NEWRY – Never underestimate the power of home. Especially when you hang your ski helmet at the base of two mountains.

When Liz Thompson needed her best 45 seconds of the season simply to secure a qualifying position for her final crack at the NCAA Championship, fate couldn’t have timed a return to the Bates College senior’s childhood haunt, Sugarloaf, any better.

“She put down a really great run when it mattered,” said Bates Alpine coach Rogan Connell.

That race of a lifetime in the Colby College Carnival entitled Thompson to a serendipitous second helping of home cooking.

Bates hosts the national meet this week for the third time in school history and first since 1999. Thompson, 21, will complete her career in Wednesday’s giant slalom and Friday’s slalom at Sunday River, where the Bobcats’ tri-captain has trained almost every winter morning for four years.

“It’s really exciting. It’s a lot different than going out West where we don’t know anybody,” Thompson said. “It’s really good to finish on a hill where I’ve trained for so long. It will be the toughest field I’ve ever skied against. More schools have more good people than ever before.”

Ten skiers in each discipline will earn All-America distinction.

Even without the help of familiar surroundings, the comfort of sleeping in her own bed at night and the support of family, friends and classmates, Thompson’s steady climb up the ladder in three previous NCAA appearances would imply that she is a strong candidate.

Thompson, a native of Rangeley and graduate of Sugarloaf’s cradle of ski and snowboard champions at Carrabassett Valley Academy, was a career-best 16th in giant slalom when the University of New Hampshire hosted the finals her sophomore year. She was 24th in GS as a freshman and 19th in slalom last winter.

“She might be the first alpine skier from Bates to do that,” Connell said of Thompson’s four-year run at nationals.

The opportunity to defend her adopted home terrain wasn’t sealed until Thompson bottled up a little last-minute magic on her hill of origin.

Finishing eighth Feb. 27 at Sugarloaf gave Thompson enough leeway in the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association standings to exhale.

“I was really on the bubble going into that last slalom run. That last race put me up a little bit higher so that I didn’t have to worry about where other people finished,” Thompson said. “It sort of came full circle for me. A lot of my old coaches were there watching me. That was the run that pretty much clinched the spot in the nationals for me. It was a good sort of last hurrah. I put a lot of pressure on myself that week to ski well.”

Thompson started skiing at Saddleback at age 12. Little more than a year later, she embarked on her racing career as an eighth-grader at CVA.

The school’s rigorous, around-the-clock slate of study and skiing and its penchant for international travel were ideal preparation for Bates, where Thompson subjected herself to a similar immersion.

“It’s a little bit overwhelming to know that it’s all coming to an end,” she said. “There’s a bit of relief, but sadness, too. When something has taken over your whole life for so long, it’s a little bit of a ‘What do I do now?’ sort of thing.

“I’m ready to move onto different things. The sport is so consuming that I haven’t had time for much else. It will be nice to spend time on other interests.”

Connell knows Thompson’s nature and anticipates that she will approach each race at Sunday River as if it’s the last of her life.

Thompson and sophomore Micaela Holland of Belmont, N.H., are Bates’ only NCAA alpine participants.

“Liz works hard every day. She’s always excited about skiing and racing. She goes all-out, every day,” said the coach. “We’d love for them to finish as All-Americans in the top 10. We’re also realistic enough to know that especially for Liz, with a top 15 in slalom, she’d be pretty pleased.”

Unless she leaves the state after graduation, Thompson likely won’t be able to escape the sport that shaped her youth.

“I’ll be close enough to everything if I really miss it,” Thompson said. “If that happens, I’ll probably coach somewhere.”

Don’t be surprised, then, to see Thompson next winter on a mountain near you. Home has a powerful gravitational pull, after all.