Owl girls take ‘C’ title again Freeport, Greely, Yarmouth also win

Consistency and lots of hard work helped the Madawaska girls capture their fourth straight state Class C skiing title Wednesday.

The three-day event concluded with the Owls winning the cross country 5-kilometer classical race to wrap up the combined title in the Nordic events at the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle.

“We knew that we had a good Alpine team as far as consistency. They’ve been placing in the top 10 all season,” said Madawaska Nordic coach Don Lavoie. “Combined with the Nordic girls holding their own, we had great results.”

Madawaska, which competed in Alpine at the Big Rock Ski Area in Mars Hill, finished with a total of 102 points after the four events to take the title. The Owls were followed by Freeport (188), Livermore Falls (240), Central Aroostook of Mars Hill (531), Jay (544), Lee (646), and Winthrop (706).

The Madawaska boys also turned in top performances, but were edged for the state title by Freeport with 169 points. Madawaska finished second at 176 and was followed by Central Aroostook (244), Livermore Falls (290), Jay (523), Lee (649) and Winthrop (652).

Central Aroostook skiers Josh Garrison and Ben McQuade turned in outstanding performances by finishing first and second, respectively, in the skimeister standings.

Garrison placed second in the giant slalom, third in slalom, third in classical cross country, and second in freestyle cross country.

State champs were also crowned in Class B with the Greely boys of Cumberland Center and the Yarmouth girls capturing state crowns after competition held at Sunday River in Bethel and Black Mountain in Rumford.

The Madawaska girls showed off their overall team depth and talent by winning all four team titles: giant slalom, slalom, classical cross country, and freestyle cross country.

Lavoie said the team set the realistic goal of capturing another state title at the start of the season.

“They had to ski good races and not make too many mistakes and they were going to do it,” Lavoie said. “The girls had some good Alpine runs and some excellent freestyle and classical races.”

Kristin Guerrette paced the Owls in Alpine with victories in the giant slalom and slalom while Danielle Daigle and Jessica Ayotte each chipped in with top-10 finishes in both events.

Ayotte, a sophomore, was the only team member to compete in all four events and finished tied for third with Tricia Richard of Livermore Falls in the skimeister competition with 16 points. Jay’s Rachel Gagnon won the skimeister title with 12 points and Freeport’s Jessica Harold finished second with 14.

Also turning in solid efforts for the Owls were seniors Denise Roy and Rosa Londono. Other team members contributing were Kaitlin Pelletier, Jade St. Pierre, Kassie Levesque, sisters Chelsea and Meagan Toussaint, Michelle Morneault, Sarah Fortin, and Natalie Garcia.

The Toussaint sisters notched top-10 finishes for the Owls in both cross country races.

Lavoie coaches the team along with Alpine coach Rick Pelletier and said the athletes in both disciplines are committed.

“It used to be the ski team started the third week of November and skied 11 weeks. Now the skier has to be committed in the offseason,” he said. “A lot of them do upper body training and all of them are very self-motivated.”

The Madawaska boys were paced in the Nordic events by Bryan Daigle, who won both 5K races with a time of 15 minutes, 47.5 seconds in the classical race and 13:39.89 in the freestyle.

Teammate Bryan Sirois placed second in the classical and fifth in the freestyle.

Matthew Lavertu and Michael Arnold led the Owls in Alpine with top-10 places in the giant slalom.

In the state Class B girls competition, Fort Kent turned in a solid team finish with a sixth place while John Bapst of Bangor finished seventh and Hampden Academy ninth.

Presque Isle skier Stephanie Holton placed third in the skimeister with 23 points while Mountain Valley of Rumford’s Erin Kelley took top honors with 14.

The Fort Kent boys also turned in a fine effort with a fifth-place team finish while Presque Isle placed ninth, followed by Camden Hills, John Bapst, and Hampden.

Fort Kent’s J.J. Pinette was fourth in skimeister honors with 32 and Presque Isle’s Kyle Hendrickson fifth at 38. Mount Abram of Salem’s Mike Sweeney was crowned skimeister with 21 points.