RUMFORD – Lesley Stevens veered off the trail after crossing the finish line at Broomhall Stadium at Black Mountain on Wednesday. Exhausted but still very curious about her time, Stevens collapsed on her backside, craned her neck backwards and listened as the announcer called her name – and her time.
“Lesley Stevens, bib No. 167, from Maranacook High School finished with a time of 17:39.5,” crackled the loudspeaker. “That puts her in third place.”
Less than two seconds later, teammates yelled, her parents rejoiced and everyone in the Maranacook camp rushed to meet her.
All week the talk had been of the “Cape Elizabeth three,” the three top Cape skiers that swept the podium in the freestyle race Monday.
“I didn’t think I’d crack it at all,” said Stevens. “But classical is a better discipline for me, so I knew I’d at least do a little better.”
Perhaps more importantly, though, the Black Bears had a chance to win the overall team title after the Alpine team put them more than 30 points ahead after a stellar slalom run Tuesday.
“They gave us such a great lead,” said Stevens. “That was great for us.”
Maranacook amassed just 139 points between the four disciplines over three days, besting second-place Yarmouth by 55 points.
“To be honest, I had no idea how far ahead we were or anything,” said coach Steve DeAngelis. “That wouldn’t have helped anyway. instead of knowing how much room we have, we want to motivated the kids to push harder. We wouldn’t have skied faster that way.”
The rest of the scoring team – Jordanne Dunn, Jane Tyler and Emily Gaewsky – also finished in the top 10 in the classical race, giving Maranacook 28 points, 14 more than first-place Cape Elizabeth.
The Capers, meanwhile, did finish with four in the top 10, too, including Elise Moody-Roberts at No. 1 and Kate Barton at No. 2. Cape’s Clare Egan finished fourth.
“Honestly, our score in most years is a winning score,” said DeAngelis. “That Cape team is a super team. They work hard and deserve all of the credit they can get. They are a great team. For us to get within 15 of them is fantastic.”
In two days, Cape recorded just 30 points in Nordic events to take that title, edging Maranacook by 29 overall. Without an alpine team, though, the overall title became the Black Bears’ to lose.
Wednesday’s third-place team was Yarmouth, which also finished third in Nordic combined, and second overall. Fryeburg took fourth in classical, fourth in Nordic combined and third overall, while Greely took fifth in classical, fifth in Nordic combined and fourth overall. Mt. Abram of Salem took fifth overall thanks to strong Alpine results and steady Nordic skiing.
The overall title is Maranacook’s first since 1998 and caps a season in which they also captured the overall KVAC title.
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