MARS HILL, Maine — With the championship portion of the varsity ski schedule fast approaching, the weather cooperated and local alpine squads got a valuable tuneup Saturday when they ventured to Bigrock for a meet.
The competition included slalom runs in the morning and giant slalom runs in the afternoon.
Skiers from 11 schools participated, yet only two girls’ teams and four boys’ teams had the required four team members needed to figure in the team results. Fort Kent came away with victories in all four races.
In the girls’ slalom, Danielle Ouellette of the Warriors was first with a combined time of 1:53 for her two runs.
Samantha Kearney of the Central Aroostook Panthers was third in 1:56.85. Other local skiers in the top 10 were Shannon Sweeney of Presque Isle, fifth in 2:06.82; Cameo Madore of Presque Isle, sixth in 2:10.93; and Allysa Sweeney of Presque Isle, eighth in 2:13.48.
In the afternoon, Ouellette made it a clean sweep by finishing in 1:51.33 in the giant slalom competition. Kearney was third in 2:00.9, while Madore (2:08.87), Allysa Sweeney (2:10.44) and Shannon Sweeney (2:11) were eighth, ninth and 10th, respectively.
On the boys’ side, Andrew Paradis was first in the slalom, beating teammate Carter Voisine by less than a second. Paradis’ winning time was 1:39.63.
Nick Bartlett of the Wildcats was fourth in 1:50, Zack Grass of Central Aroostook sixth in 1:50.88 and John Saucier of PI 10th in 2:09.96.
Later in the day, Paradis registered a time of 1:37.78 for a more dominant victory in the giant slalom.
Presque Isle’s Bryce Smith was third in 1:46.79, while Cody Clayton of Central Aroostook took seventh in 1:53.51. Bartlett was eighth with a time of 1:55.81.
A Nordic meet was held Tuesday in Caribou and Fort Kent’s Lonesome Pine Trails is the venue for the final regular season alpine meet, slated for Saturday.
Next Tuesday at the Nordic Heritage Center is the Aroostook League championship in Nordic classic, beginning at 2:30 p.m. The giant slalom and slalom league championships are Feb. 8 at Fort Kent and the Nordic freestyle championships are Feb. 11 in Madawaska. The state meets will be held later in February, with Class B in the Mt. Abram/Sugarloaf region and Class C at Black Mountain in Rumford.
