RUMFORD — Silas Eastman prepared for Monday’s Class A classical 5k the same way he geared-up for his last big race at Black Mountain, the Sassi Memorial.

The result was the same for the Fryeburg Academy star on Monday — a threepeat.

Twenty-three days after winning his third Sassi in a row, Eastman collected his third consecutive Class A classical championship, completing the course in 13:22.2, 35 seconds ahead of runner-up Dustin Ramsay of Hampden Academy.

“It’s amazing,” Eastman said. “I didn’t really let it get to me coming in. I didn’t want to think about it and stress myself out with it, like Sassi earlier this year. It was in the back of my mind. I really wanted it.”

Emily Bland of Windham won the girls’ classical. Mt. Blue’s Sarah Wade was runner-up. Abby Popenoe of Portland, defending champion Maddie Wiegman of Leavitt and Falmouth’s Caitlin Bucksbaum rounded out the top five.

Falmouth emerged from the first day of competition leading in both the boys’ and girls’ standings. Going into Tuesday’s freestyle, the boys (42 points) hold a 20-point lead over Mt. Blue and Leavitt (62). The girls placed four in the top 12 to take a seven-point lead over Portland (31-38). Defending Nordic champion Leavitt (45) is third, followed by Mt. Blue (68) and Oxford Hills (75).

Eastman and the other 120 male and female competitors had to overcome howling winds, blowing snow and numerous slick spots to complete the course.

“The wind was blowing everything around, right in your face, so you felt like you weren’t moving at all,” Eastman said.

“I took it out really hard. I wanted to get the start and that first little hill out of the way because I knew I had the long downhill to rest,” Eastman said. “The hills went pretty well. The one tough hill about 2/3 of the way through, that went surprisingly well. I had enough wax to get up that. I only started losing my kick with maybe a kilometer left, and there weren’t really any big hill, so I did pretty well through that.”

Falmouth’s Jay Lesser was third. Mt. Blue’s Zach Veayo (14:50.6) finished sixth.

“It was fast,” Veayo said. “It was really icy everywhere outside the track. Inside the track was kind of snow-blown. So the idea was to go outside the track for the downhills and in the track for the uphills so you could get stick with the kick wax. There were a few slippery areas and a few kids fell in front of me, but I was able to work around it and it turned out to be a pretty good race.”

Teammates Isaac Doiron (13th), Sully Jackson (21st) and Silas Rogers joined Veayo in the top 22 to keep the Cougars within shouting distance of the Yachtsmen.

“I think we did very well,” Veayo said. “We didn’t want to stress too much. Just try to be as laid back as possible and have a really fun race.”

Rylee Knox (8th), Harrison Knowlton (12th), Josh Therrien (15th) and Ben Ramser (27th) have the Hornets neck-and-neck with their KVAC rivals heading into Day 2.

Zachary Tannenbaum of Edward Little finished 11th.

Bland, a senior, was the only female to come in under 17 minutes (16:30.9). She finished 32 seconds ahead of Wade, who was happy with her race.

“I did a lot of track hopping in and out,” Wade said. “The downhill was really fast. There are a lot of hills on this course, so if you focus on that and on having good downhill technique, you’re really fast. And the different types of snow really change how you race.”

Leavitt had three other top 20 finishers join Wiegman — McKenzie Varney (10th), Alisha Labbe (13th) and Corinne Rabon (18th). Alyssa Andrews of Oxford Hills was seventh, teammate India Lucas was 19th. Leah Hardy of Mt. Blue was 16th.

The forecast calls for higher temperatures and significantly less wind for Day 2, although competitors are expecting another major obstacle to make an appearance.

“It’s going to be warmer, hopefully,” Wade said, “and High School Hill is going to be there tomorrow. That’s going to be fun.”

Merriconeag sweeps Class C

Merriconeag swept the Class C classical races held at Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle on Monday.

The Merriconeag girls began the pursuit of their third straight state championship by placing four of the top eight skiers for 15 points. Freeport (24) was second, followed by Orono (87), Dirigo (92), Fort Kent (94), Telstar (122), Winthrop (123) and Monmouth (143).

Katahdin’s only two skiers, sisters Lydia and Hannah Streinz, finished 1-2. Lydia won in 18:55.6, followed by Hannah (19:19.3) and Emili Chace-Donahue of Merriconeag (19:23.9).

Isabel Gerencer of St. Dom’s was the top local finisher, placing 15th (21:51.4), followed by Rebekah Bryant of Monmouth (22:09.3) and Carla Boyle-Wight of Telstar (22:28.1).

The Merriconeag boys boasted four of the top 11 finishers to win with 20 points, followed by Freeport (35). Winthrop (107) is fifth, Dirigo (123) sixth, Monmouth ninth (165), Mountain Valley 11th (186), and Telstar 13th (246).

Lance McKenney of Forth Fairfield  skied the 5-kilomenter course in 15:48.2 for individual gold. Daniel Streinz of Katahdin was second (15:59). Dylan Thombs was the top local skier, finishing in 16:28.2 for fifth place. Winthrop’s Arron St. Pierre was 18th (18:49.6).

The nordic competition concludes Tuesday with the freestyle.

Tuesday’s ski schedule

• Class A Alpine giant slalom at Mt. Abram, 9 a.m.

• Class A Nordic freestyle at Black Mtn., 3 p.m.

• Class C Alpine giant slalom at Big Rock, 9 a.m.

• Class C Nordic freestyle, at Nordic Heritage Center, 3 p.m.