DALLAS PLANTATION — The race course at Saddleback Mountain is called Grey Ghost, and on the opening day of the Class A Alpine state championships, the Ghost threw a little bit of everything at nearly 200 skiers.
Gusty wind, freezing rain, light drizzle, snow, sleet, occasional sunshine and yes, even a rainbow, showed up Wednesday.
“Hey, it’s a winter sport,” said Phil Wagner, coach of the combined Freeport/Brunswick squad. “You have to be prepared for that.”
A pair of seniors, Jett Lindelof of Islesboro and Taylor Gordon of Mt. Blue, handled the conditions better than anyone to earn Class A giant slalom titles.
Lindelof completed his two runs in a combined time of 1 minute, 27.84 seconds to best a field of 100 boys. Gordon completed hers in 1:26.49 to gap her nearest competitor in a field of 93 by three full seconds.
“The conditions were a little soft, but thankfully (the snow was) pushed off for when I went,” Gordon said. “I kind of just trusted my edges and kept my weight on the outside ski and went from there.”
Three years ago, Gordon won the Class A slalom and placed fifth in giant slalom. She spent her next two winters at a ski academy in New Hampshire before returning to Mt. Blue.
Her presence helped the Cougars to a three-point lead over the combined team of Falmouth/Waynflete, 757-754, in the girls’ team competition. Marshwood is third at 734, followed by Freeport/Brunswick (720) and Edward Little/Leavitt (682).
“That’s a surprise because we thought Marshwood skied really well (Wednesday),” Mt. Blue Coach Mark Cyr said. “I’m pretty pleased with that because typically we’re a better slalom team than giant slalom, just because of where we train.”
Titcomb Mountain in Farmington is a relatively small mountain, meaning gates must be set fairly close together. It works well for plenty of turns, but not at the speed a giant slalom course can produce.
Mt. Blue placed its four scoring skiers among the top 20 finishers. Joining Gordon were Katie Yeaton (ninth), Elisa Mezzoli (18th) and Abby Goodspeed (19th).
For Marshwood, Hadley Prewitt (second), Maeve Long (seventh) and Lydia Phipps (eighth) placed among the top 10. Prewitt was closest to Gordon heading into the second run but was forced to wait in the starting gate an unusually long time because of an injured skier requiring attention in the finish area.
An official informed Prewitt of the delay, so she understood what was happening down the hill.
“I just didn’t realize it was going to be that long,” she said. “I would have put a jacket on, and for a lot longer. I had one on for like five minutes. I was very focused before, and then standing up there, I kind of got out of it a little bit.”
Ruth Weeks, a senior at Greely, said the morning course held a different sort of challenge than the afternoon course, which allowed for more speed. Weeks wound up fourth overall, about four seconds behind Gordon.
“Challenging courses, both times,” she said. “The first one was nothing I have really trained before. It was very tight and I wasn’t able to make the arcs I wanted.”
The 25 or so turns required for the afternoon course were not set as widely across the hill, leading to times three to five seconds faster over the same vertical distance.
Freeport/Brunswick, the defending Alpine boys’ champion, crammed five skiers into the top 20: Ansel Goode (fifth), Bobby Strong (seventh), Ben Barrett (15th), Jack Gilbert (16th) and Alex Gilbert (19th).
That resulted in a 27-point lead over Falmouth/Waynflete (761-734), with Edward Little another 20 points behind.
“We put ourselves in a very good position for (Thursday’s concluding slalom competition),” said Wagner, the Freeport/Brunswick coach.
Sophomore Porter Beaule and freshman Ian Christie finished second and third for Falmouth, and Timothy Teguis of Kennebunk was fourth.
“Honestly, this year was a bit of a test year to see where we come out,” said Beaule, the elder statesman of the young Falmouth/Waynflete squad. “These guys and myself, we’re still developing. We’re still growing. We’re going to get stronger and ski better as we get older.”
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