The first three seasons of her high school career, Maranacook Community School senior Amy Gifford made tremendous strides. But there was also that one skier who surfaced to finish just ahead of her at championship meets.

Gifford made technical changes and worked harder to become the best she could be on the ski slopes. This season, she reached her final goal of becoming the No. 1 girls skier in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference and Class B.

For her efforts, Gifford has been named the Kennebec Journal Girls Alpine Skier of the Year for the fourth consecutive time. Also considered was Maranacook teammate Monica Purington.

"There was always someone above me that was impossible to beat," Gifford said. "I never thought that it would happen."

Her performances at the KVAC championships and Class B state meet were by far her best at that level in four years. Four first-place finishes in the giant slalom and slalom were punctuated by laying down the fastest run times in each race.

"It was a nice way to end my high school career," Gifford said. "My entire career had been building toward those last few races."

"Amy was one very strong and focused person this season," said Maranacook coach Ronn Gifford, her uncle. "She made a technical change that made her more solid and balanced."

During the offseason, Gifford worked on drills that would help her develop a better approach to the gates, leaving her in a position to ski a straighter line. When she began training on gates this season, the improvement was noticeable.

Once the racing schedule got underway, the change proved beneficial helping Gifford put together two consistent runs each time out. Her technique was strong enough that she never fell during the high school racing season.

"I was more consistent than I was in the past," she said. "I had a lot of issues trying to pull two clean runs together."

When her confidence peaked she was unstoppable as evidenced in her incredible runs at Sunday River during the Class B state meet. She won the slalom race by two full seconds after overwhelming her competition in the giant slalom winning by 5.26 seconds. "I feel I plateaued at the right time this season," she said. "It comes with age and experience."