers.

The Maranacook boys and Orono girls had 1-2 finishes in their respective 5-kilometer freestyle pursuit races, but both teams settled for runner-up honors at Black Mountain of Maine.

The Orono boys racked up 784 points amongst their top-four finishers, who all placed in the top seven.

Maranacook featured individual champion Wyatt Stevenson (winning time of 14:41.8 in Monday’s freestyle race, two-day combined time of 28:27.8) and runner-up Silas Bartol. But 10th- and 12th-place finishes from their Nos. 3 and 4 skiers gave the Black Bears 779 points, coming up just short of the Red Riots’ showing.

Liam Waring and Ben Arseneault led the Orono charge, finishing third and fourth, respectively. Spruce Mountain’s Samuel Geissinger — the Phoenix’s lone competitor — placed fifth, followed by Orono’s Evan Gerbi and Owen Beane.

Mt. Abram’s Carter Butterfield was eighth and Winthrop’s Sam St. Germain took ninth. St. Germain helped the Ramblers finished third, with 745 points, and Butterfield’s Roadrunners contingent was fourth with 720 points.

Mountain Valley was fifth (709 points), led by Joseph Packard in 22nd. Telstar and Dirigo each had three finishers, with the Rebels (sixth, 545 points) paced by Kayan Degruttola and Reece Pierce in 14th and 15th, respectively. Darryl Curtis finished 33rd to lead the Cougars.

The girls team race was even closer at the top.

Sisters Clara and Ruth White again went 1-2, just as they did in last Thursday’s 5k classical race. Clara White finished in 17:31.9 Monday and had a two-day combined time 32:29.9.

The sisters’ dominant showing helped the Red Riots accumulate 782 points (Orono’s other top-four placers finished in ninth and 10th), but Maranacook’s top-two skiers were right behind in third (Olympia Farrell) and fourth (Elsa Bergdahl), and the Black Bears rounded out their scoring with sixth- and eighth-place finishes (Harper Olmstead and Anwen Kane), giving them 783 points.

Telstar’s Ella Akers finished fifth, with her freestyle time of 20:36.3 pushing her past Olmstead in the pursuit. She was the Rebels’ lone finisher.

Spruce Mountain was a distant third in the team competition, compiling 568 points among three finishers. Hannah Perkins was the top of placer of the trio, in seventh.

Dirigo’s team was fourth, with 559 points also spread across three skiers. Megan Spaulding led the Cougars’ contingent, placing 13th to edge out teammate Sylvia Hodsdon in 14th.

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