RUMFORD – Welley Ramsey’s pride is about the only thing hurting in the Mt. Blue camp Tuesday after a rock-solid team performance during Monday’s freestyle nordic race at Black Mountain of Maine.

Ramsey, the Cougars’ top skier, accelerated at such a high rate coming down the back side of high school hill that he had to fight to control himself. he almost made it to the finish line, but toppled about 10 feet short.

It took him about eight seconds to recover and finally cross the line, and the spill cost him second place.

He still took third, two seconds behind teammate Derek Rowe, and the Cougars placed four skiers in the top six to take firm command of the boys’ Class A nordic competition Monday, jumping out to a 16-27 lead over Leavitt. Greely is in third with 49 points.

“It was really fast; it’s just smokin’ fast out there,” Mt. Blue coach Jeff Meserve said. “We haven’t skied on conditions like this in years, so that concerned me a little bit. But the kids skied well.”

“We have to be even more hungry,” Leavitt coach Dustin Williamson said. “I told them that the possibility is still there, and that the combined championship is still a possibility. This is as close to them as we’ve been in a while.”

Kelton Cullenberg and Adam Fissette rounded out Mt. Blue’s top four.

Lauren Turner blitzed the lightning-fast course in a time of 11:10.0 to earn the individual title, and his teammate, Thomas Rabon, finished seventh. Derek Drouin and Dylan Chase also snuck into the top 10 for Leavitt, which is as close to Mt. Blue as it has been in a long time – and it may not matter.

Things are much tighter in the girls’ race, where Leavitt came out on top of Mt. Blue by a single point in the freestyle race. Shelby Aseltine of Mt. Blue paced the field, finishing 23 seconds ahead of Leavitt’s Melissa Kelson.

Kelson’s teammate Natasha Varney took third, followed by Hannah Allen of Mt. Blue in fourth. Samantha Varney (8th) and Laura Dacyczyn (13th) rounded out the Hornets’ scoring, while the Cougars’ next finishers included Emily Ramsey in 10th and Meredith Allen in 12th. Oxford Hills is a distant third with 68 points through one of the two events.

In the overall picture, Mt. Blue has a firm grasp on both the boys’ and girls’ overall titles. The Vikings’ girls’ squad is hoping to sneak into second place overall, and currently leads Edward Little for second place by 10. Leavitt appears to have a lock on second overall on the boys’ side, though the Hornets trail Mt. Blue by 30.