An already impressive winter for the Kearsarge ski program got better Tuesday in Gorham.
Less than a month since the Kearsarge Alpine teams were crowned state champions, the boys’ and girls’ Nordic teams earned two more trophies at their Division III championships.
Thanks to top-five finishes in both disciplines by Maggie Lee and Marliese Baer, and two top-10 finishes by Maddie Cook, the Kearsarge girls earned their second consecutive state title.
The Cougars beat runner-up White Mountain, 761-745.
The Kearsarge boys’ team earned their first championship with depth, as Michael Salo’s eighth-place finish in the freestyle race was the top individual result. The boys tied White Mountains with 358 points each in the classic race and won the championship with 363 points in freestyle to edge the second-place Spartans by just three and a half points, 721-717.5.
Kearsarge Coach Kevin Lee said both the girls’ successful repeat and the boys’ first run to the top was built on team depth, something the final results reflected clearly. The Cougars saw none of their boys reach the podium but placed four in the top 12 in freestyle and three in the top 10 in classic.
“To see them winning the state championship with nobody on the podium, that’s just amazing,” Lee said.
White Mountains’s Hallie Chancey took first in both disciplines for the girls and Maggie Lee finished as the runner-up in classic and third in freestyle. Twenty-six seconds separated Lee and Chancey in both races.
Lee, along with teammates Baer, Cook, Jenna Bears and Hayden Keene, qualified to compete in the Meet of Champions on Tuesday (venue location pending) with top-10 finishes in Gorham.
It’s been a bittersweet season for the the father-daughter duo of Mike and Maggie Lee. After six years of competing for her father, Maggie will graduate in the spring and be missed from next year’s roster.
“She started skiing for me – with me – in seventh grade,” said Coach Lee, now in his 10th year leading the program. “It’s going to be weird next year. She has come along with me on this journey, and it’s been great to see her become a stronger and better skier while developing leadership.”
Bow placed third in the girls’ competition with 725 points and Gilford (175) placed fifth behind Fall Mountain (722) in fourth.
Sohani Demain led Bow placing fifth in classic and sixth in freestyle, followed by teammate Isabella Urbina in ninth (classic) and eighth (freestyle).
On the boys’ side, Kearsarge’s Trevor Pauling (sophomore), Hunter Burns (junior) and Benjamin Boulton (sophomore) finished within 15 seconds at 10th, 11th and 12th, respectively, in the freestyle race as Salo took eighth and the Cougars collected enough points to edge White Mountains. Bow finished third as a team scoring 357 in classic and 352 in freestyle. Gilford (584) and Belmont (198.5) finished fifth and sixth, respectively, and Fall Mountain (690) was fourth.
It’s common to see some combination of Burns, Pauling, Salo and Boulton cross the finish line as a pack, and the bundle of points they earned Tuesday elevated Kearsarge to the lead.
“They always ski together and push each other hard in practice,” Lee said. “It’s great because Ben Boulton is a brand new skier and he’s taken to it like a fish to water.”
Gilford’s Mark Young was the first to cross the finish line in classic, 27 seconds ahead of Belmont’s Zachary Ennis and 42 seconds ahead of Gilford teammate Sander Valpey in third. Ennis and Young tied for first in freestyle, beating out White Mountains’s Sam Call in third by less than two seconds.
Seth Valpey was the third Gilford skier to cross in both disciplines, finishing fifth in classic and tied for sixth in freestyle. Sully Blair was the top skier for Bow as he finished eighth in classic and ninth in freestyle.
The Gilford boys were looking for a third straight championship, but the absence of standout skier Josh Valentine, competing instead at the USSA Junior championships, left the Golden Eagles vulnerable.
“As soon as the kids found that out, they realized the whole thing was wide open,” Lee said.
The Kennett boys’ Nordic team won its sixth consecutive title in D-II and the girls won their third in row by convincing margins.
On the girls’ side, Kennett outpaced runner-up Kingswood, 783-724, and were well ahead of third-place Lebanon by 81 points.
The Kennett boys also swept both disciplines and beat second-place Lebanon, 784-727.
(Nick Stoico can be reached at nstoico@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @NickStoico.)