RUMFORD -- Mt. Blue High School survived a day of falls and miscues to retain leads in both the boys and girls overall at the Class A state ski championships Wednesday at Black Mountain. Mt. Blue's Peter Smith continued his assault on the Skimeister title.

Smith produced the Cougars' fastest results in Wednesday's slalom race to take a 32-46 lead over Camden Hills' Andrew Baxter heading into today's 5k classical race, the final event of the Class A championships.

"I had a good day," Smith said of his sixth-place finish in the slalom. "I have been trying to build a lead over the first three events because I think classical racing is my best Nordic event, so I am comfortable going into the race."

Smith's time of 1 minute, 31.11 seconds in the slalom race helped Mt. Blue maintain its overall advantage while trying to capture the four-event combined Class A championship. The Cougar boys own an impressive 157-267 lead over second-place Leavitt with one event remaining.

"We had a couple of falls that hurt us," Mt. Blue coach Mark Cyr said. "Overall, I was pleased with our results because it kept us in the hunt for the overall title."

Jared Foster (1:37.8) and Harris Roberts (1:39.58) turned in top-20 races for Mt. Blue, finishing 12th and 16th, respectively. Alex Markellos of Cheverus won the boys individual title with a two-run combined time of 1:28.19.

Messalonskee's Ben Roy (1:30.19), skiing this week as an independent, had one of his finest outings of the season, finishing third in the slalom. Roy trains with Mt. Blue during the regular season but skis as an individual during meets.

"Ben is extremely athletic and has really quick feet," Cyr said. "When he got to the bottom of the slalom course, his skis were going from side to side, and he did a really good job through the final gates."

Mt. Blue is locked in a tight battle with Greely for the girls overall title. The Cougars have a 171-205 lead before the freestyle event.

The Rangers are the top girls Nordic team in Class A after winning Tuesday's freestyle race by scoring just 22 points.

Mt. Blue finished third in that event with 42 points.

"Our girls are solid classical skiers," Mt. Blue Nordic coach Buzz Davis said. "We have some young skiers who are doing a great job and will be right up there at the end of the race."

Mt. Blue's top Alpine skier Kyle Cyr ran into difficulty in the starting gate on her first run, when her pole stuck in the snow, ripping her glove and pole out of her hand. Cyr finished the race with just one pole but split at gate and had to hike back through it before crossing the finish line.

Cyr (1:47.24) blistered the course on her second run to move all the way up to 14th place, where her Mt. Blue teammates were waiting. The Cougars finished in a group to help the team maintain the girls combined lead.

Emily Deane (1:47.51) was 15th, Abbi Davis (1:48.61) 16th and Amanda Hall (1:50.3) 17th for Mt. Blue.

"I don't know what happened but my pole stuck and took my glove with it," Kyle Cyr said. "My arm hurts but my teammates did a great job finishing with fast times."

The Class A championships will conclude today at Black Mountain with a girls classical race starting at 9 a.m. followed by a 10:45 a.m. boys classical race.

n n n

Winthrop's bid for a Class C Nordic boys title fell short Wednesday morning at Broomhall Stadium at Black Mountain, where Waynflete came roaring back to erase a five-point deficit, claiming a 48-51 overall win.

"Waynflete is a really good team, so having the lead gave them a chance to get fired up for today's race," Winthrop's Justin Carpenter said.

Waynflete locked up the title placing four skiers in the top eight finishers in the 5k classical race, with Tom Reagan gaining the win in 13:41.4 for his second Class C title this week. The Ramblers' Danny Soltan (13:52.1) was second and Carpenter (14:02.9) fourth.

Alex Cottrell finished 10th and Patrick Romar 13th to round out the Ramblers' scoring.