So far, here on the coast and throughout much of Maine, winter has failed to deliver. With almost no snow to date, the Boothbay Region High School Nordic ski teams finally got their first chance to ski at the Hornet Classic race on Jan. 9.

With inadequate snow cover at Leavitt Area High School, this year the Hornet Classic race had to be moved to an area about an hour north, where skiers traversed three loops to approximate a 5K distance. Despite the conditions, the need to ski brought out a crowd of 258 skiers from 23 schools.

Coach Nick Scott said he was pleased with both teams’ performances. The boys team did as well as any BRHS boys team to date, and the girls worked hard to ski well despite significant gear problems.

“The boys team had one of their best finishes, pretty on par with last year’s team performance,” Scott said. “Joey’s (Paolillo) individual performance was one of the best in team history, being bested only by former skier Robert Campbell.”

On Saturday, Paolillo led the BRHS scorers, finishing 41st, 16:17, followed by Conlin, 63rd, 17:45, Blake Erhard, 88th, 19:11, Ray Perry, 89th, 19:13, Sam Betts, 96th, 20:04, Duncan Drapeau 104th, 20:53 and Gabe Purin, 111st, 22:35. Freeport won the meet; BRHS placed 13th of 19 schools.

Compared to last year’s Hornet Classic race (albeit on a different course), the BRHS veterans showed huge improvement. Paolillo, Conlin and Perry all posted race times almost three minutes faster. And the newcomers showed real promise for the season.

“I was pleasantly surprised with many of our newcomers and how well they did, namely Blake Erhard. Duncan Drapeau and Gabe Purin both skied in a race for the first time and did a nice job,” Scott said.

All of the Lady Seahawks who donned skis made it to the finish line, but Scott said they were severely hampered without the appropriate wax.

“Unfortunately, the girls didn’t have very good kick wax (we ran out of time while testing wax and couldn’t find anything that would stick well) and they were at a huge disadvantage. Individually, it was really hard for the girls to be competitive without any kick, however, Summer Chamberlin did a really nice job for not having kick and for being in her first Nordic race ever.”

Chamberlin led the BRHS scorers, finishing 83rd, 23:24, followed by Angela Machon, 109th, 26:58, Olivia Paolillo, 119th, 30:31 and Riley Sullivan, 126th, 33:44. Dirigo won the event and BRHS placed last among 20 teams.

Although most of the state received enough snow last week to practice, BRHS was still confined to practicing on land. “Unfortunately, we do not have enough snow to ski at this time. I don’t know how it happened but we seem to be the only town that didn’t get at least a couple inches of snow,” Scott said on Jan. 13.

With rain, sleet, snow, hail, and locust in the forecast for Saturday, Jan. 16, the scheduled Maranacook Waves race was postponed. Fortunately, Saturday’s storm delivered mainly fluffy snow, a boon for skiers. On Monday, Jan. 18, with snow falling throughout the day, BRHS ski teams joined 15 other teams from across the state who traveled to Maranacook to race. The Maranacook Waves race is a freestyle rather than classic race, which involves a different type of ski and a form more like skating than the classic diagonal stride.

Paolillo led the boys team, finishing 30^th (17:41), followed by Perry (41^st, 18:28), Erhard (45ht, 18:52), Conlin (49^th, 19:04), Betts (60^th, 20:13) and Drapeau (69^th, 21:14).

Chamberlin was first for BRHS girls, finishing 61^st (25:18), followed by Machon (64^th, 26:11), Paolillo (84^th, 32:21), Meghan Oakes (86^th, 32:38) and Sullivan (92^nd, 38:13).

On Wednesday, Jan. 20, BRHS ski teams travel to Oxford Hills for a classic race.

To see more Hornet Classic ski photos check out DW Action Photos website at www.dwactionphotos.com.