FARMINGTON -- Mt. Blue High School took advantage of its familiarity with Titcomb Mountain on Saturday during the first day of the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference ski championships, posting substantial leads in both the boys and girls combined competition.

Mt. Blue got individual wins in three of the four disciplines with impressive races in the Nordic classical event coupled with spectacular close finishes in the Alpine slalom race.

Racing will continue Monday at Black Mountain in Rumford for the Nordic freestyle and Alpine giant slalom competition Monday.

Maranacook, the defending girls champions, finished third with 160 points, trailing second place Oxford Hills (129) and race leader Mt. Blue (56). Mt. Blue, the defending boys champions, topped the competition with 46 points followed by Leavitt's 124 and Maranacook's 127.

Mt. Blue's Welly Ramsey claimed first place in the 5k classical race, where Mt. Blue placed four skiers in the top nine, to take a 19-30 win over Leavitt. Teammates Adam Fissette (4th), Brody Hines (5th) and Derek Rowe (9th) gave Mt. Blue a good start to the day in the early morning race.

Ramsey finished in 15 minutes and 10.7 seconds. Leavitt's Justin Fereshetian (15:24.2) and Lauren Turner (15:34.2) finished second and third, respectively.

"I was focused and knew I had to race hard to stay ahead of Justin and Lauren," Ramsey said. "They are better skate (freestyle) skiers than I am, so Monday's race at Black, should be good."

Skiers in Nordic competition begin the second day of racing in a pursuit start which means Ramsey will start first with a 13.5 second lead. The fastest combined times of the classical and freestyle events earn the Nordic combined title.

Maranacook's Sam Whittemore finished seventh, pacing the Black Bears in the Nordic race.

Mt. Blue freshmen Shelby Aseltine and Hannah Allen gave the KVAC field a look at the future of Nordic girls racing in the league, finishing an amazing one-two, respectively.

Aseltine blistered the course in 19:08.1 followed by Allen at 19:28.3. Maranacook's Emily Harriman turned in another great effort to finish fourth in 19:47.3.

Leavitt finished first in the girls classical race, placing four finishers in the top nine to edge Mt. Blue 27-28.

"I was really nervous at the start of the race and tried to focus on what we had learned all week," Aseltine said. "I wanted to surge on the parts of the course you knew you had to get done and recover on the downhills. That's what I tried to do."

"Shelby's race was really outstanding, she made a statement," Mt. Blue Nordic coach Buzz Davis said. "Hannah had another great race, just like she has all season. It is going to be fun to see what happens on Monday."

After suffering her first defeat of the season last week, Mt. Blue's Kyle Cyr was prepared for a tight race with Maine Central Institute's Rebekah Kallgren and Camden Hills' Kerry Gross. In an exciting finish, Cyr compiled a two-run time of 1:06.13 to edge Kallgren (1:06.42) for the individual title. Gross finished third in 1:08.52.

"I knew they (Kallgren and Gross) would definitely be going for it," Cyr said. "I had to check myself a little more today, but felt really good on the course."

Camden Hills' Nolan Steele earned his first win of the season, capturing the boys slalom race, edging Mt. Blue's Peter Smith. Steele turned in a 1:01.16 while Smith raced through the gates in 1:02.55.

Waterville's Tory Quinn claimed the fourth spot with Mt. Blue's Alex Witt taking fifth. Skowhegan's Andy Calder had the fastest run of the afternoon, torching the course in 28.91 seconds. Calder dropped to 32nd when he fell on his second run. Maranacook's Sean Vallant suffered an identical fate after recording a 29.94 in his first run. Vallant finished 15th for the Black Bears.