Skiers preparing for County meets
The championship portion of the ski season is underway, with final regular season meets held for Nordic and alpine racers last week.
At Lonesome Pine Trails in Fort Kent last Wednesday, Caribou and Presque Isle made the trip to the St. John Valley for a pair of slalom runs.
The host Warriors swept the meet, but the Vikings and Wildcats had some solid individual showings.
In the girls’ morning race, Alyssa Sweeney of Presque Isle was seventh in 1:50.45 and teammate Lydia Patterson ninth in 2:06.43. For Caribou, Ciara Richards placed 10th in 2:15.67.
In the afternoon, Sweeney again was seventh in 2:03.12, while Richards moved up to eighth in 2:20.51, followed by Patterson in ninth in 2:20.51 and Caribou’s Maria Espinosa in 10th in 2:27.86.
Nick Bartlett of PI placed third in the boys’ morning race in 1:30.23. John Saucier of the Wildcats placed sixth in 1:35.8. Caribou’s Andy Russell had his team’s best placement, ending up 14th in 2:06.39.
Bartlett was fifth in the afternoon run in 1:36.85 and teammate Bryce Smith took eighth in 1:37.93. Saucier was 10th in 1:42.38. Scott Bray was the Vikes’ fastest, taking 15th in 2:15.18.
The following afternoon, Caribou hosted a Nordic freestyle competition.
The Vikings scored 16 points to win the boys’ event, while tallying a perfect 10 in the girls’ race.
Riley McDuffie of Caribou won in 14:33, with teammates Caleb Willett in third in 15:17 and Bryce Coffin fifth in 15:26.
Grier Osterman of MSSM was 11th in 15:41, while Max Bartley of the Wildcats came in 14th to lead his team with a 15:44 clocking. Malcolm Milligan was 17th in 16:20 and Thomas Krause of Fort Fairfield 21st in 16:40.
It was a clean sweep of the top four positions for Caribou on the girls’ side. Sarah Doak won in 17:07, followed by Lauren Chapman (18:51), Richards (19:17) and Madeline Gudde (19:29). Also for the Vikes, Eileen Patton was seventh in 19:59 and Kaitlyn Ring eighth in 20:09.
Izzy Jackson of Presque Isle was 10th in 20:21. MacKenzie Carter of Ashland was 22nd in 23:49 and Kaley Norsworthy of Fort Fairfield 31st in 29:41. For MSSM, Eva Farkas was 32nd in 32:09.
The Aroostook County championships in classic-style skiing were held Tuesday and the freestyle portion is set for Thursday at Fort Kent. The slalom and giant slalom championships are set for Saturday at Bigrock in Mars Hill.
