Mt. Blue’s Jack Kearing skis on his edges during his first slalom run of the KVAC Alpine ski championships at Black Mountain in Rumford on March 9. Kearing won the boys giant slalom and slalom and helped the Cougars claim the KVAC team championship. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo

Mt. Blue’s Jack Kearing wasn’t boasting, but he was brimming with confidence during the recent KVAC Alpine championships.

Kearing’s self-assurance earned him victories in giant slalom and slalom with winning times of 1:33.70 and 1:24.34, respectively, and the honor of being named the Sun Journal’s Boys Alpine Skier of the Year.

“Awesome,” the Mt. Blue senior said. “I was just happy I could put two runs together. I was happy to have a season. I was happy to have a conference championship.

“I don’t want to sound cocky, but I knew we have been training all year. I knew we had a strong team and I knew I got some solid coaching.  I was confident I was going to have a good day. I wasn’t sure it was going to be that good, but I was very happy how it turned out.”

Kearing’s victories helped push the Cougars over the top and give them the KVAC title.

Mt. Blue coach Mark Cyr said that Kearing was as reliable as he was fast this winter.

“He had the perfect balance of pushing the envelope, but still being very consistent,” Cyr said. “We could pretty much rely on him at being top three and very rarely having any crashes or DSQs or anything like that during the season.

“Like I said, he had the perfect balance between going for it and still being consistent.”

Kearing, who is still mulling his college plans, also played football in the fall and is preparing to play baseball this spring.

Cyr watched the positive changes that Kearing underwent as he matured as a skier over the past four years.

“When he was a freshman, and even as sophomore, he was very reckless, struggled with finishing races, just didn’t have that balance,” Cyr explained. “He grew even more this year. He took on that senior year of captain role very well.

“He came into the season very disappointed over the fact that we didn’t have a fall season at Mt. Blue. He was hoping to be a leader on the football team this fall. That didn’t happen at Mt. Blue. He came into the (ski) season kind of down. He was hurt by that, but as the season kept going and he was having some success, he realized, ‘Hey, you know, I can turn this season around for me.’

“I’d say about half way through the year, he showed that he was at the top of the pyramid when it came to skiing races in our conference. … I can speak confidently that he would been right up there at the very top statewide.”