By Jon Gulliver
Staff writer
A Caribou High School skier has claimed the Class B Skimeister title after four strong showings in the State Class B Ski Meet held last week at Bigrock in Mars Hill and the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle.
Photo courtesy Dave Allen Graphics
Caribou junior Ginger Kieffer is the Class B Skimeister for 2012. Kieffer had the best combined finishes in the four Alpine and Nordic events at the State Ski Meet last week. Her teammate Katelyn Plourde finished second in the skimeister competition.
Junior Ginger Kieffer totaled 71 points to place first. The Skimeister is determined by how a skier places in all four Alpine and Nordic events — giant slalom, slalom, skate and classic.
Kieffer finished the GS in 12th position, the slalom in sixth, 15th in the skate and 38th in the classic.
Her Viking teammate, Katelyn Plourde, finished in a close second in the skimeister competition.
“Squeezing four events into three days is quite the challenge physically and mentally,” Kieffer said. “I believe a congratulations to all meisters is necessary for their hard work and dedication.”
This honor is especially sweet for Kieffer, who suffered a major knee injury last year and has had to endure extensive physical therapy.
“I could not have accomplished this without my super coaches,” she said. “I also had several teammates on both teams that helped to encourage and push me.”
Presque Isle’s Jacob Towle finished second, behind Crockett Lalor of Camden Hills, in the skimeister competition for the boys. Fellow Wildcats Thomas Freeman and Freeman Short finished seventh and eighth respectively.
Presque Isle’s Lauren Schiff (8th) and Amanda Bennett (9th) also competed in the four disciplines.
The Caribou boys and girls Nordic team finished a strong second to Yarmouth in the cross-country races.
“I am very happy with the efforts the kids put forth this week,” said Viking coach PJ Gorneault. “Yarmouth is a great team and there is no shame in losing to quality skiers like they have. I think we kind of dug ourselves a hole on Tuesday by having an off day and giving Yarmouth a 15-point lead in both races but they kids really dug down deep for the classical race on Thursday and I think showed on the girls side that they were lucky to catch us on an off day.”
Aroostook Republican photo/Jon Gulliver
Caribou’s Ashley Richards was the Vikings’ top finisher in the girls’ classic race during the State Class B Ski Meet at the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle last Thursday. Like the Caribou boys team the girls finished second overall in the Nordic competition behind Yarmouth.
In the girls’ classic race on Thursday, Ashley Richards was the top Caribou finisher. She finished the 5k course in sixth place in a time of 22:36.9. Teammates Kendra Stephens, Samantha Murchison and Chelsea Bard finished eighth through tenth.
“The team kicked butt out there today,” said Richards. “If we win that is great, if we don’t we will try again next year.”
Richards was also the fastest Caribou skier in the skate race on Tuesday. She finished fifth followed closely by fellow Viking Sarah Doak in sixth.
Caribou’s Caleb Chapman concluded his stellar high school Nordic career by winning the boys’ classic race on Thursday. Chapman crossed the finish line in 16:15.2 to finish more than 40 seconds ahead of Jack Elder of Yarmouth.
“My last high school race turned out to be my favorite race, Chapman said. “I will never forget the crowd of family and friends from Caribou scattered along the trails in the woods. I have never seen that many people along the trails down there. The dense fog that surrounded the heavy falling snow amplified the cheers from everyone, and there was a roar from the crowd as each skier arrived at the stadium towards the end of the race.”
Chapman finished second in the skate race on Tuesday, less than four seconds behind the winner.
Contributed photo
The Caribou boys’ varsity Nordic ski team finished second in the Class B state championship at Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle last week. Members of the team are, from left, Marc Sturzl, Brendan Cyr, Michael Marquis, Keith Draper, Josh Kovach, Caleb Chapman, Jesse Sandstrom, Kjetil Rossignol, Ron Lund, Ryan Washington, coach PJ Gorneault, coach Evan Grave and coach Brian Powers.
Here’s a recap of the boys’ top-30 finishers from Presque Isle and Caribou in all four events:
Slalom: 17, Sean Barbosa, CAR, 1:28.17; 23, Towle, PI, 1:32.04; 26, Dean Walker, CAR, 1:34.45; and 29, Nolan McDuffie, CAR, 1:35.87.
Giant Slalom: 23, Walker, CAR, 1:26.72; 27, McDuffie, CAR, 1:28.19; and 29, Barbosa, CAR, 1:28.78.
Skate: 2, Chapman, CAR, 13:42.6; 5, Ryan Washington, CAR, 14:45.3; 7, Jesse Sandstrom, CAR, 14:47.9; 15, Joshua Kovach, CAR, 15:51.8; and17, Kjetil Rossignol, CAR, 16:09.5.
Classic: 1, Chapman, CAR, 16:15.2; 6, Washington, CAR, 17:21.2; 8, Sandstrom, CAR, 18:13.7; 14, Michael Marquis, CAR, 19:27.1; 17, Jon Rochester, PI, 19:46; 18, Rossignol, CAR, 19:55.7; 25, Kovach, CAR, 21:50.05; and 26, Noah Rossignol, PI, 22:00.09.
Contributed photo
The Caribou girls’ varsity Nordic ski team finished second in the Class B state championship at Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle last week. Members of the team are, from left, Samantha Murchison, Chelsea Bard, Mackenzie Belyea, Katie Plourde, Ashley Richards, Kendra Stephens, Sarah Doak, coach PJ Gorneault, coach Evan Graves and coach Brian Powers.
The top-30 finishers in the four girls’ races are:
Slalom: 6, Kieffer, CAR, 1:38.59; 9, Chelsey Carroll, PI, 1:39.86; 20, Shannon Sweeney, PI, 1:49.29; 22, Plourde, CAR, 1:52.25; and 27, Courtney Burby, CAR, 1:55.95.
Giant Slalom: 13, Kieffer, CAR, 1:28.13; 17, Carroll, PI, 1:31.33; and 29, Plourde, CAR, 1:35.81.
Skate: 5, Richards, CAR, 16:54.8; 6, Doak, CAR, 17:05.9; 11, Bard, CAR, 17:36.4; 12, Plourde, CAR, 17:40.2; 14, Mackenzie Belyea, CAR, 18:10.5; 17, Kieffer, CAR, 18:21.7; 25, Stephens, CAR, 20:14.3; and 27, Bonnie Corey, PI, 20:45.1.
Classic: 6, Richards, CAR, 22:36.9; 8, Stephens, CAR, 23:25.4; 9, Murchison, CAR, 23:44.8; 10, Bard, CAR, 23:49.5; 12, Plourde, CAR, 24:27.2; 14, Doak, CAR, 25:13.1; and 25, Corey, PI, 29:05.9.
