Maine news, sports, weather from Waterville Morning Sentinel

HIGH SCHOOL SKIING: Mt. Blue sweeps KVAC titles

BY DAVE MCLAUGHLIN Correspondent

FARMINGTON --The Mt. Blue High School boys and girls won the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference boy and girls championships at Titcomb Mountain on Saturday thanks to some stellar individual performances.

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STRONG FINISH: Maranacook senior Abby Mace powers her way down the home stretch Saturday at Titcomb Mountain. Mace won the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference girls freestyle title Wednesday and added the classical pursuit championship Saturday afternoon.

Contributed photo by Dave McLaughlin

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CROSSING THE LINE: Mt. Blue's Lucas Bonnevie reaches out to trip the timer at the finish line Saturday morning at Titcomb Mountain. Bonnevie won the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference slalom title after winning the giant slalom championship Wednesday at Black Mountain.

Photo by Dave McLaughlin

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The Mt. Blue boys, thanks to a victory in the slalom by Lucas Bonnevie, scored a total of 138 points to beat Oxford Hills, which was second at 218.

Heather Farrington won the girls slalom title to help the Mt. Blue girls to the overal title with 157 points. Maranacook was second at 183.

Heather Farrington won the slalom title by less than a tenth of a second over Edward Little's Allarie Lever. Farrington finished her two-run combined time in 1 minutes, 18.43 seconds, while Lever finished in 1:18.51. Farrington was second in the giant slalom on Wednesday.

"This morning when I woke up, I knew this was going to be my race," Farrington said. "It was in the start gate, I was feeling it."

All four Mt. Blue scoring skiers finished in the top 10. Joining Farrington were Mallory Parker (5th at 1:26.14), Abbey Ellis (6th at 1:26.68) and Katerine Bessey (7th at 1:28.29.

Bonnevie, won his second Alpine title for the Mt. Blue boys, laying down the fastest times in both runs for a 1:12.67. Maranacook's Alec Daigle was second in 1:15.12, helping the Black Bears win the boys Alpine team title.

"That's the second year in a row for us," Daigle said. "Hopefully we can do it all four years."

The Black Bears featured an all sophomore scoring team in Daigle, Kelby Mace and Matt Delmar, who tied for third and Alex Tooth, who finished ninth.

Bonnevie's win was impressive. The Mt. Blue senior skied a solid line through a tight course that consisted of a number of hairpin turns on the Otter Slide.

"Right now, I am feeling pretty confident," Bonnevie said. "I just didn't hold anything back because I really wanted to win this race."

Maranacook's Abby Mace and Mt. Blue's Dustin Staples continued their excellent runs on the Nordic trail, taking individual titles in the 5k classical pursuit race. Mace's effort helped the Maranacook girls to a first-place finish in the Nordic competition while Staples helped Mt. Blue to a close win over Oxford Hills.

Mace battled the Titcomb Mountain course, attacking the hilly terrain during the first 3k by going all out, knowing she would be able to use the final down hill portion of the course to her advantage.

"I really pushed it hard over the first 3k of the course," she said. "I knew I could recover on the way down."

Maranacook received an outstanding race from Caroline Colan, who finished the pursuit in fourth place after starting 12th. Adrian Huntington powered her way to a sixth and Natalie Wicks finished off the scoring in 15th.

Maranacook's Maddy Chiappetta won the KVAC girls Skimeister title edging Camden Hills Julie Beauchesne, 132-136. Mt. Blue's North Kay earned the boys Skimeister title beating his brother Max Kay, 68-74.