The Merriconeag girls and North Yarmouth Academy boys won their second straight Class C Nordic skiing state championships Tuesday at Black Mountain in Rumford.
Meanwhile, with only today’s slalom remaining in the overall competition, Fort Kent holds a slim lead over Freeport for both boys and girls.
Zoe Chace-Donahue, Emelie Chace-Donahue and Samantha Pierce swept the top three places in the girls’ freestyle race for Merriconeag, whose two-event Nordic total of 32 points easily outdistanced runner-up Fort Kent (83).
Cam Regan of NYA edged teammate Ian Moore by a little more than two seconds to win the 5-kilometer boys’ freestyle. Evan Kendall of NYA was fourth, behind Josh Espy of Waynflete, as the Panthers clinched a 33-72 victory over Merriconeag.
Earlier Tuesday at Mt. Abram, Elly Bengtsson of Freeport won the Class C giant slalom with a two-run combined time of 1:37.15, more than three seconds better than the field of 41.
Nathan Nichols of Mountain Valley won the boys’ giant slalom in 1:31.80, more than a second ahead of Louis Frumer of Waynflete.
Fort Kent leads the overall girls’ standings by two points, 126-128, over Freeport, with Mountain Valley a distant third at 441.
For boys, Fort Kent leads Freeport 234-252, with Telstar (308) and Mountain Valley (413) trailing.
CLASS B: The Yarmouth girls took a big step toward their sixth consecutive overall championship by winning both the giant slalom at Big Rock in Mars Hill and the 5K freestyle at the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle.
Meanwhile, the Yarmouth boys also opened a huge lead in the overall standings by winning the freestyle and placing a close second behind Maranacook in giant slalom.
The giant slalom races were a family affair, with cousins Sam Barber and Max Barber of Cape Elizabeth, and sisters Elise and Erin Luce of Mt. Abram finishing 1-2 in their respective races.
Yarmouth’s Tara Humphries, Caitlin Crawford and Sarah Becker finished 2-3-4 in the girls’ freestyle behind Abby Mace of Maranacook. Through two of the four events, the Clippers had 49 points with Caribou a distant second at 130.
Yarmouth took five of the top eight spots in the boys’ freestyle, with Jack Elder claiming the victory in 13:42.6. He was followed by teammates Braden Becker (third), Carter Hall (fourth) and Sam Alexander (sixth).
Overall the Clippers had a comfortable lead over Maranacook, 57-122.
Today’s schedule includes slalom races at Mt. Abram that will wrap up the Class C competition, Class B slalom races at Big Rock, and the first of four events in the Class A meet — 5K classical races at Black Mountain.
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