BRIDGTON — Ski racing seems like such an individual pursuit. Oftentimes, said Marshwood High junior Quinn Maguire, that’s the optimal approach.

Taking a conservative approach, he said, means “I just don’t ski as well as I do when I’m kind of worriless and just going for it.”

Both Maguire and Marshwood senior Hadley Prewitt attacked the slalom course at Pleasant Mountain on Thursday and wound up with decisive individual victories in the Class A Alpine state championship meet. Each won a giant slalom state title on Wednesday, but Prewitt misjudged a gate Thursday morning and had to hike on her first run, dropping her into fourth place.

Needing to overcome a two-second deficit in the afternoon’s concluding run, she blew away the field by four seconds to win in dominant fashion.

“It was just thinking about going back to fundamentals,” Prewitt said, “skiing like I know how to ski and pushing it just a little bit more than usual.”

Maguire turned in the fastest time in both runs of the boys’ race, leading to a combined time of 1 minute, 29.59 seconds that left runner-up Evan O’Donnell of Edward Little nearly two seconds behind and Freeport’s Ansel Goode a distant third, another seven seconds back.

In girls’ slalom, Prewitt finished with a 1:40.07 aggregate time to surpass first-run leader Bridget Jacobsen of Falmouth (1:42.28). Rosie St. Cyr of Freeport edged Katie Yeaton of Mt. Blue for third, nearly three seconds behind Jacobsen.

The skiers from Falmouth, Edward Little and Freeport all had a different mindset than that of Prewitt and Maguire, whose Hawks were not in contention for the team title. Falmouth led the field of 19 schools after the giant slalom portion of the two-day competition, by 14 points over Freeport’s girls and by 25 points of Edward Little’s boys, with two-time defending champion Freeport lurking another 15 points behind.

Falmouth’s leads grew precarious Thursday morning. Two girls were disqualified for either straddling or missing a gate, one boy fell, and another was disqualified. That meant one more mistake by either team could cost the Navigators the overall title.

Jacobsen cast aside any thoughts of an individual slalom title, despite her two-second lead on Prewitt in the first run.

“I just skied it like I wanted to help the team,” she said. “I’m not looking to be No. 1. It’s not my top priority.”

With Jacobsen in second place, fellow sophomore Ella Morse sixth and freshman Riley Davis seventh after their second runs, freshman Caitlynn Bateman knew she needed only to negotiate the approximately 60 gates to wrap up a second straight Alpine state title.

“I was more cautious than I would have skied it normally,” Bateman said. “I watched all my teammates go and I knew they all did so well. They gave me wiggle room, so I could go as slow as I wanted.”

Avoiding any further disqualifications, Falmouth finished with a 46-point margin of victory over Freeport. Camden Hills was a distant third, 51 points behind Freeport, with Kennebunk fourth.

“Stressful, but I knew we could do it,” said Davis, who enveloped Bateman in a hug after she skidded to a stop near the bottom of the hill. “We have a great team. I’m very proud of them.”

Falmouth’s boys faced a similar predicament, but even more pressure when No. 1 skier Ian Christie, a sophomore, straddled a gate and was forced to hike on his second run.

“It was nerve-wracking knowing you can’t make any mistakes,” Christie said. “I think we were all feeling it.”

Falmouth’s depth came through, however, as sophomores Hayden Davis (fifth) and Zack Small (15th) and freshman Blake Kingsley (11th) compensated for Christie’s drop from second to 23rd. That was enough to give the Navigators a nine-point victory over surging Edward Little.

Freeport had the best team score in slalom but came in third overall, 12 points behind Edward Little. Fryeburg Academy was a distant fourth.

Conditions were warmer and less windy than Wednesday, but the surface was firm and the course sets challenging. Only 60 of 87 boys managed to negotiate both runs cleanly, and 66 of 88 girls.

Evan Keefer, the first-year head coach at Falmouth, set the course for the first boys’ run. The same course was used for the girls’ second run.

“If they weren’t focused and aware, that set proved to be difficult,” he said. “The stronger skiers, who were focused and didn’t just try to attack but had the game plan and the strategy, they made it look easy. It was an appropriate challenge for a state championship.”

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