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High School Skiing Preview: Boy or girl, she's already one of the best

Leika Scott, just a sophomore at Falmouth, has a league giant slalom title and two runners-up.

By Glenn Jordan gjordan@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

Standing above the slope at Shawnee Peak last January before her first high school ski race, a Western Maine Conference giant slalom involving eight schools, Leika Scott of Falmouth wasn't sure what to expect.

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Leika Scott already stands out as a sophomore at Falmouth High, not just in high school skiing but in the United States Ski Association and regional events.

Gordon Chibroski/ Staff Photographer

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It wasn't the course that bothered her. Heck, she'd been skiing since age 2 and running gates since she was 8. Her grandfather was a member of the Canadian national team.

No, it was the uncertainty. She hoped to finish among the top of the pack. She thought she could do it. But still

She pushed off, poled hard and any doubts evaporated. Before 26 seconds had elapsed, she found herself skidding to a stop.

Fifty-one other girls skied the course that day. None broke 26 seconds in either of their two runs.

Sixty-eight boys also skied the same course. Only three managed to turn in a pair of sub-26 times, as Scott did.

One of the boys who lagged behind Scott's two-run combined time of 51.39 seconds -- a winning margin of nearly two full seconds over runner-up Elly Bengtsson of Freeport -- was her older brother by two years, Weston Scott.

"It kind of caught us by surprise," Leika said. "But he's gotten over it."

Weston could take comfort in the fact that every other boy on the Falmouth ski team, with the exception of a foreign exchange student from the Italian Alps, also lost to his sister.

"So my brother kind of understood it wasn't just him I was beating," she said. "It was also some of the other guys. And he claims that I have an advantage because the girls always ski before the guys so the course is in better condition. So that's one of his excuses."

Scott won't be catching anyone by surprise in this, her sophomore winter at Falmouth High. Not after a freshman season that included the Western Maine Conference giant slalom title, and runner-up finishes in both slalom and giant slalom at the Class B state meet at Mt. Abram.

"She's very good," said Falmouth Alpine coach Tip Kimball. "She's a good athlete and she has no fear. She's got a very broad comfort zone and she's powerful and clean on her skis."

Scott, who also plays field hockey and plans to switch from track to lacrosse this spring, went on to qualify for the Eastern high school championships by placing fourth in the Alpine Shootout among all Maine schoolgirl skiers who placed among the top 10 in any discipline in any class.

At the Easterns, hosted by Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire, she was second among Maine skiers and 14th overall in slalom.

Poor weather forced cancellation of the giant slalom.

In early March, Scott competed in the USSA Eastern J-3 championships at Sunday River for girls aged 13 and 14. She wound up winning giant slalom and super-G titles, placing third in slalom and finishing first overall.

"That's an accomplishment," Kimball said. "She had some late-season success in the USSA world and she really went up a couple of levels."

Although she placed third among 10 skimeisters in Class B, Scott will forsake Nordic skiing this winter to concentrate on Alpine. She participates in a weekend training program at Sugarloaf and a Thursday training program at Lost Valley, in addition to her races and practices with Falmouth.

"It would be too much to try and do it all," she said, "so I'm not doing skimeister this year."

She's also in her second week of driving with a learner's permit and trying to get comfortable behind the wheel of her family's F-150 pickup.

"It's a lot easier to go faster on skis," said Scott, who has been clocked as high as 64 mph during a super-G race.

And about that name. Leika is short for Zuleika, which means "bright and shining star" in Arabic.

Seems to fit her well.

Staff Writer Glenn Jordan can be contacted at 791-6425 or at: gjordan@pressherald.com