Yarmouth secured the girls' Class B alpine skiing state title for the second year in a row, while Fort Kent took the boys' crown at Black Mountain of Maine. Mountain Valley senior Lily Boulanger claimed individual victories in both giant slalom and slalom events. The championships were condensed into one day due to weather-related postponements.
The Class B Alpine skiing state championships took place at Black Mountain of Maine in Rumford on Tuesday, following the postponement of Monday's races due to weather. Both the giant slalom and slalom events were held in a single day, with one run for giant slalom and two runs for slalom.
In the girls' competition, Yarmouth clinched the team championship, finishing ahead of Fort Kent in second and Maranacook in third. Logan MacLeod led Yarmouth with a second-place finish in slalom and fourth in giant slalom, while Gwen Zimmerman placed fifth in giant slalom. Yarmouth coach Sean Lynch noted, “The girls won last year, so we knew they could compete this year. Again, Fort Kent’s super, super deep so every one of our skiers had to put down the right run and they did.”
Mountain Valley's Lily Boulanger dominated the individual events, winning the giant slalom in 51.20 seconds and the slalom in a combined time of 1:26.67. Boulanger, a senior, had focused on skiing since her soccer season ended early. She said, “Our soccer season got ended really early, and just from then, I was just focused right from the start on skiing and working towards (winning) and trying to get a good placement on the state team.” Her coach, Todd Papianou, praised her preparation: “(Boulanger) made it very clear, her offseason training was leveled up, her gym time to get stronger and be ready.”
On the boys' side, Fort Kent captured the team title, with Yarmouth second and Maranacook third. Reed Michaud of Fort Kent posted the fastest giant slalom time of 50.65 seconds, while Maranacook's Tristan Riley led the slalom with 1:25.86. York's Cooper Dodge finished second in giant slalom and third in slalom. Other strong Fort Kent performances included Caleb Saucier fourth in slalom, Finley Marquis seventh in slalom, and Wyatt Marquis seventh in giant slalom.
Riley described the competitive atmosphere: “It’s so fun. I mean, we’re all pretty good friends, so it’s really fun and really friendly and playful. But once it becomes race time, everybody locks in. Cheering each other on for sure, but still wanting to beat them very badly.” Michaud added, “We work all year, all summer in the weight room and for this (win), it’s really nice.”
Fort Kent coach Leslie Marquis highlighted the benefits of the schedule change, which allowed for team bonding: “Fort Kent and York, which is the furthest North and the furthest South, we were staying at the same hotel and we made friendships yesterday because we hung out with them. And the kids were playing cards with them. It was amazing. So yesterday was a great day to do some team bonding among teams. And then today, doing it in one day, it was a lot, but they got it done.”
