RUMFORD – The Freeport girls’ ski team no longer remains hidden behind the boys’ shadow.
Steady Nordic skiing and a third-place finish in the Nordic combined competition at Black Mountain this week was enough to lift the Freeport girls to their first-ever Class C state skiing championship.
“It’s just a testament to how hard these kids work,” said Alpine coach Marc Bourgoin who, along with the alpine team, stood trailside during Saturday’s classical cross-country race cheering the Nordic skiers on. “What really speaks for itself this year is the Nordic team, though. They have kind of been second to the Alpine in the past, and Alpine carried the Nordic. This year, it was a total team effort.”
Nowhere is that more apparent than in the final team results. The Freeport girls did not claim first place in any single event, placing second in the giant slalom, third in the slalom, and third in each of the two cross-country disciplines. But where it counted the most, the Falcons were No. 1.
“We were trying to look toward John Bapst and maybe trying to sneak into second place in the Nordic races,” said Bourgoin, “but they were too strong.”
Madawaska’s girls’ team, paced by a huge win in the Alpine combined competition, took second place overall after its skiers took sixth in the classical cross country race Saturday. The Owls gave up 103 points to Freeport in the Nordic events and were only able to recover 42 on the hill.
Lucy Garrec of Freeport placed second overall to lead the Falcons’ classical team, while Megan Toussaint of Madawaska finished third. Both skiers were chasing Fort Kent’s Justine Cyr, who finished nine seconds ahead of Garrec.
Livermore Falls, which came into the week’s events primed for a potential push into the top two, stumbled in the week’s first event, the giant slalom, and never really recovered.
“I really have no answers,” said coach Jeff Marceau. “I don’t know that there is just one thing to answer that question of what went wrong. I believe that all of the girls worked as hard as they could, but I don’t know the total answer.”
In third overall to start the day, the Andies slipped to fourth behind John Bapst after the Crusaders finished first in the classical competition among schools competing for the overall title.
Meanwhile, the Freeport boys added to its collection of state titles, bringing home their third overall title in five years with a 175-201 win over Madawaska. The Falcons won one of the four events over the three days, losing the giant slalom to Fort Kent by a single point and the Nordic events to Madawaska by a handy margin.
“Just like in the girls, this was a complete team,” said Bourgoin. “To have the Nordic team win it for us, that is great.”
The Falcons started the final day of competition 49 points ahead of the Owls, and expected to lose ground in the classical race. The Owls, while dominant, could not make up all of the ground necessary to catch the Falcons.
“We knew they were most of our competition,” said Madawaska Nordic skier Troy Cyr. “We went out and tried to pass the Freeport skier that started ahead of us.”
Madawaska’s determination assured it of a second place finish overall, as the Owls bested Aroostook County neighbor Fort Kent, which finished in third.
John Bapst claimed No. 4 in the boys’ overall competition, while Winthrop rounded out the top five.
The meisters are…
In one of the tightest skimeister races in recent years thanks to the revamped scoring system, Livermore Falls did receive some good news Saturday when Whitney McDaniel earned top honors.
McDaniel placed eighth in both the slalom and giant slalom, 13th in the classical cross country race and 42nd in the freestyle to take the title by nine points over Jessica Ayotte of Madawaska. While Ayotte had an 11-point lead to start Saturday, McDaniel rallied for a 20-point difference in the classical race.
In the boys’ skimeister competition, Dan Sandberg and Nick Martin of Freeport finished 1-2, with Sandberg edging Martin by a single point.
Sandberg took a 10-point lead after the Alpine events, and despite a second-place finish from Martin in the freestyle race Thursday, Sandberg hung on to finish within four places of Martin on Saturday to eke out the win.
Joe Gagnon of Jay would also have been in that mix had he not fallen in Friday’s slalom. Gagnon finished fourth, with 100 points – 62 behind Sandberg.
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