Maine skiers perform well in national, regional events Stockholm’s Sprague wins 5K at Junior Olympics

Maine skiers fared well in top-notch competitions over the weekend contested in Idaho and at Sugarloaf/USA in Carrabassett Valley.

Anna Sprague of Stockholm, a freshman at the University of Utah, captured first place Friday at the Junior Olympics in McCall, Idaho.

Sprague, a Caribou High School graduate, won the 5K freestyle cross country competition in the Older Junior women’s age group. She skied the 3.1-mile course in 15 minutes, 47 seconds and defeated runner-up Jordan Seethaler by 14 seconds.

Among the athletes Sprague defeated: Salt Lake City Olympian Kikkan Randall, who finished fifth. Kate Crawford, a Colby College student, was 10th in 16:40.1 while Abigail Hansen, also of Maine, was 27th.

Sprague has had a busy season, as she also finished 31st in the 15K freestyle at the Chevy Truck U.S. Cross Country Championships in January.

In other skiing action closer to home, the Maine J2 cross country team won its third straight title at the Volvo New England J2 XC Festival at Sugarloaf Outdoor Center over the weekend.

In Idaho, other Mainers also fared well in Junior Olympic competition.

In the Older Junior boys race, Reid Doiron of Maranacook High in Readfield finished 13th while Seth Hubbard of Mt. Blue High School in Farmington was 21st.

In the J1 men’s 10K race, Ben True, a sophomore at Greely High in Cumberland Center, finished 24th, Kyle Rogers of Gould Academy was 26th, Matt Barton was 31st and Stephen Hunter of Maranacook was 44th.

In the J1 girls 5K freestyle, Elena Yates of Mt. Blue finished 36th, Megan Dumais of Leavitt in Turner Center was 37th, Amanda Bowden, skiing for Coastal Nordic of Maine, was 38th, and Kaitlyn McElroy of Gould Academy was 54th. Kristan Hines of Mt. Blue finished 56th.

In the J2 boys 5K race, Matthew Dunlap of Mt. Blue was 9th while teammate Wes Hines took 13th.

Alaska won the overall team award, with the New England team finishing second.

At the Volvo New England J2 XC Ski Festival, Maine fought off Vermont in the sprint races and held onto their lead in the relays. Maine scored 11,223 points while Vermont had 10,990. Massachusetts tallied 8,703 and New Hampshire had 7.523.

Kate Barton of Cape Elizabeth led the Maine girls with a first-place finish and two seconds. Ed Hunter of Maranacook won the freestyle and classic boys races while Ben Koons of Messalonskee in Oakland was second in both races and won the sprint.