The John Bapst of Bangor girls and boys ski teams built large leads in the cross country disciplines and then held on Tuesday at New Hermon Mountain to win the Penobscot Valley Conference Skiing Championships as Hampden Academy charged back in the Alpine portion of the meet.
The Crusaders’ girls team scored 71 points with Hampden second at 83 while the John Bapst boys also had 71 points to Hampden’s 74.
Hampden swept the top three places in the girls slalom Tuesday while their boys team captured first and second places in the event.
Emily O’Connell won the slalom and giant slalom events in times of 58.11 seconds and 1:16.62, respectively at the championships for the Broncos and was followed by Lindsay Wiken and Alyssa Forrest in both disciplines.
“Any of three Hampden girls have a good chance to finish in the top 10 [at next week’s Class B state championship],” John Bapst coach Bruce Pratt said. “Particularly O’Connell. She is a very good skier.”
Piscataquis of Guilford’s Shelly Griffin won the freestyle cross country, beating Rachel Yorzinski of John Bapst and Chelsea Kingsbury.
John Bapst swept the top four places in classic cross country. Yorzinski took top honors, covering the 5-kilometer course in a time of 17:40. She was followed by Nicole Lavertu, Meghan Lena, and Alison Kavin.
“Rachel Yorzinski has been dominant in the classic throughout the season,” Pratt said.
Another dominating racer has been John Bapst’s Richard Collenburg in the cross country events.
“He won both cross country races in the PVCs and has been racing all around New England,” Pratt said. “He is on the cusp of the Junior Olympics. He has one more [Junior Olympics] qualifier.”
Collenburg won the classic cross country in a time of 13:40, more than one minute ahead of Matt Free of Piscataquis. Hampden’s Dan Lopotro was third. The same threesome finished in the top three spots in the freestyle cross country.
Hampden’s Alex Wiken placed first in the slalom. Teammate Patrick Deighan was second, and Bjoern Sudek, an exchange student from Germany, was third.
Sudek won the giant slalom with Hermon’s Matt Pellerin second and Wiken third.
Lopotro, Wiken, and Eric Kelmenson, all of Hampden Academy, were named skimeister, and Forrest was named the girls’ skimeister.
The skimeister title is award to the skier who posts the lowest score while participating in all four events.
The PVC championship is the final regular-season meet before next week’s state championships. The Class A tournament begins on Feb. 20 and runs through Feb. 22 at Sunday River Ski Resort in Newry and Black Mountain in Rumford. The Class B championship runs Monday through Wednesday at Sunday River and Black Mountain, while the Class C meet will also take place Monday through Wednesday at Big Rock Ski Area in Mars Hill.
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