Maranacook senior Alpine skier Nathan Delmar returned to the winner’s podium Wednesday afternoon at the Class B Alpine ski championships at Black Mountain in Rumford.
Delmar placed first in the slalom competition, finishing with a combined time of 1:21.70. Delmar’s first run was his fastest time, finishing at 40.75 seconds.
“It feels amazing,” Delmar said. “Sweeter, I think. Really having it sink in that it’s my last high school slalom race.”
As a team, the Black Bears boys Alpine team finished third overall with 112 points (50 giant slalom, 62 slalom). Fort Kent defended its Class B crown, finishing with 87 points, while Mountain Valley finished second with 94 points. The Maranacook girls Alpine team finished third overall between Tuesday and Wednesday, combining for 106 team points. Spruce Mountain (90 points) captured the Class B title — the first in school history — just edging out second place Yarmouth (91 points).
It was a successful two days for Delmar, who placed second in the giant slalom event Tuesday. The win also marked a bit of redemption for Delmar, who won the slalom title as a sophomore but struggled at last year’s ski championships, missing a gate during one of his slalom runs while fighting difficult terrain due to rainy conditions.
“(The course) would have been better if you were on hockey skates (last year),” Delmar said. “This year, being able to have good conditions — I improved my form a lot from last year — it was really good.”
“I was extremely pleased,” he added. “This year, I wasn’t as serious, I enjoyed myself a lot more because of that. Everything seemed to click because of that. I had more success on the hill, more success in general.”
Rounding out the Maranacook boys team in the slalom competition was Dennis Chiapetta, who finished eighth with a combined time of 1:33.18, and Robbie McKee (1:41.60), who finished 22nd.
Charles Dehass and Maguire Anaszewski of Winthrop both had outstanding days in slalom. Dehass (1:28.15) finished third, while Anaszewski (1:29.57) finished fourth.
The Maranacook girls Alpine team finished second on the day in slalom, finishing with 54 points, trailing only first place Spruce Mountain (34 points).
Leading the Black Bears was Katie Ide, who finished fifth with a combined time of 1:41.74. Allison Acritelli of Spruce Mountain (1:33.77) won the slalom title.
Elizabeth Rice (1:47.87) finished 10th for Maranacook, while Vita Scott (1:54.29) finished 19th and Caroline Welch (1:57.11) finished 20th.
CLASS A
The Falmouth boys won the state title, finishing with a two-day total of 81 points, well ahead of runner-up Cape Elizabeth (145). Oxford Hills was third at 154 and Greely fourth at 163. Mt. Blue finished fifth with 257 points.
The alpine title is Falmouth’s first since 2013.
The Camden Hills girls, led by fifth-place junior Audrey Heriz-Smith, won the Class A girls alpine title with 165 points. Greely advanced from fourth to take runner-up honors with 184 points, followed by Falmouth (230).
The Windjammers had won a Class B alpine title in 2012, but never in Class A until Wednesday.
Sam Smith led the Mt. Blue boys Alpine team, finishing fourth in the slalom at the Class A boys Alpine state championships Wednesday at Mt. Abram.
Smith had a combined time of 1:22.39. His second run was his fastest, with a time of 40.33 seconds. Axel Lindsay of Greely won the slalom title, finishing with a combined time of 1:19.79.
Eli Yeaton finished 13th for the Cougars, with a time of 1:29.91.
Sophomore Gibson Scott, freshman Angus Christie and junior Owen White each placed among the top eight slalom skiers Wednesday to lead Falmouth to the Class A boys title with 86 team points.
Marielle Pelletier had the best time for the Mt. Blue girls Alpine team in the slalom event, finishing with a combined time of 1:35.13.
Cheverus sophomore Annesley Black added the individual slalom title to Tuesday’s giant slalom championship. Her two-run total time Wednesday was nearly three seconds faster than runner-up Jeannette Cunningham of Greely, in 1 minute, 24.40 seconds.
Greely senior Axel Lindsay won the boys’ slalom title, breaking out of a tie with Cape Elizabeth sophomore Devon Lathrop after the first run. Lindsay’s total time was 1:19.79 and Lathrop’s 1:20.16.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Comments are no longer available on this story