County skiers excel at Rumford race
RUMFORD — Warm temperatures and a strong Aroostook County presence made for a great race day on Saturday at Black Mountain of Maine in Rumford for the annual John Sassi Memorial Invitational.
This race is a Junior 2 Team Qualifier (ages 14 and 15) for the J2 New England Festival held in March and is a chance for high school skiers from across the state to compete in preparation for the state Nordic meet.
Fifteen athletes from Aroostook County representing Caribou, Presque Isle and the Maine Winter Sports Center competed in the 5-kilometer classic race.
Sarah Doak of Caribou took second place in the J2 girl’s field, and ninth overall, qualifying for the Maine J2 Team.
For the high school girls, Caribou’s Ashley Richards placed eighth overall, and her teammates, Chelsea Bard and Katie Plourde placed 18th and 19th giving the Caribou High School girls enough points to take first in the team results.
Presque Isle’s Bonnie Corey had a personal best placing 69th, and teammate Danielle Allen was 157th out of 223 girls.
Qualifying for the J2 Maine Team in the boys field were Ryan Washington from Caribou in third and teammate Brendan Cyr in 11th while Maine Winter Sports Center’s Kamran Husain (Fort Kent) took 8th place and Lance McKenney (Fort Fairfield) was 13th. For Presque Isle, Noah Rossignol placed 47th out of 107 J2 boys.
Caribou’s Caleb Chapman placed third overall in the men’s field with teammates Jesse Sandstrom in 30th and Josh Kovach in 37th.
