The Presque Isle boys’ and girls’ varsity ski teams placed seventh and eighth respectively at last week’s Class B state ski competition held at Sunday River and Black Mountain. The boys placed six competitors in the top-15 for the Ski Meister title while the girls earned five top spots.
Yarmouth took the boys’ state team title with 203 points combined in slalom, giant slalom, classical and freestyle skiing followed by Maranacook with 259 points and Falmouth with 330. Presque Isle earned eighth place with 537 points.
Leading the Wildcats was Lucas Mathers, who took fourth in the individual Ski Meister standings with 130 combined points. Mathers took 43rd in classical skiing with a time of 18 minutes and 12.7 seconds, 24th in freestyle with a time of 15:48.6, 20th in slalom at 1:46.51 and eighth in giant slalom at 1:23.73.
Other Ski Meister contenders included Layne Waddell in fifth with 169 points, Joel Whitaker in seventh with 188 points, Nick Shaw and Kurtis Perkins tied for 12th with 247 points each and Tom Barnes in 14th with 250 points.
Presque Isle finished seventh in cross country racing with 264 combined points.
Finishers in the classical race included Corey Park in fourth at 14:59.4; Whitaker in 41st at 18:03.7; Mathers; Barnes in 57th at 20:15.6; Perkins in 60th at 20:53.3; Layne Waddell in 64th at 21:19.6; Eric Morris in 66th at 21:46.7; Andrew Duplessis in 68th at 22;11.4; and Shaw in 69th at 22:45.2.
Finishers in the freestyle race included Park in 10th at 14:43.9; Mathers; Whitaker in 40th at 16:57.4; Barnes in 52nd at 18:39.7; Jared Wezner in 57th at 19:22.7; Waddell in 61st at 20:10; Morris in 62nd at 20:17.6; Shaw in 65th at 20:20; and Perkins in 66th at 21:52.5.
In Alpine skiing, Presque Isle took eighth with 273 total points.
Finishers in the slalom after two runs were Waddell in 23rd at 1:25.37; Morris in 42nd at 1:34.81; Perkins in 44th at 1:35.4; Mathers; Shaw in 56th at 1:49; Whitaker in 64th at 1:58.35; and Barnes in 74th at 2:14.63.
Finishers in the giant slalom included Mathers; Waddell in 21st at 1:29.65; Morris in 39th at 1:33.59; Whitaker in 43rd at 1:35.05; Shaw in 57th at 1:41.89; Barnes in 67th at 1:52.73; and Perkins in 77th at 2:21.85.
On the girls’ side, Presque Isle finished seventh overall with 544 points. Yarmouth took the team title with 136 points followed by Maranacook with 153.
The Lady Wildcats were led by Kristina McKenney, who placed fifth in Ski Meister standings with 144 points. Emma Prysunka of Maranacook took the state individual title with 32 points. Also finishing in the top-10 individually were Amber Griffin in sixth with 157 points, Hallie Bartlett in seventh with 159 points, Molly Hamel in eighth with 164 points and Anne Elish in 10th with 219 points.
Presque Isle finished eighth in Nordic skiing with 273 points combining freestyle and classical finishes.
Erin Thomas led the way in classical skiing with a 29th-place finish and a time of 28:48. She was followed by Bartlett in 36th at 21:22.8; Griffin in 45th at 22:27.9; Julia Brown in 47th at 22:32.4; Hamel in 50th at 22:38; Amanda Underwood in 51st at 22:48.8; Erika McKay in 54th at 23:04.1; McKenney in 55th at 23:13.9; Jennifer Steeves in 60th at 24:43.9; and Elish in 62nd at 25:00.
Thomas also led the Lady Wildcats in the freestyle event at 13th with a time of 19:16.8. Following were McKenney in 31st at 20:24.7; Barlett in 32nd at 20:45.4; Hamel in 37th at 21:06.4; Brown in 40th at 21:40.6; Underwood in 52nd at 22:34.7; Kelsey Park in 55th at 23:02.5; Griffin in 59th at 23:21.7; Elish in 60th at 23:29.9; and Steeves in 65th at 28:33.5.
Presque Isle took eighth in Alpine skiing with 271 points in slalom and giant slalom combined.
Griffin led the pack in slalom with a 28th-place finish at 1:48.34. Following were McKenney in 30th at 1:53.01; Hamel in 36th at 1:55.42; Bartlett in 42nd at 2:07.13; and Elish in 47th at 2:41.70.
Griffin also led the Lady Wildcats in the giant slalom event with a 25th-place finish and a time of 1:48.07. Following were McKenney in 28th at 1:48.30; Hamel in 41st at 2:01.80; Bartlett in 49th at 2:37.48; and Elish in 50th at 2:50.16.
