By DAVID McLAUGHLIN

Correspondent

Mt. Abram High School's boys and girls Nordice teams continued to show improvement with a strong performance at the Maranacook Wave Race on Saturday.

While an eighth-place finish by the girls' team and a 13th-place finish by the boys' may not seem like a quality day, a quick glance at the field shows just how well the Roadrunners performed.

The Roadrunner girls were 62 points ahead of Telstar, the second-best Mountain Valley Conference team at the meet. The Rebels finished 12th. The Mt. Abram boys finished 13th, one spot behind Mountain Valley. Winthrop was the best boys team from the MVC, with a sixth-place finish.

"Our Nordic team is making steady progress," Mt. Abram coach Merit Bean said. "On the girls side, we have all the top skiers returning from last year's MVC (championship) team except Hannah James and the boys have senior Jason Parrett, setting a fine example for our sophomores."

While the Roadrunners did lose James (St. Lawrence University), they do have her sister, Emma, back, along with Maria Parrett, giving Mt. Abram a strong top-two finishers in either freestyle or classical. Both are juniors, along with Rachel Dennison and Elysha Dyer.

Senior Georgia Dixon, sophomores Nola Dixon, Lizzie Chenard, Emma Twitchell and Erica Luce (a strong skimeister candidate), and freshmen Wren Tooker and Lakeesha Woodcock give the Roadrunners a wealth of talent to work with.

"Nola and Lizzie have had some great races, especially for sophomores," Bean said. "Georgia is very consistent and is always in our top four. Our girls team is looking to repeat as MVC champs. At states, the overall should be a battle between, Yarmouth, Maranacook and Mt. Abram."

Jason Parrett is the only senior on the boys team and has been an strong leader, his coach said. Sophomores Jake Carlton, Devin Littlefield and Brian Lambert, are all contributing freshmen Eric Mitchell and sophomore Phil Coffren continue to improve.

"Jason will be shooting for a top three at the MVC's," Bean said. "He will face some great skiers from Winthrop, but he is working hard to get there."

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Skiers in the Maine Association of Independent School Athletic Directors, which includes skiers from Kents Hill, place heavy emphasis on individual performances during regular season meets.

World Cup points are given to top finishers, and at the end of the season an individual champion of the MAISAD is crowned. Team results and competition only happens at the end of the year meet.

"It makes the regular season a little more interesting," Kents Hill Alpine coach Steve Bell said. "The kids are racing for individual titles during the season and then for the team championship at the end."

Kents Hill has done well in MAISAD competition in the past. The boys and the girls finished second last season.

"Everything is shaping up pretty well this season," Bell said. "We will be right in the hunt again this year."

The boys team is led by juinor Christian Burke and sophmore Josh Bryant. Fayette native Harry Dwyer, a freshmen, has been skiing well early in the season, giving the Huskies an additional push.

"Harry had a couple of great days, giving everyone on the team a extra competition," Bell said. "We are pretty young but should be able to compete."

Bell says the girls team could be the top contender in the league this year. Senior Alli Finnegan, and juniors Lara Cole and Lauren Salko are extremely capable of putting together strong runs to finish in first.

"Our girls team won their first race of the season," Bell said. "We placed three girls in the top six, so we should be right there."

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A number of skiers from central Maine are skiing at the collegiate level again this season. Freshmen Kyle Marvinney (Maranacook) and James (Mt. Abram) are on the Nordic trails for St. Lawrence University in New York, while Katie Van Riper (Mt. Abram/CVA) is a junior on the alpine team at Plymouth State University. Jake Hardy (Mt. Blue/CVA) is a skier on the Alpine team at Bates College, along with senior Whitney Fahy (CVA), and junior Liz Thompson (Rangeley), while sophomore Lisa Hartung (Mt. Blue) and senior Matt Dunlap (Mt. Blue) race for the Bates Nordic team. Freshman Shem Dixon (Mt. Abram) skis Nordic at Bowdoin College, and sophomore Sam Mathes (Messalonskee) competes on the Nordic team at Colby College. Also at Colby, junior Sam Witherspoon (Mt. Abram), junior Christian Talmage (Mt. Abram) and freshman Tory Gray (Mt. Blue/CVA) all ski on the Alpine team.