After spending much of the winter competing against each other in the Western Maine Conference, Yarmouth, Falmouth and North Yarmouth Academy — clumped geographically about as close as any three high schools in Maine — are heading in different directions this week with the goal of returning home with another skiing state championship plaque.

Falmouth, after winning back-to-back Class B boys’ titles, makes its initial foray in the Class A state meet scheduled to run Wednesday through Friday at Black Mountain in Rumford.

Yarmouth, having won five straight Class B girls’ titles, heads north to Presque Isle for a meet that runs Tuesday through Thursday.

North Yarmouth Academy, coming off its first conference championship, opens defense of its Class C boys’ Nordic crown this afternoon at Black Mountain to kick off a three-day event that includes freestyle and giant slalom Tuesday and wraps up with slalom on Wednesday.

Both Alpine events in Class C are scheduled for Mt. Abram in Greenwood.

Here’s a look at each meet:

CLASS A

Mt. Blue is the dominant player, with 11 boys’ and 10 girls’ titles since 2000 and current streaks of five and seven years in the four-event overall championship.

Falmouth joins a mix that includes Greely, Edward Little, Oxford Hills and Fryeburg Academy, but Falmouth seems most equipped to challenge Mt. Blue.

In the Sassi Memorial classical race, always the biggest high school Nordic event, Falmouth’s boys finished fourth with Mt. Blue 11th, while Falmouth’s girls placed 11th to Mt. Blue’s 10th.

In Alpine, Falmouth’s boys haven’t lost in two years and are coming off a second straight WMC title. Falmouth’s girls placed third behind Greely and Freeport.

Falmouth Alpine Coach Tim Kimball isn’t worried about the season’s lack of snowfall.

“Getting the hill space to train has been difficult,” he said. “Other than that, these conditions have been ideal for racing. We’ve had very little natural snow and a huge fluctuation in temperature. Go through that freeze-thaw cycle enough times and you end up with lots of ice and lots of firm surfaces.”

Sharpened edges and regular ski tuning became even more important for Alpine racers this winter. Another twist this year is the A and C meets ending with slalom, instead of classical after a day of rest from freestyle.

“So we’ll be in the hot seat this time,” Kimball said. “Slalom is more technical and things are happening so fast that you’re more likely to have issues. Even though giant slalom is faster, it’s a little more forgiving.”

The Fryeburg boys (in Nordic) and Greely girls (in Alpine) will also be defending state titles.

CLASS B

The Yarmouth girls beat runner-up Falmouth by 75 points last winter, but the Clippers don’t expect a cakewalk this year even with Falmouth moving up in class. Caribou and Mt. Abram will challenge a Yarmouth squad that spent much of the season with only three Alpine skiers, Claudia Lockwood, Taylor Horney and Julia Primeau. But Erin Chandler is back from an injury and Sarah Myers will compete as a skimeister, so an Alpine team that finished fifth in WMC should be competitive at the state meet.

Yarmouth remains deep in Nordic, with Caitlin Crawford, Tara Humphries and Sara Becker leading the way, although the WMC champion Clippers finished second to Caribou at the Sassi.

For boys, Matt Highland and Drew Grout in Alpine and Thomas Sullivan and Jack Elder in Nordic lead their teams, both of them WMC runners-up.

Caribou, the defending Nordic champ, and Maranacook appear to pose the biggest challenges in the overall chase.

CLASS C

The Freeport boys and Fort Kent girls are defending overall state champions, with Merriconeag girls (Nordic), Freeport girls Alpine) and NYA boys (Nordic) also looking to repeat.

At the WMC championships, Freeport’s girls finished second (Alpine) and fourth (Nordic) and its boys finished third and sixth, so the Falcons once more will be in the title hunt.

Not since 2004 (Madawaska girls) has a school other than Freeport or Fort Kent won the Class C state title.

Fort Kent enjoys a much more consistent base for training, but NYA Nordic Coach Kalie Dunn said Southern Maine’s challenges can produce skiers ready to handle varied conditions.

“We had beginners learning on icy conditions where you’ve got to have great balance,” she said, “so these skiers can ski on anything.”

The first skier shoves off at 1:30 this afternoon at Black Mountain.

“The boys on my team, especially the seniors, are just having a stellar season,” Dunn said.

Staff Writer Glenn Jordan can be contacted at 791-6425 or at:

gjordan@pressherald.com

Twitter: GlennJordanPPH

 

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