Fort Kent once again showed its dominance as it swept the Class C boys and girls state skiing championships.
The Class C state championships were held in Fort Kent.
The girls topped Freeport High School 122-222 points with Livermore Falls in third at 386 points. Fort Kent’s boys also totaled 122 points, followed by Freeport (234), Livermore Falls (463) and John Bapst of Bangor (533).
The Fort Kent girls have won the state title in three of the last four years and the boys have won their fourth straight championship, according to boys and girls Nordic coach John Kaleta.
In Class A, Mt. Blue of Farmington girls topped Edward Little of Auburn 174-260. Oxford Hills was third with 373 points and Hampden Academy was seventh with 670 points.
The Cougars also were victorious on the boys side with 155 points to Leavitt of Turner’s 197 points. Greely of Cumberland Center was third with 370 points and Hampden Academy was sixth with 554 points.
Yarmouth claimed the Class B girls championship with 138 points followed by Caribou (228) and Falmouth (277). Camden Hills of Rockport was sixth with 437 points.
Falmouth won the Class B boys title by narrowly defeating Yarmouth, 149-151. Caribou totaled 311 points to claim third. Camden Hills was seventh with 566 points followed by Presque Isle with 627.
Fort Kent’s Kaleta was stressed all morning, worrying about what kind of wax his skiers should use for the girls’ cross country classical race.
The temperature was around 26 degrees in the morning, and Kaleta had to gamble on which wax, hard or soft, would give his girls the best chance to win.
“For a coach, [choosing the correct wax] was as close to hell as you can get,” said Kaleta.
He chose the slicker hard wax and it paid off.
His girls placed second, seventh, eighth and ninth to win the classical race by 22 points over Merriconeag of Freeport.
“It was actually beyond my wildest dreams to hit that [wax setup],” said Kaleta, who has coached the Fort Kent team for seven of the last eight years. “I was really psyched [with how the girls performed].”
The boys team used the warmest wax, and his boys placed second, eighth, 10th and 15th, finishing three points back of Freeport for the classical title. It resulted in a tie for the Nordic championship between Fort Kent and Freeport.
Senior Nick Michaud won Tuesday’s freestyle race for Fort Kent, his third state title. He was second in the classical race to Freeport’s Nate Niles.
“They had a great shootout,” said Kaleta.
Niles won the race in 17 minutes, 45.98 seconds with Michaud trailing with 17:57.05.
Fort Kent junior Logan Doak fought hard to win the skimeister. He was 10th in classical, eighth in freestyle and 33rd in slalom. But his ninth-place run in the giant slalom race might be the most impressive feat.
“He took a wipeout in giant slalom,” said Kaleta. “[But] he got back up and continued on and finished. He just couldn’t say ‘no.’ I don’t know how he did it.”
Teammate Ted Martin had 88 points, 12 points back of Doak, to finish second in skimeister.
Sophomore Kate Morneault of Fort Kent won the girls skimeister. It’s her first year of skiing since the third grade, said Kaleta.
Morneault was 21st in giant slalom, 26th in slalom, 10th in freestyle and ninth in classical for a score of 66.
Fryeburg’s Janna Kurnick was victorious in the girls Class A classical 5K at Black Mountain in Rumford. She clocked a time of 17:52.7, topping Mt. Blue’s Shelby Aseltine (18:27.5).
Thomas Rabon of Leavitt would take the boys classical 5K with a time of 14:36.1, but was closely followed by Oxford Hills’ Riley Eusden (14:40.4).
Hampden Academy shone in skimeister with Molly Howe winning the girls portion with a total of 88. She was 14th in giant slalom, 13th in slalom, 23rd in freestyle and 38th in classical. Teammates Sarabeth Miller and Elizabeth Pederson finished fourth and fifth, respectfully.
Ethan Burke of Hampden was second in boys skimeister, trailing Greely’s Luke Booth. Booth had a total of 55 to Burke’s 112. Clayton Forrest of Hampden was fourth with 136.
In girls Class B classical in Rangeley, Cape Elizabeth’s Emily Attwood took the win with a time of 18:31.6. Rebecca Bell of Yarmouth was over a minute behind with a time of 19:44.3.
Caribou skiers claimed third, fourth, sixth and 13th to win the team classical. Laura Collins (20:31.8) and Kendra Stephens (20:45.9) were third and fourth, respectfully.
Yarmouth’s Bell won the skimeister with a 21 total. Caribou’s Collins was second with 37 and teammate Ginger Kieffer was third with 79.
Sean Daigle of Maranacook of Readfield took the boys skimeister with a 60 total. Timothy Freme of Caribou was third with 98.
Justin Greeley of Maranacook won the classical race with a time of 15:55.2. Caribou’s Caleb Chapman was fourth with 16:34.7.