After Forecaster Country Nordic skiers made a name for themselves, last weekend provided an opportunity for downhill standouts to do the same.
They didn’t disappoint as more titles were won.
Here’s a glimpse:
Class A
Greely’s girls’ Alpine team continued its run of excellence with another state title. The Rangers posted 66 points to best Falmouth (114) and 11 other teams.
Greely was paced by Elyse Dinan, who won the giant slalom in a two-run combined time of 1 minute, 36.9 seconds and the slalom in 1:32.93.
“It feels great,” said Dinan, who picked up her first two state titles. “I’ve always kind of dreamed of it. I was hoping for top three (in the GS). I race a lot of these girls in the regular season and in GS we always go back-and-forth. But in slalom, as long as I skied it well, I thought I had a pretty good chance.”
Dinan had plenty of company, as Jill Booth was sixth in the slalom (1:45.46), Teal Otley placed sixth in the GS (1:41.15) and 11th in the slalom (1:49.79), Kristin Dugas placed 10th in the slalom (1:49.03), Kelsey Otley was 13th in the GS (1:49.43) and Delaney Stevens came in 18th in the GS (1:52.04).
“If this were basketball, softball or soccer, everyone would be talking about us, but since it’s a secondary sport, few people know that this group of ladies has only lost one race in four years with two ties,” said Greely coach Mark Ouellette. “States went pretty much as expected. We didn’t ski as well as usual, but we still succeeded. Elyse skied out of her mind.”
Falmouth was paced by Krysia Lesniak, who was runner-up in the slalom (1:36.25) and third in the GS (1:38.78) and Alex Shapiro, who placed second in the GS (1:37.93) and third in the slalom (1:39.83). Margaret Coster finished 18th in the slalom (1:58.20) and 33rd in the GS (2:00.38). Audrey Morin was 23rd in the slalom (2:01.77) and 30th in the GS (1:59.24).
In the combined standings, Falmouth easily took the championship with Greely coming in a distant second.
“As it stood, both the boys’ and girls’ Nordic teams won their state championships a week earlier, each passing along a healthy lead to the Alpine teams for the overall combined trophy,” Yachtsmen coach Tip Kimball said. “With their help, our girls ended up Class A overall champs for the first time in at least in my 11 years of coaching the team.”
The Yachtsmen also featured the skimeister (Alpine and Nordic events combined) champion, in Morin, whose 129 points were better than runner-up Jessie Hoffman of Greely (153).
The story wasn’t quite as triumphant on the boys’ Alpine side, as Falmouth came in sixth and Greely was seventh (Mt. Blue won the title).
Joe Lesniak was the star for the Yachtsmen. Lesniak won the slalom (1:23.40) and the GS (1:32.24). Thomas Lesniak wasn’t far behind, finishing runner-up in the GS (1:34.21) and third in the slalom (1:25.15). Cameron Loncoski also had a top 20 finish, coming in 17th in the GS (1:46.78).
The Rangers were led by Sam Perlmutter, who placed fifth in the slalom (1:26.23) and 20th in the GS (1:48.25). Nick Piacentini came in 16th in the slalom (1:41.38). William Bryant was 18th in the GS (1:46.98). Axel Lindsay was 25th in the slalom (1:56.31).
In the combined standings, Falmouth was second to Mt. Blue, while Greely placed fifth.
“Our numbers were way down this year, due to graduating seniors, other year-round sports commitments and private ski academies,” said Kimball. “Considering it takes four to score as a team, there was nearly zero margin for error. Still possible to win, but a long shot. In fact, the boys had recently pulled off winning the Western Maine Championships a couple of weeks earlier on the same hill. Unfortunately, one of our key boys had to bow out the night before, leaving the team with the minimum four and no room for error. As a result, the boys had to settle for finishing runner-up to Mt. Blue for the overall title.”
Class B
After excelling for years in Class C, Freeport comported itself well in its first season in Class B.
The Falcons boys’ Alpine squad was second to Maranacook and also came in second to the Black Bears in the combined standings.
Jay Pier was the winner of the GS (1:28.76) and placed seventh in the slalom (1:17.57).
Caleb Abbott came in fourth in the GS (1:30.93).
Ryder Bennell finished eighth in the slalom (1:17.60).
Blake Enrico was ninth in the slalom (1:33.74) and 10th in the GS (1:33.74).
Charlie Zachau came in 25th in the slalom (1:37.84).
Spencer Drake was 33rd in the GS (1:47.14).
“It was fun to participate with a different group of schools this year and we were able to provide some competition,” said Freeport coach Jay Thomas.
Yarmouth’s boys were seventh in Alpine and third combined.
The Clippers were led by Rhys Eddy, who placed 13th in the GS (1:35.24). Jacob Inger came in 22nd in the slalom (1:33.05) and 35th in the GS (1:47.45). George Jutras finished 24th in the slalom (1:36.95) and 36th in the GS (1:47.70). John Diggins was 29th in the slalom (1:43.30) and also 29th in the GS (1:46.87). Matthew Woodbury placed 37th in the slalom (2:02.21).
“We ran into the buzzsaw of Maranacook and Freeport and couldn’t muster the firepower to overcome those two talent-laden teams,” said Yarmouth coach Sam Eddy. “We couldn’t match the avalanche of talent on the hill.”
In the girls’ competition, Yarmouth was second to Cape Elizabeth in Alpine, but still managed to win the combined title over Maranacook. Freeport came in third.
The Clippers were led by Chapin Dorsett, who came in second in the GS (1:40.73) and third in the slalom (1:24.65).
Julia Primeau finished sixth in the slalom (1:26.58) and 11th in the GS (1:49.11). Anna Bouton came in 11th in the slalom (1:31.07) and 17th in the GS (1:53.71). Hannah Van Alstine placed 12th in the slalom (1:33.18) and 14th in the GS (1:50.28).
“It was another wild and woolly Alpine states competition,” said Eddy. “Class B never fails to deliver excitement. We knew going in that Cape would be our biggest competition. We had a chance to even up the score in the slalom and pulled out a surprise win, but in the end, the Cape girls’ gap from the giant slalom proved too much to close.”
For the Falcons, Wynne Cushing led the way by placing ninth in the slalom (1:30.33) and 19th in the GS (1:54.19). Julia Schnieder was 22nd in the slalom (1:39.50) and 25th in the GS (1:55.89). Emily Latulippe placed 33rd in the GS (1:59.96) and was 36th in the slalom (1:49.00). Lauren Moore came in 38th in the slalom (1:52.65).
In the skimeister competition, Yarmouth’s Abby Condon was second on the girls’ side, while teammate Chloe Noack came in fifth.
Yarmouth’s Joseph Inger was fourth among the boys.
Sun Journal staff writer Randy Whitehouse contributed to this story.
Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.
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