State Ski Champions celebrate wins

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (WAGM) - It was a very successful week for County ski teams. Kayley Bell of Caribou and Alden Reardon of Fort Kent won individual State Nordic Ski Titles. The Fort Kent Warriors girls alpine ski team and the Warriors boys and girls nordic ski teams were crowned state champions and the Caribou Vikings boys alpine ski team captured the Vikings first state ski title in 49 years.

(Neal Sleeper):” A real sense of joy and excitement. There is a real buzz around Caribou from the time that we won our state championship on Tuesday at Big Rock Mountain. My phone has been ringing non-stop. I have been getting e mails and the community has been super supportive. and super excited about this accomplishment and achievement.”

Depth was the key to all of the Conty teams success. Sleeper credits the depth for his tema winning a title.

Sleeper:” In the eight years that I have been coaching we have had some great stand-out athletes over the years. The big difference with this group is on any given day anyone of these guys could get first place. I had a coach come up to me after the race at Big Rock and congratulated and his comment was your team has so much depth. That was the key difference with our team.”

The Fort Kent girls also used their depth to claim the title. That was something that was a key for them all season long.

(Leslie Marquis):” This year being back at home, on home turf in an area where the kids felt comfortable and sleep in their own bed. It was the icing on the cake to bring home another state championship. It’s been since Greg Voisine left that the girls had brought home a State Championship. We were runners up in 2019 and this year we were able to bring it home.”

The Fort Kent Nordic Ski teams both captured the State Championships. The girls won a close battle with Orono, and the boys used a very balanced team to win the title

(Carl Theriault):” This is the first time that I can remember. I have been around since 97 that both teams did it at the same time. It felt great it was just something that was really close with the girls, the boys not so close. We challenged them in the last race, and they came through. They always seem to one way or another. A couple of them had to pass a couple of girls and they did. Just super proud of them.”

Freshman Alden Reardon captured the Class C Individual Nordic Title

(Alden Reardon):” I didn’t really know it was going to happen since it was my first year, I was pretty excited I was winning after the first race.”

Kayley Bell was very impressive in the girls’ race winning the individual title and posting some of the fastest times of anyone regardless of Class.

(Kayley Bell):” It was pretty exciting and a lot of fun and it was a great way to wrap up the season.”

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