To say Nathan Delmar rarely holds anything back when he’s on a pair of skis is an understatement.
Even in practice, the Maranacook Community School sophomore will throw caution to the wind and make speed his top priority.
KEnnebec Journal / Morning Sentinel boys alpine all-stars
First team
Nate Delmar, Maranacook
Mike Miller, Skowhegan
Sven Maurer, Maranacook
Kyle Farrington, Mt. Blue
Zach Lacasse, Maranacook
Second team
Kai Pakulski, Maranacook
Anthony Franchetti, Mt. Blue
Charles DeHaas, Winthrop
Liam McNamara, Maranacook
Matthew Gyorgy, Maranacook
“In practice, I tend to go 115 percent,” Delmar said.
“He rarely finished a run this year in practice,” Maranacook coach Ronn Gifford said.
There was a method to what some might see as Delmar’s madness. And it’s hard to argue with the results. He won the Class B state slalom title, and for that accomplishment, Delmar is the Kennebec Journal Boys Alpine Skier of the Year.
Delmar follows in the ski tracks of his older brother, Matt, who won the award in 2013.
Last year, Matt was one of several talented seniors that led the Black Bears to the state Alpine championship. The team was so deep that Nathan finished sixth in the state in the slalom yet didn’t factor in the team scoring. Four teammates, including his brother, finished ahead of him.
“All of them were so good,” he said. “They all pushed me. You could learn a lot watching them.”
Although he was named a team captain, he didn’t feel any pressure to do the impossible — fill the shoes of those who had left.
Instead, Gifford wanted him to simply see how fast he could go every time down the mountain.
“He’s still growing, still learning, still refining his technique,” Gifford said. “The focus all year long was to push the speed envelope as much as he could and try to manage that.”
Delmar finished in the top five in virtually every Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference meet he participated in. At the state meet at Big Rock in Presque Isle, he found the perfect conditions for his fearless approach to the slopes.
High winds forced organizers to hold the slalom and giant slalom on the same day, which meant limiting a skier to one run in each event. With danger lurking at every gate, Delmar skied the fastest and also one of the most technically sound runs of the day, finishing in 40.8 seconds.
Delmar said he didn’t let the one-run format affect his aggressiveness.
“In the giant slalom (where he finished eighth), I was a little more concerned,” Delmar said. “Black Rock is pretty flat compared to some of the hills we race, so in the slalom, I really wasn’t concerned.”
Delmar went on to finish 19th in the slalom at the Eastern High School Alpine Championships at Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire.
There’s still a great deal of potential still waiting to be tapped, Gifford said. For his part, Delmar is ready to draw it out by building himself up.
“I want to get stronger. I have to go to the weight room. I’m pretty thin,” he said. “I also think I’m going to get more turns in, to be prepared for what any course is going to throw at me.”
Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638
rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @RAWmaterial33
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