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BETHEL – The 2002 Class C state skiing championships ended with a reversal of fortune in the boys meet and an extension of dominance in the girls at Sunday River and Gould Academy.
The result was the same in both meets as Madawaska brought home bookend state championships for the fifth time in the last nine years.
In the boys meet, Madawaska got its revenge for an 11-point loss to Freeport last year with 115 points, 32 better than the Breakers in Saturday’s final overall standings.
The Owls notched their fifth straight state girls title despite a slight setback in the cross country classical competition. Madawaska put runner-up Jay in the rearview mirror a second straight year by scoring 85 points to Jay’s 203 in the overall standings.
In boys action, Griff Leach of Freeport won the cross country classic five-kilometer race in 18 minutes, 55.2 seconds, but the Owls made up for it in sheer numbers as they placed team members in second (Bryan Sirois, 19:23.7), fourth, and seventh through 10th place.
One thing that didn’t change was the Skimeister standings as Philip Gagnon earned his second straight individual award with 15 points. Runner-up Peter Schwanda of Freeport was second with 41. Josh Garrison from Central Aroostook in Mars Hill was third with 96. No Madawaska skier finished among the top 18 individuals overall.
Madawaska’s top skier, junior Nate Levesque, couldn’t compete due to a bad case of the flu after finishing the giant slalom and freestyle cross country events. He had to quit after one run of the slalom.
It wasn’t quite the same case of abject bad luck which bedeviled the Owls last year, however.
“In the slalom, all of my top three guys, who graduated last year, fell in their events,” said Madawaska Alpine coach Rick Pelletier. “This year the challenge was clear: To go back and bring back the title up here.”
Nordic co-coach Don Lavoie said the teams have come a long way from a slow start to the season.
“We had a setback early on because of the lack of snow, so we did a lot of dry-land training, but once we did get the snow, we were ready,” said Lavoie. “I think that’s what really helped in the end. I think having the two of us coaches working on it.”
In the girls meet, the Owls improved their score by 29 points from last year and blew away the Tigers by a 118-point margin.
Junior Rosa Londono of Madawaska again barely missed being the meet’s Skimeister as she finished second by one point to Jay’s Rachel Gagnon, 15 to 14. Last year, Londono was second to teammate Emily Lavertu.
The 1-2 finish of Hillary Easter and Gagnon in the five-kilometer cross country classic race with times of 22:01.8 and 22:59.2 helped the Tigers overcome a Madawaska lead and vault them into first place. Londono finished fourth in 25:03.9. Even an Owls sweep of places six, seven and eight couldn’t overcome Jay’s late surge. Easter also won the cross country freestyle race on Friday.
“There was no other girls team in my mind coming in who should beat us, but you can’t make any tactical mistakes or you beat yourself,” said Pelletier.
“My concern this year going into states was more the girls side, but we got a comfortable margin with the Alpine and then actually widened it a bit in the Nordic,” said Lavoie. “We were racing in a torrential downpour the first day, which we’ve never competed in before, but coach Levesque said it’s all in the wax.”
It happened to be Klister wax, which is more of a paste that you iron onto the skis, according to Nordic co-coaches Don Lavoie and Yvon Levesque. It’s good on granular snow as it gives the skiers more gripping power, especially uphill.
“We love the sport and I myself do it everyday,” said Levesque. “We have a lot of fun and I think that’s part of the reason we’ve had some success.”
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