Clare Egan was not about to finish in second place again.
On Thursday the Cape Elizabeth senior finished less than a second behind Rebecca Kurnik of Fryeburg in the Nordic freestyle race at Black Mountain in Rumford. The second half of the cross country skiing state meet was the classical race two days later.
“I was really inspired on Saturday to go out and win,” Egan said. “I put together everything I’ve been working on this season and had a great race. I was determined.”
Egan’s determination pushed her forward, and she topped the field in the second race by almost 40 seconds, leading the Cape girls to a second consecutive Class B Nordic ski title.
The boys squad, with three skiers among the top five in Maine, were expected to win as well, and did, giving the Capers a cross country sweep.
“It was a pleasant surprise that the girls pulled it out. The guys were skiing well all season,” said Cape coach Deven Morrill. “It was one of those years where, if you looked outside, you’d have a hard time believing that we’re still skiing. It was a hard year to keep them motivated.”
Through long spells of snowless days, the team trained on “one 100-yard ribbon” of man-made snow at the Twin Brook Recreation Area in Cumberland. The hard work paid off.
In Thursday’s race, Stanis Moody-Roberts, Graham Egan and Colman Hatton finished within seven seconds of each other and took second, third and fifth places. Still, it was close going into the classical race.
“They were only four points ahead of Caribou and Yarmouth was close, so it was a wake-up call,” Morrill said. “On Saturday they knew exactly what they had to do. They knew where they had to be and in the second lap they really poured it on.”
The trio finished in the same order, this time within 15 seconds of each other and in third, fifth and sixth places. But the scores of the top four finishers is what counts and teammate Tike Maccoll went from finishing 31st Thursday to 11th Saturday.
“McColl had a good race on Saturday, and he stepped up in a big way,” said Graham Egan. “He’s really one of the reasons that we won.”
Four skiers in the top 11 in a field of 66 is hard to top, and Cape took the Nordic title over Caribou by 20 points.
“The top three guys have been consistently (among the best) in the state all season,” Morrill said. “Stanis, Colman and Graham flip-flopped every race we had. One guy would win one race, and another the next.”
The girls, on the other hand, struggled during the season, “but when it came time to really do it at states they pulled it out,” said Morrill.
Egan was followed Thursday by Dana Riker (ninth), Mary Kate Huebener (17th) and Melissa Slack (20th). The girls were behind Greely and Yarmouth at that point and needed to do even better in the classical race if they hoped to repeat last year’s state title.
Egan pushed herself, but so did Riker (third), Erin Hatton (12th) and Huebener (19th).
“On Saturday Dana Riker – who’d been in the top ten, but never in the top three – came out with a third place finish, which was unbelievable for her,” said Morrill.
The Lady Capers held off a hard-charging Maranacook team, as well as Greely and Yarmouth, and won by nine points.
Morrill noted that choosing what type of wax to use on the skis and how much to use was a key to the race.
“Saturday was a tricky day. Wax was really tricky,” he said. “Some of the teams lost a lot of wax in the second lap.”
Clare Egan knew the secret, however.
“I definitely had the help of really great wax,” she said, “from my really great coach.”
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