BRHS Nordic Ski Team

Sun, 02/14/2016 - 18:42

SUE MELLO

Joey Paolillo had two top ten finishes at last week’s MVC Championship races at Titcomb and Black Mountain. Paolillo finished eighth overall in the fresstyle race and fifth overall in the classic race and earned a place on the MVC All Conference Team. Courtesy DW Action Photos.

Boothbay Region High School ski teams have been up against it for most of the season. With little in the way of skiable snow, Boothbay’s athletes have done most of their skiing at races. Despite the difficulties, BRHS ski teams are performing remarkably well.

On Wednesday Feb. 10 and Thursday Feb. 11, the Nordic team traveled inland to participate in the Mountain Valley Conference two-day championship event.

Day one consisted of a freestyle race at Titcomb Mountain in Farmington. Joey Paolillo led the Boothbay boys, finishing eighth at 19:27, followed by Blake Erhard, 11th, 20:02, Liam Conlin, 17th, 21:08, Duncan Drapeau, 22nd, 23:23, Gabe Purin, 23rd, 24:18, Reed Beavis, 25th, 25:11, and Bayly Gaughan-Carassco, 28th, 29:29. In the girls’ race, Summer Chamberlin finished 14th, 24:55, Angela Machon, 22nd, 29:51, Olivia Paolillo, 24th, 32:06, Meghan Oakes, 27th, 32:51, and Riley Sullivan, 30th, 37:22.

On Thursday, the teams headed to Black Mountain in Rumford for the classic race. Paolillo was out in front for Boothbay in this race as well, finishing fifth, 19:50. Next in was Conlin 16th, 21:57, followed by Erhard, 18th, 22:35, Drapeau, 21st, 24:13, Purin, 22nd, 24:21, Beavis, 26th, 25:03, Perry, 27th, 25;50, and Gaughan-Carassco, 28th, 27:22. For the girls, Chamberlin finished 10th, 25:19, Oakes, 23rd, 30:41, Machon, 27th, 33:06, Paolillo, 28th, 33:17 and Sullivan, 32nd, 35:17.

Mt. Abram won the boys’ title with 70 points, followed by Dirigo, 74, Telstar, 76 and Boothbay, 117. Monmouth won the girls’ MVC title with 76 points, followed by Telstar, 87, Dirigo, 95, Mt. Abram, 107 and BRHS 166.

“The teams did fairly well at MVCs. Overall, most team members skied quite well, but it was hard to go into the race without having had any practice on skis or snow for a duration of a couple weeks,” Coach Nick Scott said, “With that said, there were a couple of standout individual performances. Joey Paolillo highlighted the event with his 5th place finish in the classic race, which places him on the All Conference team. Summer Chamberlain skied well in the classic race placing 10th. Blake Erhard continued his impressive freshmen season as he almost cracked the top ten, placing 11th in the skate race.”

This Thursday and Friday, the Nordic team heads back to Black Mountain for the state championship ski season finale.