Maranacook senior Emma Prysunka has made great strides this season while focusing on her Nordic skills. Prysunka is the defending Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Skimeister champion and runner-up in Class B.

Last season at the KVAC meet, Prysunka finished 28th in the Nordic classical race and 21st in freestyle. Over the weekend her improvement was noticeable when she claimed an eighth place in the Sassi Memorial in Rumford. Mt. Blue's Rebecca Schoen (fifth) was the only KVAC skier to finish ahead of her.

"I felt pretty good this weekend," said Prysunka. "This year I've focused more on Nordic racing. I've only been to two Alpine races."

"I'm doing whatever I can. This week we don't have many Nordic races, so I can go to the Alpine races," she added. "Nordic does keep me in good shape but I also need work on gates."

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The James sisters have given Mt. Abram High School a solid combination to depend on in Nordic competition this season. Hannah, a senior, has more success in the longer distance races while sophomore Emma is difficult to beat in shorter sprint-style competitions.

When Hannah was a freshman, the Roadrunners didn't have enough skiers to qualify for a team score.

Last season they captured the Mountain Valley Conference Nordic title and have more than a dozen team members this season.

"After we won the MVC's last year our friends at school all started to notice and wanted to be on the team," said Emma. "Nordic skiing is becoming more and more popular at our school and continues to grow."

Mt. Abram has had several strong races this season, including Saturday's sixth- place finish at the tough Sassi Memorial 5K freestyle race at Black Mountain in Rumford in a field of 22 teams.

"I feel great about our team success," said Hannah. "At the Sassi, we had a great race as a team."

While Hannah concentrates on Nordic skiing, Emma works at both Nordic and Alpine, placing fourth in the MVC Skimeister competition last season as a freshman and eighth at the Class B state meet.

Most days the focus is on Nordic races but, regardless of the competition, they both enjoy training together and have developed a healthy attitude about their races and the team.

Hannah and Emma enjoy setting a fast pace both in training and at meets, which helps them develop a successful strategy.

"Hannah pushes me hard when we train together," said Emma.

"We go at the same pace so it works well for us, it is a healthy competition."

The sisters would like nothing more than to capture another MVC title this season, especially with the growth of the program over the past four seasons.

"I think we have a good shot at winning the MVC's this year," said Hannah.

"Our coaches have been working us hard at practice and our technique has improved, so I think we are ready."

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NOTES: Mt. Blue graduate Tyler Judkins is skiing for Colby Sawyer and is the captain of the team this year, while fellow Cougar graduate Chet Farnum is skiing for Alfred University in upstate New York.

Winthrop graduate Jon Dennett has transferred from Plymouth State for the second semester and is skiing on the University of Maine at Farmington's team.

Mt. Blue senior Alex Prentiss has won both of his Alpine races this season and is keeping pace for a run at back-to-back Skimeister titles in Class A. Not only has he won each race, but he has won each run at those races.

Mt. Blue's Kyle Cyr, won her first Alpine race of the season, but had a mishap at the second race during her first run.

She ended up coming back her second run and placing second for that run, ninth overall.

Her skiing has improved tremendously since last year. She is more aggressive and athletic in her approach to the slalom and giant slalom events and should be a top skier in the upcoming KVAC meet.

Carrabec's Brandon Lane continues to show major improvement this season, placing first in a two-run giant slalom and second in a two-run slalom at Squaw Mountain, Saturday.