GREENWOOD — Mt. Abram’s Elise Luce let her instincts take over. It proved to be a wise move.
Luce, the first skier down the hill in the girls giant slalom, set the standard for everyone who followed, finishing her first run in 47.78 seconds. It was the fastest run of the day and Luce went on to win the Class B giant slalom title at Mt. Abram Ski Resort with a combined time of 1 minute, 36.60 seconds. She beat Leika Scott of Falmouth by three-tenths of a second.
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“I tried to not think that much about what I was doing and just ski,” Luce said. “It just happens, I had a couple of problems on the course and kept on going.”
Another freshman, Alec Daigle of Maranacook, was equally impressive, finishing second in the boys giant slalom. Jack Tragert of Lake Region won the event in 1:36.29, while Daigle finished with a time of 1:36.56. Maine Central Institute’s Gary Kersbergen was third at 1:36.70.
“I was skiing to get a good spot for our team score,” Daigle said. “I was turning early and staying high, just trying to finish standing up.”
Although Luce and Daigle finished high in the standings, Mt. Abram girls and the Maranacook boys had difficulty on the course. Daigle’s brother Sean went down on his second run and Elise’s sister, Erin, fell on her first run.
Falmouth leads the boys Alpine event with a team score of 36. Maranacook is fourth with 77 points. The Mt. Abram boys are 11th.
The Mt. Abram girls, meanwhile, scored 82 points and are in fifth. Yarmouth finished first with 31 points.
The results were similar on the Nordic trails at Black Mountain, where Maranacook’s Tyler DeAngelis turned in a stellar performance to win the boys freestyle race by two seconds over Yarmouth’s Jack Elder. Caribou leads the Nordic event with 31 points, while Maranacook sits in fourth with 72 points.
Falmouth’s Sarah Abramson (14:12.90) finished first in the girls freestyle race, followed by Maranacook’s Abby Mace (15:05.50) and Mt. Abram’s Sadie James (15:10.70). Yarmouth topped the girls Nordic title chase with 24 points, placing three finishers in the top six. Maranacook is fourth and Mt. Abram fifth.
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In Aroostook County, the Mt. Blue boys and girls teams grabbed solid leads after the opening day of racing in Alpine and Nordic events in the Class A competition.
Skowhegan’s boys Alpine team is in the hunt for a top-three finish, as well.
“Our boys Alpine team did an outstanding job, I am just ecstatic,” Mt. Blue Alpine coach Mark Cyr said. “Our girls did a good job also and have us in good position for the final day.”
The Mt. Blue boys Alpine team took the lead thanks to a strong effort by North Kay at Big Rock in Mars Hill. Kay finished second in the giant slalom to James Jackson of Edward Little.
The Mt. Blue girls, meanwhile, are chasing Greely for the Alpine title. Greely holds a 20-point lead after the giant slalom event.
“Our girls are much better at slalom,” Cyr said. “I think we are OK and should be able to catch Greely.”
Heather Farrington and Margot Heraud turned in top ten performances finishing sixth and ninth, respectively, for the Mt. Blue.
In the freestyle race, Mt. Blue’s Emily Ramsey cruised the course at the Heritage Center in Presque Isle in 16:36.90 to win the freestyle title. Mt. Blue placed three skiers in the top four. Hannah Allen was second and Sarah Wade fourth. Mt. Blue totaled just 24 points in Nordic and leads second-place Edward Little by 14 points.
Brody Hines finished in the boys freestyle race to lead the Cougars in a tightly contested Nordic competition. Fryeburg Academy leads with 34 points, followed by Oxford Hills (43) and Mt. Blue (45).
For Skowhegan, Konnor Therriault had a pair of quality runs to finish fourth in the giant slalom, while teammate Sebastien Dumont was 17th to put the Indians in third place in the Alpine competition. Mt. Blue is first with 61 points, followed by Marshwood (77) and Skowhegan (81).
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At Saddleback Mountain, Winthrop boys placed all three of their skiers in the top eight in the Class C giant slalom competition and are sitting in third place. Freeport leads with 54 points, followed by Fort Kents (63).
Colby LaFlamme lead the Ramblers with a fourth-place finish. Also for Winthrop, John Jansen was seventh and Reilly Fitzgerald eighth. Livermore Falls’ Cody Jacques won the giant slalom race.
Winthrop’s Molly Lindsey had a strong day on the Nordic trail at the Rangeley Lakes Cross Country Ski Club, touring the freestyle course in 19:43.4 to finish seventh.
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