Edward Little’s Victoria Beliveau sets up for the next gate midway through her first run, on her way the a third-place finish in the slalom event at the Class A Alpine skiing state championships at Mt. Abram on Wednesday.
GREENWOOD — Perhaps it was the texture of the snow or the unusually warm day, but whatever the explanation, skiers in the second run of the boys’ slalom race at Mt. Abram couldn’t get a grip and took their knocks on the sun-drenched course.
There were numerous spills and some boys’ skiers missed gates and were forced to climb back up the hill to stay in the race during Day 2 of the Maine Class A Alpine skiing state championships on Wednesday.
The girls, however, fared much better on a course that seemed unforgiving to the boys.
Edward Little’s Victoria Beliveau (combined time of 1:27.78) and Oxford Hills’ Caroline Burns (1:30.56) took third and sixth place, respectively.
Annesley Black (1:24.40) of Cheverus won the slalom portion of the two-day event. Fryeburg’s Brooke Juneau (1:30.20) finished fourth and Camden Hills’ Audrey Smith (1:30.51) took fifth. They were followed by Lydia Corcoran (Kennebunk, 1:32.71), Caroline Keller (Falmouth, 1:32.72), Paige Davis (Lake Region, 1:33.71) and Audrey Morin (Falmouth, 1:34.02).
Lewiston’s Alesha Gregoire (1:34.81) took 11th place. Mt. Blue’s Marielle Pelletier (1:35.13) and Leavitt’s Kaitlyn Leclerc (1:35.53) finished 12th and 15th, respectively.
Camden Hills captured the Class A girls’ Alpine state title with a two-day total of 164 points. Rounding out the top 10 were: Greely (182), Hampden (244), Edward Little (244), Falmouth (264), Mt. Blue (279), Cape Elizabeth (285), Fryeburg (296), Scarborough (385) and Oxford Hills (389).
Beliveau was proud to cop a third-place finish after two grueling days of skiing in spring-like weather.
“I came down with a third-place finish,” Beliveau said. “We have been practicing a lot on ruts. It’s like you have to take what conditions are given to you and work with it — absorb the ruts, don’t fight them even if it is a rough condition. You just got to roll with it.”
“Very happy with Victoria,” Edward Little coach Jodd Bowles said. “She has been kind of searching for that place where she skis fast for a few weeks and she’s not quite there, but she’s coming back on it and I am optimistic she is going to do well at shootouts and make the state team and do something special at Easterns.”
Burns’ sixth-place performance works for her.
“It went really good. I got really good course conditions going for speed, so I was happy with the whole run,” Burns said. “I had nothing to lose. I was in third place yesterday, so I was ready to rock it.”
Leclerc’s performance earned her a 15th-place finish.
“My first run was really good. It was solid and the course felt nice,” Leclerc said. “The second had a lot of cross ruts so it was hard to stay composed and to have a solid piece of ground. So it held up and it was OK.”
Mt. Blue’s Mazie Brown placed 51st after a tough second run.
“My first run was a lot better than my second run,” Brown said. “I fell on my second run. I was just so tired. I think it (course) was a little rougher, but it was pretty much the same.”
On the boys’ side
Every so often, a skier would crash or was climbing back up Mt. Abram after a gate, but Greely’s Axel Lindsay kept his balance and finished first with a winning combined time of 1:19.79.
Lindsay was followed by Devon Lathrop (Cape Elizabeth, 1:20.16), Gibson Scott (Falmouth, 1:21.58), Samuel Smith (Mt. Blue, 1:22.39), Aaron Rae (Bonny Eagle, 1:23.36), Angus Christie (Falmouth, 1:24.52), Killian Lathrop (Cape Elizabeth, 1:25.43), Owen White (Falmouth, 1:26.25), Peter Galloway (Camden Hills,1:27.88) and Connor Jackson (Edward Little, 1:28.12).
Falmouth won the boys’ Class A Alpine skiing state championship with 80 points. Rounding out the top 10 were Cape Elizabeth (144), Greely (161), Oxford Hills (179), Mt. Blue (257), Marshwood (287), Presque Isle (287), Edward Little (327), Kennebunk (345) and Freeport (371).
Oxford Hills’ Mckinley Murphy (1:30.27) led the boys with a 13th-place finish.
“We were second place yesterday. I don’t know if we hung or not,” Oxford Hills coach Mike Grace said. “We struggled a little bit today, but my No. 1 boy went down — Ryland VanDecker.
“That one hurt us, but the other five all stood up and finished, so I don’t know. Tommy Bancroft had a great second run. Jake Mills, Mckinley Murphy had a solid two runs. Colby VanDecker got two runs.”
“I felt like the course got pretty bad by the time I made it down, but I stayed up,” Mills said. “The second run, I felt like I improved a lot, and again, I stayed up.”
“Everyone one else hates ruts, but I like skiing ruts,” Bancroft said. “I can ski them well and that is my type of skiing.”
Ryland VanDecker wiped out in the second run.
“Did you see my crash?” Van Decker said. “I was a little disorientated at first, just flipping around and stuff, but I had to hike. I didn’t want to get disqualified. The first one, I skied really well. My goal really is to make shootouts. I made shootouts yesterday.”
Bowles just shrugged his shoulders when it came to his boys’ performance.
“That ship sailed yesterday, apparently,” Bowles said. “Leighton (Girardin) did well. He almost made shootouts. Ironically, it wasn’t our best performance.
“Girls did OK, but it wasn’t our best performance. But we put a lot of guys into shootouts somehow. So we will see how many we can get on the state team … and now we look to our postseason and see what we can do to make the state look good.”
“(First run) was a lot better than my second run,” Girardin said. “But I had a really bad first-day KVAC performance, so I just came out here and go as hard as I could and I am pretty proud of my second run, too.”
The Mt. Blue Cougars have seen better days at states, but they still turned in an overall fifth-place performance on the boys’ side.
“I was kind of hoping I wouldn’t have to talk today because it was another rough day for the boys and girls in slalom,” Mt. Blue coach Mark Cyr said. “A combination of DSQs and falls — anything that could have gone wrong went wrong in the last two days.
“There was a lot of falls … and fortunately, if you stood up and had a decent run, you were fine. We talked to my kids about not skiing too conservatively and they went for it, and I can’t blame them for that. But unfortunately it didn’t work out.
“And on the girls’ side, Jenna (Hanrahan) had a great first run, skied well 75 percent of the second run, but sat back a little bit, jetted out and ended up in the net, so that was a tough day for her.
“Maize stepped up and came in when we needed her. That’s good.”
Mt. Blue’s Sam Smith makes his way through some rough conditions on his way to a fourth-place finish in the slalom at the Class A Alpine skiing state championships at Mt. Abram on Wednesday.
Mt. Blue’s Ellie Pelletier makes a left-footed turn halfway through her second run of the slalom event at the Class A Alpine skiing state championships at Mt. Abram on Wednesday.
Edward Little’s Connor Jackson makes a recovery in rough conditions as he approaches the bottom of the course during the slalom event at the Class A Alpine skiing state championships at Mt. Abram on Wednesday.
Edward Little’s Victoria Beliveau cross blocks a gate midway through her first run in the slalom event at the Class A Alpine skiing state championships at Mt. Abram on Wednesday.
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