Mt. Blue High School continued to dominate Class A skiing, winning the boys and girls combined state championships for the 25th time in the past 17 years Thursday at Black Mountain. Also for Mt. Blue, Peter Smith won the Skimeister title.

Greely attempted to play the spoiler in the girls competition, putting together an impressive win on the final day in the 5k classical race. The Rangers defeated Leavitt 20-31 and outdistanced Mt. Blue by 32 points, falling just short of the title. Mt. Blue held on by two points, 223-225.

Mt. Blue's narrow victory in the girls events was made possible by several strong individual efforts. Shelby Aseltine led the Cougars with a sixth-place finish in 17 minutes, 35.1 seconds. Hannah Allen (17:59.8) placed 11th, Meredith Allen (18:36.5) 16th and Caitlin Douglass (19:02.9) 19th to complete the scoring.

All are freshmen with the exception of Meredith Allen, who is a junior.

"It wasn't our best day," Mt. Blue Nordic coach Buzz Davis said. "We held it together to stay in the lead."

Greely claimed the top two spots with sisters Rachel (16:32.5) and Allison Hall (16:46.2) finishing first and second, respectively. Messalonskee's Lindsay Mathes, skiing as an independent, took eighth.

Mt. Blue placed four skiers in the top eight to not only capture the combined title, but also the boys overall championship. The Cougars defeated Leavitt 48-54 to earn the Nordic win, giving Mt. Blue a 179-295 decision over Hornets for the combined title.

"The Nordic boys were impressive," Mt. Blue Alpine coach Mark Cyr said. "They beat a very good Leavitt team with a total team effort."

Justin Fereshetian (13:06.6) and Lauren Turner (13:12.2) of Leavitt captured the top two spots. Mt. Blue countered with third and fourth-place finishes by Welly Ramsey (13:38.5) and Adam Fissette (13:40.4).

It was the additional effort of Derek Rowe (14:17.1) and Brody Hines (14:18.7) -- who finished seventh and eight, respectively -- that put the Cougars over the top.

In earning the boys Skimeister title, Smith also played a major role in the Cougars overall championship run. The senior collected finished seventh in the giant slalom, sixth in the slalom, 17th in classical and a 19th in freestyle to finished with 49 points, ahead of Andrew Baxter of Camden Hills, who finished with 76.

Mt. Blue's Jared Foster was third with 87 points. "I was happy I had two solid days in Alpine and a good three days of competition," Smith said. "To be in all four team events and be a contributor to the team made me feel good."

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The Mt. Abram girls and Maranacook boys started strong on the opening day of the Class B state championship ski meet, producing outstanding efforts in their bids to knock off defending champion Yarmouth.

Mt. Abram's best bid came in the giant slalom at Sunday River, where the Roadrunners placed four skiers in the top 13 to claim a 32-43 win over second-place Fryeburg. Yarmouth finished second in the Nordic freestyle race and fourth in the GS to take a 118-126 lead over Mt. Abram for the combined girls championship.

Lauren Stackhouse of Yarmouth continued her outstanding efforts this season with a two-run time of 1:31.76 to beat the Roadrunners Erica Luce's 1:36.09. Emily Luce finished fifth for Mt. Abram, followed by Noelle Lake (12th) and Jillian Withee (13th). MCI's Rebekah Kallgren finished fourth as an individual competitor.

Maranacook's strength showed in the 5k freestyle event at Black Mountain. Caribou won the event with 33 points, Yarmouth placed second with 35 and the Black Bears third with 46. Overall, Maranacook finished the day in second place with a total of 133 points, trailing first-place Yarmouth (95).

Nolan Poulin earned top honors for Maranacook, finishing fifth in the freestyle event. Poulin was joined by Cameron Best (11th), Sam Whittemore (14th) and Tyler DeAngelis (16th). Mt. Abram's Jason Parrett earned 10th for the Roadrunners.

In the girls 5k freestyle, Maranacook's Emily Harriman produced another outstanding race, finishing fourth, while teammate and girls Skimeister leader Jen Monsulick was fifth. Mt. Abram's Emma James landed in ninth.

Today will be the second day of Class B competition with a slalom race at 9 a.m. at Sunday River.